The Indian Contractor visits Vietnam and China on a Shoestring

This was it. The last day in Shanghai. It would be Shanghai to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Singapore. We woke up around one in the afternoon and bummed around for a while. We wanted to go to Nanjing road. It was an area near the bund that had some nice buildings and places to eat. It took us two hours to get ready. We left Gilberts place at 3. We took a taxi to nanjing road.We only had till 630pm. Our flight was departing at 0930 that night. We had to leave gilberts place by 0730. So kept a close watch on the time as we walked through the street. It was a nice street. Colonial buildings in the midst of modern buildings and all kindsa shops.

We walked around aimlessly and took random pictures of the buildings. We had the same spicy noodle soup for lunch. But it was much less spicier.So we finished it quickly. Time Check: 1700. Time for some concluding pics. One tall building took my interest and I fired away from ground level.

Then we did a concluding shot of ourselves... it was not that well done so everyone's skin colour became like mine!

It was back to gilberts place after that. We took the subway to the technological museum and rendevouzed with Gilberts dad and went to his house. We packed up everything and get ready for the airport. We were supposed to catch the 1920 maglev train to the airport. This train was supposed to have a top speed of 450 km/h. Wow!

We reached the station on time. We bought the tickets, thanked Gilberts dad (We owe him big time for his generosity and jovial company) and got into the train. In about 10 minutes the journey was complete. Our train only 300km/h but it was already zooming past freeways like an aeroplane.

At the airport we took some final pictures of the shanghai airport and ourselves. The end of our journey was near. I could'nt thank Gilbert enough for all the hospitality and company especially when my buddy was not feeling very well.

Its a strange world we live in. I was his instructor during our army days but we got along more like buddies from high school. And imagine meeting up again thousands of kilometers away in China! Lesson learnt guys: Never get rid of friends. You will never know when and where you might need them!

We already missed Shanghai, more for the company than for the place itself. We reluctantly boarded the train and flew to Guangzhou. And thus started the climax and what I call the Gigantic GuangZhou Disaster!!!! Read on....Its finishing soon...