Peace Palace Shanghai

Had a fantastic day today looking at all the art deco architecture in the city. Finished up with a beer on the roof garden of the infamous Peace Hotel. What a view of the city skyline from there. Sadly, the day ended on a sour note when our continuing problems with the language saw me faced with a dinner of live jumping prawns in a bowl of wine. Oh dear!!! Needless to say I didn't eat them, and after 30 minutes of using our phrase book and eventually finding some poor bloke on the street who ...

It was Friday night and I still hadn't made plans for the weekend. Part of the program is that we're supposed to venture off on the weekends to explore China, and I was lagging on that part. At the teahouse, Mei Li informed me that she was planning on taking off Saturday morning for Shanghai and that I was welcome to join her. With that, my plans were set. At 8:30 Saturday morning, Mei Li and I set off for the bus station. Three hours and a $7 bus ticket later, we had arrived in the "Paris of...

Very nervous today as we were finally heading for China. For a girl from the north Queensland bush, this felt pretty special. Hong Kong airport, queues, customs, boarding. A DC9 plane, the air hostesses (as they were then) didn't have a standard uniform but the food was good. Down below lots of green, mountains, rivers and houses. Then Shanghai! Old runway, grass growing out of cracks in the cement, luscious green vegetation. Onto a bus and to the famous Peace Hotel. Like Hong Kong, honking c...

This was an incredibly busy day which began with me waking feeling quite ill and having the proverbial runs. Ah well... Our first stop on a very hot day was the Yu Yang Gardens where as well as goldfish in ponds there were people, people and more people. The tree roots had been turned into carvings which was pretty interesting. Lots of little tunnels to walk through as well. Next stop, the Shanghai Museum - lots of artwork, ceramics and brass - in a very old building, high ceilngs, ornate, bu...

Nick took us out for a REAL western breakfast. Wonderful. As you all have heard, these are not easy to come by. Then we wandered off to the Peoples Square to check out the new Urban Planning Mueseum. Nick being in commericial real estate was particularly interested in this & not so much in anymore of my temple tours :). It was really interesting actually. The mueseum is pretty new, so its very contemporary and interactive. It does show how amazing the growth and development of Shanghai re...

Greetings from China Nee-hao (or something like that) Spent 3 very interesting days in Shanghai. Real eye opener. Chinese cities are huge! Shanghai has thousands of skyscrapers - the famous landmark ones plus many, many apartment blocks 20 - 50 stories high! They must have building solidly for 20 years. The new office buildings are stunning architecture. They, and the Bund - the 20s architecture built by the British - are all lit up in the evening, and make for a stunning view. On the first n...

Arrived at Christchurch airport only to find AKL closed with high winds - what I'd been looking forward to for ages might be scuttled at the first hurdle (excuse the mixed metaphor!!).Finally arrived in Auckland a couple of hours late, but in time to meet the rest of the group, some quick duty-free shopping, and we're off. After a long flight we arrived at Shanghai, to be met by our friendly tour guide, Mike (real name, I promise!!). We transferred to Qiao Airport, where after a long(ish) wai...

The history of Shanghai makes interesting reading. There's been a city here since the 1200's, but it was only in the mid-19th Century that the city really came to life on the back of the new generation of traders from Britain and France. The 30 years from the turn of the century saw Shanghai become, probably, the most exciting city in the world. Buoyed by the growth of trade, Shanghai exploded into a centre of world trade and commerce. Many major companies were launched here, including the Ho...