Have to admit, though, that in fact China is perhaps less different than I assumed, based on my brother's stories. But probably I didn't experience the worst parts... Firstly, in China don't expect things to work the way you think, or in fact at all. Secondly, 'yes' doesn't mean yes, it just something you say because 'no' is not an option. And the traffic... Well, you get used to it. But if you are traveling longer than 5 minutes in a taxi, at least in evening or night, keep a sharp eye on the driver. It obviously is a boring job and they have to do long hours, since it seems to be very hard to stay awake while driving... In the end, I'm rather glad that I came to Hong Kong instead of Shanghai. Hong Kong is not China, here things (usually) work =)
What about Shanghai?
The Shanghai and Formula trip went pretty smoothly. Lot of waiting on the circuit, and two short visits to Shanghai center. Nanjing on Saturday night was pretty growded, and people had a lot of air fillable toys. That's about it =) Othervise it was just a very big city's center and the prices in bars etc. are pretty similar to Hong Kong. Perhaps a bit cheaper, but anyway. It is a Big city, should have a lot more time to experience before could say anything more.
Nanjing on Saturday night:
It is for real:
What about the Formulas?
The most mentionable thing about Formula 1:s is, that they are insanely loud. Ok, they are fast too, and the brakes are very efficient, but the sound... It's just one thing that you need to experience. The weather wasn't too good since it was raining lightly most of the time that we had to wait for the Formula 1:s to start. Fortunately there were some other races, like Formula Renault and BMW, and some Porsche cups to keep up the intereset before the actual race. The atmosphere on the circuit was nice, and it was an excellent experience, but it is pretty difficult to really follow the race, since you don't get any additional information like the time differences or reasons for pit stops etc. Don't necessarily need to go to a Formula 1 GP ever again, but you have to experience it once =)
An image tells more than a thousand words, so let them speak:
On Saturday just before the time trials, the whole circuit area was practically deserted:
There were a few more people on Sunday, even though the weather wasn't too good:
The overview from our seats:
Porsches were the best (looking) cars on the track:
On the morning Finns' spirit was very high:
There was also a serie for Formula Hong Kongs':
Kimi was the fastest driver and gaining on Alonso:
And situation was getting tight:
But suprise suprise, the McLaren Mercedes broke down again (too bad there are no Porsches in F1)...
Fortunately Schumi won! Ferrari is not bad either ;)
And if you wonder whether I saw Kimi in the Shanghai night life after the race...
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