In downtown Shanghai I am stopped by two teenaged Chinese girls. They stand in front of me, arms linked, boosting each other's confidence.

"Where you from?" they ask. "You like Shanghai?"

Their questions are carefully framed. School lesson format. They are language students, eager to test their pronunciation. We chat in jerky sentences. They hesitate then offer, shyly, an amazing observation.

"You look ex-otic," one says, and they duck their heads and giggle.

I have to be sure I've heard right. I make them repeat it, for this is a first for me. But they're for real. Obviously, blonde-red hair - curly too - is  a rarity in this straight black-bobbed world they inhabit and so, in their eyes, I am somehow 'exotic'. Hmmm!

Yet, hairstyles are one of the few things not on the move in modern Shanghai where the cityscape - most of it constructed in the past decade or so - seems straight off a futuristic sketchpad. 

Parts of it belong to the ballpoint pen school of architecture - tall, cylindrical, with a conical top and pointed tip. A good way to enjoy the skyline is to take a sunset cruise on the Huangpu river. Shanghai is about 10 kilometres from the mouth of the river at the  delta.

Others could have come straight from the set of Star Wars, their bobbles and flying saucer shapes glowing pink and silver, frosty blue and amber, linked by impossibly thin towers. 

Nearby there are shops and of course, always more food. 

Places like this dumpling restaurant are an ideal spot  for a quick meal.

Today's Shanghai is buzzing, the financial capital of China and, some predict, the city that will one day dominate the world's banking and economy.

With a population of over 14 million, it has the formula, you would imagine, for shocking traffic snarls, pollution and poverty. But Shanghai's public face is smiling. The shops are smart and business seems to be booming, while traffic is generally 'polite'. 

"Look for the private cars," our guide encourages us. "See, there are none - nobody drives here." And it is true. Buses, motor scooters and taxis stream along the multi-laned multi-level freeways in an orderly mass, but the rare private vehicles are noteworthy. I asked a city entrepreneur whether he drove in Shanghai. After all, he had lived here for decades, but he grimaced and shrugged. "I use a taxi," he answered dismissively, and later when I took a half hour cab ride for just as few yuan, I could see why. 

There is no shortage of hotels in Shanghai. The Langham Xintiadi is walking distance to The Bund and shopping districts. The Xintiadi district is worth exploring too. With its cobbled streets and antique walls, there are still sophisticated galleries, stylish bars, smart cafes and boutiques and is at the heart of Shanghai’s entertainment scene.

The hotel's breakfast buffet would have to be one of the most luxurious in town .....

.... and the decor is quirkily-avant garde....

....while reminders of the trademark Langham style are always apparent.

From the Bund - everybody's favourite promenade spot, and backed by staid bank-solid colonial buildings, hotels, luxury watch headquarters, investment brokers - those on the other side of the sedate Huangpu River glow in a Manhattan-like clump.

On the right, the Shanghai International Convention Centre flanked by twin globes, complements the avant garde Orient Pearl TV Tower building which, at 468 metres, is the tallest of its kind in Asia, and third-tallest in the world.

Behind them again, stands the magic silver wire structure of the 88-storey Grand Hyatt plunging skyward. Late one evening we take a little train - a funfair-meets-space-age creation that dives under the river from the Bund through a tunnel blazing with psychedelic neon hoops and lights and fairy spangles. When we emerge, less than five minutes later, the incandescent glow of the Grand Hyatt still seems distant, and lures us the last few blocks like some glowing mirage. 

Inside is the dizzying lobby on the 54th floor with its shimmering marble expanse that visitors cross to take the whisper-soft lift to the 85th floor before changing for yet another one that transports them, quite literally, to Cloud 9, the hotel's darkly atmospheric bar overlooking the sparkling sprawl that is Shanghai by night.

From here you can see it all: the river looping through the city, the areas that once housed opium dens, French colonial quarters, stately British mansions and homes of Chinese merchants. It was of this cosmopolitan and raunchy city that a missionary once said: "If God lets Shanghai endure, he owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah." You could see why someone once called it "the city par excellence of two things, money and the fear of losing it."

On the riverside promenade at the Bund one morning we come across these youngsters performing in front of their adoring parents - the same as it would be anywhere in the world.

Except, although very young, they were absolutely serious about their performance - maybe because of the watchful eye behind them.

A wall of floweing plants makes the ideal spot for tourists and locals alike to pause for a photograph nearby. It's a reminder this massive city has seen it all, yet is still providing something for everyone. Business people, traders, children, and of course tourists, are welcome to enjoy this major city, but on its own terms. 

Shanghai has been around for a long time, and, like its skyline, the only way it plans to go is up.

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MUST DO

Promenade on the Bund, especially by night, and enjoy the view across the river.

Take the train under the river to the far bank.

Visit Cloud 9, the bar on the 85th floor of the Grand Hyatt.

Visit the People's Square, the Shanghai Museum, the Yu Garden maze, or the Jade Buddha Temple.

Take a river cruise.

Spend an evening at an acrobatic show or the Chinese Opera.

SHOPPING

Bustling Nanjing Road is Shanghai's acknowledged shopping street. A few blocks up from the well-known Peace Hotel, a wide pedestrian mall offers limited safety (bikes and motor scooters are not prohibited, and need to be alertly considered) and several department stores flank the space.

Browse the Old Street for antiques, scouring local markets, or a few hours at one of the international standard Friendship Shopping Centres.

- Sally Hammond.