The Voice Box

  This is my second visit to China, and I was very impressed to to be in what is now the largest city in the world.  It is definitely more of the metropolis landmark than Beijing, which I had visited last year.  I was staying at the Novotel Shanghai Atlantis in Pudong, and from my room on the 31st floor, the view was fantastic.  Just as I was told, Shanghai does display all the signs of a vibrant financial centre, and convinces you. without a doubt, that it is the best place to do business. To get there, I took a long journey with Qatar Airways.  It involved a six hour afternoon flight to Doha, and later a nine hour flight to Shanghai, which had me arriving the following day in the afternoon.  It was very revealing to me, as I was passing through that part of the world for the first time. DOWNTOWN SHANGHAI SHANGHAI BOTANICAL GARDEN Shanghai has two absolutely wonderful Botanical Gar...

October 1st, the Chinese National Day, I intended to rise early and take in the expected celebrations in Tiananmen Square. I did not make it.  Still jet-lagged from my ten hour flight from London, I overslept.  Rising swiftly, I quickly got dressed, and  grabbed some breakfast downstairs in the restaurant, at the excellent Novotel Hotel where I was staying  in the downtown area of Dongcheng, and headed for the ‘Forbidden City’ complex . Today called the Palace Museum – (The locals call it Gu-Gong which means Ancient Palace), it offers a striking insight about the Emperors who ruled China many years ago. It was so impressive that I spent a whopping five hours there; walking through an imperious Meridan Gate, gliding into numerous halls of Harmony and Palaces, all offering splendid architectural styles of the day. And then on towards the revealing Treasure Gallery with its minature icons, and finally exiting through the Imperial Garden...