Shanghai Stopover
Centrair airport
The train to the airport was pretty packed! A businessman gave me a little help with getting off the train and even found me a trolley!
Ninjas in terminal 1.
Food miscalculation!
I made myself a packed lunch before setting off for the airport, my flight being at 13:35. It has both fruit and dairy (and there's an apple too!), which can't be taken through security, so I'm having to wolf it all down a little earlier than planned!
A tape measure was brought out to measure my bike bag, but although I had to take it to the oversize baggage scanner, it got through check-in without further issues 🙂
5 June 2026 - 13:21
I spent the last of my Japanese yen on red bean paste products (mochi and yokan) and, of course, peanuts!
Flight
Photos from coming in towards Shanghai.
Had a decent flight, although the airline provided a meal which was not vegetarian again - can't blame GoToGate this time. To be fair, I could have just declined it, already having had my sandwiches, but I'm still in eating a lot mode, even though the cycling has ended!
On the mag-lev train
At 301km/h
Riverside Mall
China Art Museum
I couldn't go in as it was already closing
5 June 2026 - 17:35
Along the river
5 June 2026 - 18:00
Shanghai Expo Cultural Park
Shanghai Expo Cultural Park
Shanghai Expo Cultural Park
5 June 2026 - 19:11
Shanghai Greenhouse
I thought I would be too late to go into the Shanghai Greenhouses as it was already 7pm, but they were open until 9pm... Even so, my transfer from the airport to my hotel was supposed to be at 9pm. I decided to shift it to 10pm, as I wouldn't get another chance to visit, and it looked pretty good.
They actually put on a special light and music show from 7pm to 9pm too; you miss being able to read the educational signs, but it looks quite impressive!
Shanghai Greenhouse
Shanghai Greenhouse
Shanghai Greenhouse
Shanghai Greenhouse
5 June 2026 - 19:54
Shanghai Greenhouse
Shanghai Greenhouse
Shanghai Greenhouse
5 June 2026 - 20:46
5 June 2026 - 21:27
Hmmm, I'm cutting it a bit fine even for the 10pm pick-up from the airport. I hope this mag-lev train is fast and I don't get lost trying to find the pick-up point!
Hotel
The hotel had a completely different name to what it was called on booking.com again! New Knight Royal Hotel rather than Xin Jue Jiayi Hotel Airport and International Resort. Must be the right place as some of the indoor photos match...and they gave me a room!
This is a pretty amazing hotel room for about£17! Two double beds and loads of room. Shame I only have a few hours here - got to be up around 5:30am to get some breakfast before transfer back to the airport at 6:10am!
I didn't spot any veggie pot noodles in their little shop, so it's just some left-over granola, peanuts and mochi for my evening meal.
Early ride back to the airport
After a rushed 5:45am breakfast which definitely deserved more time (especially the red bean paste purple steamed buns!). My only proper Asian breakfast of the trip!
Back in the UK
China Eastern successfully served me vegetarian meals on my 4th flight with them!
I didn't manage to sleep much on the flight, but read a bit, and watched a film (Mercy).
The bike seems to have made it undamaged this time, maybe partly thanks to the excessive Japanese plastic food packaging which I taped to the protruding parts 🙂