Shanghai's only Mountain - Sheshan

On Sunday we found the Tour Bus Center near the Shanghai Stadium and took a 1-day tour to Sheshan, a mountain about 30 km from downtown Shanghai. The main attraction of Sheshan is the forested park but the old Catholic Cathedral and astronomical observatory on top of the mountain are also key attractions. To get there we paid 10 rmb (about US$1.25) each to ride through the outskirts of Shanghai for an hour. I had not been through this section of southwest Shanghai and was struck by the miles and miles of dusty industrial and commercial jumble that seems endless. Here and there a modern building, nightclub or residential compound could be seen but the general effect was what I would imagine Baghdad to look like - minus the bombing and killing of course.

Once we got to Sheshan we took a rusting cable car to the top of the mountain and milled around outside the church and enjoyed a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. A planned community of tree-lined streets and 2 and 3-story mansions stretched as far as I could see in one direction. There are a lot of very rich people in Shanghai. Off on the horizon, in Zhejiang Province, I could see skyscrapers rising.

To get down the mountain we rode wheeled luge-like boards down a concrete culvert. No safety precautions here - but it was better than the rusty cable car. We had to wait a couple of hours for a bus back to the city but while we waited under an awning in the breeze of a shopfront we met Kenneth of Malaysia and Cammie of Hong Kong. On the way back into the city we agreed to take a trip with them to a mountainous area of Zhejiang Province the next weekend.