MagLev Train

I’ve got a couple hours of downtime before I head out for the train station to go to Hangzhou, so I’m going to catch up on reading stories for the boys and posting to the blog. Here’s a video of the maglev train ride. In the middle of it, you can hear me noting when we reached top speed of 431 km/hour.

Tags: MagLev, Shanghai

Arrival in Shanghai

I’ve arrived in Shanghai. I managed to make my way to the MagLev train and then to the Metro then to a cab…all with the handy help of my iPhone and little apps that displayed the destinations in Chinese so people could point me along the way. The MagLev train ride was brief but very cool. It takes you from the airport to the end of one of the Metro lines in the city. I’ve read online that it cuts off about 30-40 minutes worth of cab ride. I believe it. At peak speed, we reached 431 km/hour or about 268 miles per hour. Very smooth ride! Wish we had one of these between Maine/Boston/NYC/DC. That would be very cool.

I ultimately decided to splurge a little on the hotel. So rather then going for the Shanghai equivalent of a motel 6 (which in China is 160 better…its called Motel 168), I’m staying at the JC Mandarin at the recommendation of Mark Yaxley of eTech/Studywiz. I think he made a good recommendation. Its about $150 US per night. In DC this is a $350 a night hotel, so no complaints. The view from my window is of some large building with a spire on top. I’ll have to visit it to find out what it is.

Time to get cleaned up, and start exploring. When I have a moment later, I’ll post a little iPod video I took on the MagLev. Haven’t even watched it myself, but I’m hoping it will give you a sense of the speed!

Tags: MagLev, Shanghai