my last morning in seoul, and its raining on a frosty Sunday morning.
light droplets of icy tears, falling softly from the sky.
God, i love rain.
the only thing that i wanted to do at the time, after coming back 5 am last night was of course to continue counting the zzz's in my semi - conscious head, but inevitably (and thankfully, perhaps) the epiphany that i needed to get ready and leave for the airport soon rang hard in mind. so off i go. i got ready, left the guesthouse and told them i'd be back in a few days. i was off to the one of the most dynamic financial hubs on the asian continent.
the almighty economic heart that incessantly pumps cold hard cash in and out in the arteries and veins of the scaled body of a seemingly omnipotent money hungry dragon on the global stage, that the world use to know as The Middle Kingdom.
shanghai, baby. shanghai.
and i just had to stop myself from going out of control with excitement.
raw, unbridled, unrestrained, deservedly so, excitement.
and so i departed seoul in the biting cold. the bitter and unbearable cold, that seemed forlorn and despaired. a sign of a perfect farewell i thought, weeping at my departure.
but i arrived in shanghai in the blazing heat. the blistering and sweltering heat, that seemed radiant and effulgent. a sign of a joyous welcome i felt, rejoicing in my arrival.
i liked it already.
unfortunately the first thing that greeted me after leaving pudong airport on the streets of shanghai was its world famous, notoriously menacing and temper inducing gridlocks on the highways.
it was jams galore.
after about an hour ( or was it two? or three even? ) and with my head still pounding from last night having had slept so late, the situation was beginning to get on my nerves. thankfully however after making a couple of wrong stops, i finally arrived at my hotel.
my - conspicuously obvious 5 star, luxuriously rated with lavishly gleaming interior environments, dripped with architectural decadence at every corner - hotel.
4 point sheraton shanghai,fujian road,shanghai.
and the minute i walked in and said thank God to the receptionist ( who emphatically smiled after i uttered that ) and after realising that indeed was the right place, relived from escaping the scorching heat outside, i kinda felt like a globe trotting bruce wayne, with a billion dollars in my pockets, in town for some high end business dealings.
now the thing is, i actually would have preferred to have stayed in a hostel, a guesthouse or a backpackers inn for its congenial atmosphere, but i also thought before i left home, that it would be quite an experience to stay in a 5 star hotel for just a few days.
so i decided for the sake of the experience, i'd try it out.
as expected it was all what you would expect from a world class hotel, and at least for the next few days, i was gonna live it up.
yup, that's the reception area, see what i mean, when i say architecturally decadent? the place was absolutely dripping with the essence of decorative and superfluous exaggeration at every corner. once i checked in, breathing a heavy sigh of relief, i checked into my room, got my stuff unpacked, and showered.
a cold bath never felt so good.
a light nap never felt more comfortable.
for the next few hours, a little bit of quiet breathing space was all i was craving for. i needed to rest my weary and fatigued self for a couple of hours at least and resign myself to brief slumber. but i knew the setting of the evening sun would re - energise me to start sauntering again and there was one place in particular that i had been dreaming off to visit ever since i started researching the exciting sights and sounds of this famed metropolis.
it was a place steeped in glorious history, where the commencement of shanghai's meteoric financial prominence had begun hundreds of years ago. it was place of vibrant commerce and trade, of shady dealings and brutal foreign occupations, of shameful decadence and fabulous opulence and of apathetic neglect and a spectacular rebirth.
it was called quite simply The Bund, and i was dying to see its magnificent presence on a strip of illuminated edifices right by the paved banks of the mighty Huangpu river. my enthusiasm would have to wait though cause right now, all that mattered was sleep.
and i closed my eyes for a moment or two.
and solace quickly enveloped me.
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