We had to wake up uncharacteristically early to make sure we caught the train to Shanghai. Having packed up the night before, there wasn’t much left to pack, however, as spring festival winds down, Beijing is winding back up, so we had to leave early as traffic is a whole new experience here, nothing like what you would encounter in the western world. Luckily, traffic wasn’t so bad. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare, got our tickets and had a nice fast Chinese food breakfast.

One of the items we had were steamed dumplings full of meat and broth. These dumplings are a little delicate since they are filled with liquid, but they are absolutely exquisite and they are a specialty in Shanghai!

On the train to Shanghai!

We boarded the train to Shanghai on time, but it was slightly delayed due to weather. The speed was reduced from 300km/h to somewhere around 160km/h. It was fun watching the scenery change as we headed south. We passed through a hilly area, and ironically as things got green, we passed through a belt of light snow on the ground. As we continued toward Shanghai, the snow on the ground disappeared and was replaced with rain falling from the sky.

We met up with Zhen’s friend in the subway station that’s attached to the Shanghai train station. The subway was really crowded, probably since it was the last day of the spring festival national holiday.

Despite the crowded subway, we made our way to our beautiful hotel room at the Puli, and from there to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

Posted from my phone. Please let me know of typos or other errors.