Our last 2 days in China

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After touring Nanjing, we headed back to Shanghai. Our flight back to the US was not until the next day, so we had some more time to explore Shanghai. Besides, we weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet...we still had a couple of items to cross off of our Must See List.

Nanjing Road (pedestrians only, in downtown Shanghai)

Jia Jia Tang Bao - Em had to go see the restaurant that bears her (former) middle name :)

next door to Jia Jia is an amazing dumpling place, Yang's Fried Dumpling, where you can get 4 of these for about 5 yuan (~$0.80, not a bad price for lunch)

OK, being a techie, I really really wanted to ride the Maglev train in China. It is the most technologically advanced train in the world. I remember as a child, I was fascinated to feel the invisible force when bringing two magnets of the same polarity in close proximity. I would try to push the magnets together against their will to get them to touch...but the magnets always won this battle. Well, the Maglev uses this principle to float a train above the tracks. As you can imagine, this brings friction to almost zero, which equates to a VERY fast and VERY smooth ride. Using this technology, the trains can reach speeds of 361 mph. Using this technology, China's public transportation infrastructure will leave the rest of the world in its dust! With the ability to easily use green power (from hydroelectric, solar, windmills, etc) instead of fuel and the use of regenerative braking (in which the energy dissipated from braking is fed back into the system, in a manner akin to what lets the Toyota Prius get great mpg), the Maglev has considerable environmental advantages and is well poised for the future. China has plans to use this system to connect some of the cities we visited, and they already have plans to build even faster trains. With speeds that will soon approach the speed of commercial aircraft, these trains have the potential to revolutionize travel. The best part, however, is the convenience: you can walk up, swipe your card, breeze through a quick security scan, and hop on, all in about 2 minutes. I challenge you to find an airport where you can do that (unless you are a billionaire with a private jet/helicopter, you have to purchase your ticket weeks in advance, pay hundreds of dollars, and then waste about 2 hrs in lines/waiting for each flight, not to mention the inevitable delays). Even just typing about air travel can make my blood pressure rise; it has to be the most inefficient system and worst business model ever, yet we all put up with it because we have no better alternative. A lot of this blame can be put on the US government for ridiculous security measures that rarely catch actual terrorist attacks, while inconveniencing millions everyday...but I digress.
Let's just say that China is moving in the right direction when it comes to public transportation, and the US (and most of the rest of the world) is quickly being left behind....and it seems the respective economies are trending this way too.
Oh, and BTW, the Shanghai Maglev has been in commercial operation since 2004.

the mascot for the China expo by the Maglev station

Cruising at 431 km/h (267 mph) on the Maglev, we went from downtown Shanghai to the airport in only 7 minutes!! A one-way ticket costs 50 yuan (~$7.50), well worth the experience/bragging rights.

At the airport and heading home, our China adventure quickly came to a close. Overall, it was an awesome trip, and I learned a lot more about China in one week than I had learned during the entirety of my schooling. It is safe to say that we will be returning soon to visit other cities (Beijing) and other historical landmarks (The Great Wall). Now if I could just find a way to weasel a few more vacation days from work...