Here you can see the speed.. and the whole experience more akin to an airline flight with refreshments and air hostess style staff.
They tell me that soon it will be faster as they have been built to do 350 kilometres an hour. As you practically fly across the country in a hushed and smooth way the distant hazy mountains shift perspective in an almost timelapse fashion, but this is real time.. and it's .. well pretty cool. It's the future..
But there is a cost to all this amazing development.. look at the sky and it is rarely blue. Even on the sunniest clearest day it is more an eggshell pastel blue and mostly just a sad grey. Even in Shanghai which can benefit from a sea breeze clearing the air the tops of the buildings just disappeared into a kind of haze. I long for the clean air of the Yorkshire moors.
Meanwhile in Shanghai down in the French quarter between those mega towers are tree lined streets of old chop-houses, this area is full of feisty independent retailers selling cool and trendy stuff. Achingly expensive wine bars next to almost free noodle bars. Every shop or bar has an English or French or Chinese name or both or all three. Up side streets you will see old men playing mahjong under strings of washing and tangled power lines. But what's this.. there is a serious trend going on here. The same word in English on every other shop.. In this most modern of cities the word is out.. and the word is VINTAGE.. Vintage clothes shops, vintage jewelry, vintage watches, vintage gifts. Even the bars try to conjure up a bygone era. You're just not cool retailer unless you have those LED lights that mimic flickering incandescent bulbs. (Note to self must get a supply of those)
