The flight: Arrived early at the airport (Thanks Les), had a quick and easy check-in, and a relaxing wait to leave. The flight was uneventful, but seemed long to me, possibly because of one strange thing: even though it was a daytime flight, all the blinds were closed and lights off, making it feel like night.

First impressions:

1. The roads in Shanghai are amazing. There are huge overhead roads everywhere, often 3 or 4 roads looping above and below each other. I guess when a city is growing so quickly, the easiest place to put a road is above everything that was already there.

2. The traffic was light. I was expecting Bangkok style gridlock.

3. The size of the city: From the airport you couldn’t see the city centre. The drive in to the city took 45 minutes, all at freeway speeds. The city seems so spread out.

4. The Maglev train from the airport into the city is the world’s fasted train, travelling at 437km/h. The 45 minute drive would have taken 7 minutes if we caught the train!

5. The hotel room is the best I’ve ever stayed in. Just beautiful.

Lauren (or should I say ‘Kate’ – explanation later) relaxing.