shanghai chaos: 29.5 million humans and counting
so shanghai. wow. where do i even start? it's this massive place on the yangtze river delta, split by the huangpu river into puxi and pudong. like two completely different worlds. puxi's got old colonial stuff, pudong's just... insane skyscrapers. 6,340 square kilometers of mostly flat land, average elevation 4 meters. that's like... a really tall person? barely. they built all these towers on soft soil, someone told me they use piles going down forever because the ground's basically pudding.
i just checked and it's 7.88°C right now, feels like 5.97°C, hope you like that kind of thing. humid, not freezing but not warm either. typical coastal thing.
the population is insane. 29.5 million people in just the urban area. that's more than some countries. they keep expanding too, swallowed up all the surrounding towns. someone told me it used to be farmland everywhere back in the 80s, now it's just... concrete and buildings.
things to do? the bund is obvious, colonial buildings facing pudong's future. xintiandi's restored old houses, feels touristy but whatever. sheshan hill is the highest point at 100 meters, which is basically a speed bump here. chongming island's huge, mostly farms, good escape from the madness.
if you get bored, suzhou, nanjing, hangzhou, ningbo are just a short drive or boat ride away. different provinces, close enough. east china sea's right there too, but no cities just water.
heads up though: low elevation means flooding when typhoons hit. soil's so soft everything sinks. traffic's insane, and the air around the edges looks like industrial wasteland with all the construction. someone told me they're still building like crazy everywhere.
that's shanghai for you. world's busiest port, crazy contrast between old and new, and 29.5 million people just... living here. i'm tired.
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