When traveling, at what point can you say that you've really been somewhere? It's not simply passing through an airport, they're all basically the same, so for me that doesn't count. What about when you check into a hotel? Same problem I think. Seen one, seen 'em all. Perhaps you've really been to a place when you go out for a meal there? But again, we tend to stick to what we know. So that often misses for me as well. • I think that you've really been somewhere when you've ridden public transportation. Preferably to somewhere far away from wherever it is you are staying. For me, the way that people commute reveals little things about what they value as a culture. • I stayed in #Shanghai solo for a few days earlier this year to ride the trains and walk the streets so that I might feel as though I had really been there. The trains are clean and punctual and there are plexiglass barriers preventing you from inadvertently falling into the tracks. Once you're on the train, more people dip their heads and plug into their smartphones than I've ever seen anywhere else. And further, as is starting to pop up in the more advanced trains of the world, video screens play advertisements on the tunnel walls as the cars speed past. On this train into the #Pudong new city from #Nanjing rd. A Kung-fu panda tried to convince us of something that it was beyond my language skills to understand. • The Pudong new city is a district of Shanghai built from farmland in only the last 25 years. It is now home to millions of people, the main financial district, and some of the worlds tallest buildings. In recent living memory, it has seen all ends of the human experience, from livestock to soaring steel, glass and wealth beyond imagination. • And this lady, old enough to have seen it all as an adult, was the only person of thousands with her head up, not down. Her eyes remained closed for her entire journey thinking something I'll never know while we sped past the Bund, #Dongchang rd, and endless rows of concrete under one of the most incredible cities on Earth. My 2016 retrospective begins today and oh my, it was an incredible year. • #2016retrospective #travellife #china🇨🇳#livingwell (at Nanjing Road)
