A coffee stop in Shanghai

My first visit to China was to the largest city and global financial hub, Shanghai. It is always exciting to visit a country for the first time and to experience a new culture. My first highlight was travelling at 431 km/h on the Maglev train from the airport to the city centre, the fastest I have travelled on land. The week before leaving for Shanghai, I discovered it was The Golden Week (national holidays) and probably the busiest period to travel in China. I was certainly not prepared for the number of people visiting the Bund by the Yangtze River, which boasts the best views of Shanghai and the Pudong business district. Still, as a result of the national holidays, fewer factories were working and the air was clear and good for photography. On the first day I rose early (well, early local time; my body was expecting dinner) and I made my way to the Bund. I set up my tripod and took my first sunrise image of Shanghai, over the Pudong skyscrapers. After finishing my morning photographs and witnessing the locals enjoy flying their kites, I was tempted, as many tourists shamefully do, into a brand of coffee shop they recognise. And it was imperative I bought the Starbucks Shanghai coffee mug to add to my collection. On leaving and walking back to my hotel, I observed the sun’s position was perfectly aligned behind the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. I quickly set up my tripod, popped a filter on my lens and captured this image. I now consider this image my best city image I’ve taken in sixteen years of photography, and all because I couldn’t resist a Starbucks coffee.