Shanghai, friends & no hangovers
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2008
1
22
85
Trip End
Nov 11, 2008
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The 100 year old architecture, tight pavements and air cons dripping water on you down the street. These old buildings each with a plaque on regarding their history.
And then there is the new, Pudong. Glass peaks of all shapes and sizes. Wonderful to look at in many different ways. A vastness of Urban Planning and Design.
A little shopping here and there and I soon replaced my wardrobe (third of space in backpack), buying new underpants, combats, shorts and T-shirts. All the old clothes I donated to the Earthquake Appeal.
But when I look back maybe I'll remember the nights out with great people. Some lasting memories till 2am, others till 5am and possibly some blanks in there too. But always, somehow, without a hangover the following morning. Maybe my drinking habits are sensible.
After staying a Saturday to Saturday it was time to take the night train to Beijing. This 1600kms 11.5 hour journey was fairly smooth as the train reaches speeds of 160km/hour. I'm sure this will be the smoothest and most comfortable train of the 10,000kms journey to Saint Petersburg!
And for those interested in more detail.......
Day 82.
5/7/08
I joined Mark at the hostel. He was the other out of place blond in Zhangjiajie. Ended up crashing a football party. But after to much free beer and food I bloated myself into tiredness. Early night on a Saturday!
Day 83.
6/7/08
After local breakfast i walked around Rennin (Peoples) Square and checked out the shops. Scouted around for trekking pants/combats & shorts. Shop were a welcome rest bite from the record temperatures in the city.
In the evening I enjoyed a fantastic meal with Greg, the 'cultural attaché' of the international cricket sixes.
Day 84.
7/7/08
Early start, local breakfast and then the Shanghai museum. For lunch I joined a group of friends living in Shangers (Maria, Janus & Arlene); it was an epic meat fest.
Returned to the hostel via the Columbia store to buy the 'titanium' combats & shorts. These were sold with the tag line, 'Technical gear for people who push the limits and often break them'. Sounds like me! They weren't cheap but I figured they will last for the journey and they were a perfect fit. Ditch some of the Thailand cr@p.
You don't know how hard it was to find a computer that has adobe acrobat, Internet, skype & can print. These were required to sort out payment for the trans Siberian adventure starting next week. Well at least I relied on the fax going through and being picked up the other end!
The evening some of the backpackers crashed a tepinyaki birthday party and then we headed to Zapata's for tequila (bottle). There I seemed to bump into a few girls I knew. Very surreal & messy!
Day 85.
8/7/08
I tried to move to the two busier hostels, but they were fully booked out for the night. So I booked up for the following day. Having the hostel situation sorted I then bought my train ticket to Beijing.
Finally, hitting the markets I negotiated for 5 'designer' T-shirts, costing an undisclosed fee. Amy, I beat the Beijing price of 3 years ago!
Having sourced good quality combats, shorts & t-shirts, the next thing on the list for another day were underpants. The hostels have somehow stretched the elastic of the several pairs I bought along, they need replacing before I leave. A Gortex Titanium jacket would be useful, but I think buying one in the US will be cheaper.
Fell to sleep after watching the new movie of Kongfu Panda, great stuff!
Day 86.
9/7/08
Moved to a much better hostel and ordered some name cards from the print shop. Not much to report till a night time of champagne! Oh the high life.
Day 87.
10/7/08
Chilled out, enjoyed massage & found a dark local beer. Another Late night! (early morning)
Day 88.
11/7/08
Despite the lack of sleep I motivated myself to do some sightseeing before the weekend. I strolled down Nanjing Walking street to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. This place does not sound that interesting but it had excellent displays of Shangers history, present state by way of miniature buildings and their ambitious projects. A floor was also dedicated to the 2010 Expo being held in the City, makes me want to come back for that!
Lunch was at the nearby Xintiandi. This is composed of an area of restored traditional shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys.
With time running short I ditched the plan to go to ShanghArt and instead hit the Jade Buddha Temple (Yùfó Sì). See Pictures of it's beauty.
The evening was spent enjoying some beer and G&T with Janus, Maria and 'Max'.
Day 89.
12/7/08
My kind of evening; Superb cocktails (inc the inspired Jaffa Cocktail), pizza and Movies at Greg's. Party on down after at GPlus and Windows with Summer.
Day 90.
13/7/08
Bought some CK Undies. Again I beat the price a paid last time in China, took a visit to a few stalls but got there eventually.
Taking the 7.30pm Z-Train to Beijing for a 24hrs stop before officially starting the Trans-Siberian Adventure
