During some free time we were lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the city by our Shanghai teachers- Ms Rong and Ms Dai. Shanghai is a fast paced city and has been developed significantly over the past 40 years. We, however, first visited the traditional part and were taken for a tour of the Chenghuang Temple- this is also called Yi temple and covers an area of more than 10,000 square metres. Inside the temple we also visited the beautiful Yu garden, it was created by the Ming dynasty and considered the best garden in southeast China, with elements of it dating back over 400 years. It was amazing how peaceful and quiet this was as it was situated right in the middle of the most populated city in the world!

After this, we were taken for a traditional afternoon tea. We were taken to one of the most famous restaurants in Shanghai- Lu Bo Lang is a five diamond (5 star ) establishment and we were amazed to find out that many famous people have eaten here- including the Queen on her visit in 1986 and Bill Clinton (US President) and his family in 1998. The food was amazing!!

As if all this wasn’t enough, we then were taken to Shanghai Tower- this is the world’s second tallest building behind the Burj Khalifa and stands at 632m- spread out over 119 floors! It also contains the world’s fastest elevators and they can travel at up to 20 metres per second!! We arrived just in time for sunset and the views were breathtaking as we watched day turn into night.

It was great to see a mixture of both traditional and modern Shanghai all in one day and we now have our work cut out to ensure that we give the Shanghai teachers such an equally memorable experience when they visit Birmingham.

Mr. Cannon