Shanghai is missing a trick by not listing its maglev train as a tourist attraction. What a rush to go 431 Kilometers an hour. In 8 minutes you go 30 kilometers with a very comfortable ride. The speed of the train makes it just as good as any amusement park, without the long lines. Maglev stands for magnetic levitation, the train raises off the tracks because of magnetic polarization, as the train is not on the tracks it takes away a lot of the friction caused by gravity, which makes the train able to go so fast. The price of the ride was very fair at 80 Yuan, just a little bit over $10 USD. The maglev runs from Pudong airport to the Southwest corner of Shanghai. Something to keep in mind is that Shanghai has two airports on opposite sides of the city.

Shanghai like all great city’s has an excellent commuter train system that is fast and cheap, most rides on the metro are under 1USD, most are in the 3- 6 Yuan range for moving around inside the cities inner rings, which is where most tourists will spend there time in Shanghai. We found the metro system to be easy to navigate with out help from the locals. The train system was developed by Siemens and was very similar to the trains in Singapore as well as Bangkok. The route maps were everywhere and were in English as well as Chinese they also had a lot of other maps showing the landmarks near the train stations with the exits well marked on the maps as well. Shanghai has 4 commuter lines and the maglev line which is separate and needs a different fare.

Fred Tittle has lived and worked in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva’s Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, he became a PADI Pro Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He now owns EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches SSI and PADI scuba diving courses and runs liveaboards in the gulf of Thailand and Asia adventure tours, http://www.ecosea.com

Fred’s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com