It was pitch dark and freezing cold as I sat outside Songjiang Xincheng metro station at 5.45am on Monday morning, eating dumplings for breakfast. I had set myself the challenge of visiting every Shanghai Metro Station in one day, and was thinking this was not the most glamorous of beginnings. After a few minutes the staff rolled up the shutters and let me and a few other bleary-eyed commuters into the station.

My route took me along line 9 to Yishan Road, up and down line 3, all the way around the circular line 4, then onto line 2 into Pudong. It was now mid-rush hour and the trains and stations were packed.

As each train reaches the terminus, a small snatch of Kenny G is played over the loudspeaker. After Kenny played his sax at Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, I headed back to Century Avenue, then onto line 6 north into the depths of Pudong – all while I would usually be asleep 🙂 Throughout the day I was updating Twitter from my phone, and getting messages of support from the many people following from their desks!

Heading south down line 6, I managed to meet up with agent 00J, who kindly brought me a sandwich. At the south end of line 6, we took a shortcut via bus to Line 8. I then headed on alone to the north end of line 8, where I managed to dash into the toilet for a much-needed comfort break (Note for would-be imitators: a strong bladder is a must)

I was making good time, and was already an hour and a half ahead of my plan! At Hongkou Football Stadium station, I transferred back onto line 3. Hongkou Stadium is a ‘virtual interchange’ which involves crossing a main road and running up several flights of stairs! Up to the north ends of line 3, then time for another bus transfer. I managed to mess this one up, ending up running over a kilometre trying to find the bus stop. Still, before long I was at Fujin Road on line 1.

Then there was just one long journey southwards the length of Line 1, through the start of the evening rush hour. At Xinzhuang. I transferred onto Line 5 towards Minhang in south-west Shanghai.

We pulled into Minhang Development Zone Station, the final station, at 4:14pm. I had finally made it in 10 hours, 14 minutes and 42 seconds, surpassing my expectations, and hopefully providing a tough target for Wang Jian Shuo to beat 🙂

After completing the challenge I had to get home, so I took the metro. Somehow I had made it through the day without caffeine, and believe me when I say crappy McDonald’s coffee has never tasted so good…

Here’s my route… if you think you can beat my time, then start researching on the interactive metro map! If you want to take the challenge, just contact us and I can answer any questions!

Falling asleep on the way home…

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