Shanghai - The cosmopolitan city of the Orient

Shanghai is a city where East and West concoct a blend of cosmopolitan living. The tune that resonates in my mind would be from the theme song of the famous drama serial starring Chow Yun Fatt. The mystery has always been to me what is all so great about this city? Shanghai is known to the Chinese as the future of China. Beijing for that matter is the current and Xian claims to be the past.

This short business trip was slotted in during the busiest period of my social life. With the opening play of the Peranakan museum, I was clamoring for more time. Left on Sunday afternoon straight after the first performance of the play and arrived late at night in Shanghai. Just minutes after I arrived, I was to discuss the procedure of the Brand Workshop with Saxone.

During my extended stay in Shanghai, I was very much indulging in the sights of the city. Not so much of the sounds as I was deafened by the rude conversations from the Chinese. But I must agree that Shanghai has the hardware of any international city in the world. Skyscrapers all over and lights to fill the streets past midnight.

The highlight of the trip was a guest appearance by Alvin. Was touched as he made an effort to change his schedule just to meet me in Shanghai. We only got to spend a late afternoon and evening together but that was good enough. We trawled the streets for shopping and had horrible Japanese food somewhere near Raffles City. Luckily, the evening was made beautiful by our venture to the top of Park Hyatt at Pudong side. The view was breathtaking, everything seemed so much smaller from up there. 

Oh well, in summary, my trip to Shanghai was so-so......not a favourite city of mine. Even with the beautiful architecture, the Shanghainese were still unable to pull off the cosmopolitan living.