Shanghai bound

The day has arrived to depart Chengdu and reluctantly leave Sims Cozy garden hotel (which has been a real pleasure to stay at and a perfect place to transit to Tibet). My chosen transport is air due to the lack of train tickets available, a quick car ride to the airport and ‘China Eastern’ books me in rapidly and the plane is comfortable with good leg room for economy fare…
The weather is not perfect and there is a little turbulence on route as well as a heavy rainstorm on descent which resembled streaks of water in horizontal lines lit by the glaring landing lights - the pilot did a splendid job taking us in and we are soon safely on the ground and heading on our way :)
I have been looking forward to the next leg for a while since seeing the journey taken by Paul Merton in a TV exploration of China. The Maglev does not disappoint and is a clean and comfortable ride at 300kph J The smooth ride from the airport takes just 8mins and glides to a smooth halt at a metro station allowing for rapid transit anywhere in the city. Fantastic and worth a return ticket even if your not flying from the airport - the leaning track is a marvel of modern engineering.
Landing in Shanghai in the evening meant that I did not do anything more than settle into my accommodation at a hotel on the edge of the city 5 stops from line 2. This is just 5y/50p for a ticket and allows for a considerable discount on rooms (less than ¼ of the price of a central hotel).