It's drizzling in Shanghai and we're cold!
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2008
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8
26
Trip End
Jul 02, 2008
Shanghai,
China
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Since Ali wrote her last blog entry we have stayed in the same hostel, The Captain on Fuzhou Rd in Shanghai. It's really nice here and we have met some great people who are also travelling. We've picked up lots of tips for our onward trip as well, so that's a bonus!
Thursday
(Precis:Yuyuan. Dumplings. Old Town - Bazaars, Confucian Temple - shut. Jinmao wine. Bar pizza)
After discovering on Thursday morning that I was having problems loading photos onto the blog, we headed off with Marcus and Alex today (a lovely sunny day) to Yuyuan Gardens. We walked to the gardens, the approach to which was through very traditional looking (but obviously newly built) buildings full of stalls and little shops. I decided to buy a bigger memory card for my camera because of the uploading problems, and Alex helped me to get one for a good price for one, and taught me how to spot the fakes (thank you!).
The gardens were not free, but the entry fee was worth it as the gardens were very large and beautiful, in a traditional Chinese style. There were lakes full of beautiful Koi carp, lovely little buildings and some interesting shops displaying traditional wares from Chinese minority cultures.
By about 3pm we were all feeling really hungry so we got lunch from a dumpling place that was recommended in the guide book. It was near the garden entrance, and could not be missed because of the really really long queue leading up the the window. For 12 yuan (just under a pound) you get 16 delicious hot dumplings filled with minced meat, and served with soy sauce.
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Don't worry, the queue moves quicker than you think, and you get to see the dumplings being hand made while you wait. After lunch we walked through the old bazaars of the Old Town, heading south from Yuyuan. We saw all kinds of things for sale down the narrow streets, including kittens in a cage... We hope they were for pets, as they were outside a pet shop. We'd really recomment wandering around these streets, as with the French concession, as they show a totally different side to Shanghai, and you get up close to everyday life.
We tried to visit the confucian temple, but it was five to closing time whern we arrived, so no luck. Instead we caught a taxi to the Jinmao tower, being dropped off outside the main entrance in an amazingly grand way, and hopping up to the 87th floor for a bottle of wine and nibbles in our backpacker outfits (Marcus rocking a very special flip flops and trackkie bottoms look despite the no uncovered feet rule...). This is much better value that following the enormous crowds to the 88th floor viewing gallery, as you can sit and luxuriate in comfort for only a few yuan more. (and they give you free peanuts...). We got the metro back to the hostel in a mad rush to catch happy hour at the bar. We all made it fortunately! We got split into 2 groups by the crowd, and Alex and I ended up taking a short cut so that I managed to go to the shop for water and chocolate and still end up in the same lift as Ali and Marcus! They were disappointed that they missed the opportunity for a dramatic entrance.
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For dinner we shared a couple of pizzas in the bar and chatted to lots of other travellers. Friday
(Precis: Cruise. Urban Planning. Railway Car. Beer. Nightclub)
Another very sunny day and we went with Alex onto the Bund to find a river cruise on the Hunagpu river. After walking around and managing to avoid a lot of hawkers trying to sell us all kinds of rubbish (some of it strangely appealing though...) we chose a company, saw the boat that was pointed out and sat and waited for the departure time. When the time came however, we were marched off to a waiting coach to join many others for a trip further up the river to meet the boat. This was annoying, but actually the cruise turned out to be amazing, with great views all the way. The boat was very plush, with a strange rule that to sit in the 'VIP' seats near the edge of the upper deck you had to buy a drink, but yet there were no restrictions on where you could stand... The boat wasn't busy, so we could stand at the railings the whole way, with uninterrupted views.
After the trip we split up from Alex, and walked down the Bund a little way grabbing an ice cream on the way, before grabbing some lunch and sitting near to the Shanghai museum in Renmin square to eat it. We headed into the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. This was amazing - 4 floors or so full of pictures of old Shanghai, followed by all of the government's future building plans, including a mental off shore deep water dock which involved creating a miles long highway into the sea, and a totally fabricated new city nearby.
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Very odd indeed. The highlight was the HUGE scale model of Shanghai which we both enjoyed pretending to terrorise... We left at closing time having seen only small amount inside, and were concerned to notice that the exit headed us down into what appeared to be the basement. It emerged into an underground reconstructed 1930s street scene... inexplicably full of Christmas decorations... After a moment of awe we headed out into the open and found a restaurent. We went to an Italian in a railway carriage off Eaat Nanjing Road. It was very friendly, good food and reasonable prices.
We went back to the hostel, and after chatting with Marcus and Alex (and someone else whose name I can't remember...) Ali and the boys headed off for a night of clubbing, and I admitted to myself that I was far too tired for that kind of exersion. I had a quiet chat with the Swedish girls in our room, did some washing and had an early night.
Ali on the other hand... asked reception for club recommendation, which resulted in a Chinese street name being written on a piece of paper. This was handed to a cabbie and all crossed their fingers and hoped for the best! It ended up being a long street full of bars and clubs. They managed to find the only club full of expats (typical!) called Zaptas. It had lots of outside seating, a burger bar, free margaritas for women before 12am, free tequila on the hour (apparently although none received by this crowd), but the drinks were expensive. There were shisha pipes and some old man dancing going on - a real mixture of absolutely everyone. Marcus and Ali danced on the bar for a while (especially to House of Pain apparently), even dragging Alex up for a time.
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The cabbies seemed to be good, but it's a good idea to remember to check that the meter is switched on. Saturday
Today we had a late start as Ali and the boys didn't get in from their night of clubbing until about 4.30am. I regretted not going out after I heard about the place they found. Apparently it had come up on their expat radar, and featured a wedding reception style DJ playing the likes of 5ive and S Club 7 as well...
We set off for the Jade buddha temple that Ali had been raving about since we left England. We went on the metro as it was miserable weather, which was extremely easy, and spent a couple of hours there. It cost 20 yuan to get in, and a further 10 to see the Jade Buddha itself. The temple was beautiful, and it was very interesting to be in a working monastery with monks walking around. As we wandered around we came across a tea room where we were offered a taster of some teas that the monks drink. A lovely girl spent ages with us at a table performing a traditional tea ceremony and letting us try as many different teas as we wanted. There was no pressure to buy anything even after she had spent about 20 minutes with us, but we loved the teas so much that we both bought some. Each tea has different benefits to your body, but we were mainly taken by the taste! After that we headed down to the vegetarian restaurant attached to the monastery for a late lunch. It was delicious, and really good value.
After leaving the temple we tried to book tickets to see some acrobats, but we didn't succeed! The first place (Shanghai Circu World, which someone had recommended) was disappointing. Apart from the appetizing BBQ smell on leaving the metro, all we saw were the circus animals (tigers, bears and poodles in leg warmers...) in horribly small cages. We walked away pretty quickly as we couldn't find the acrobatics box office.
Next we tried the Lyceum theatre, but no luck finding anything on here.
Then we decided to finish off the Shanghai museum. The Lonely Planet is wrong when it says its open til 7 on Saturdays! (it's 9-5 only).
So, we grabbed some noodles in a Japanese fast food place called Ajisen. It was very disappointing really - we had to pay half way through the meal with the change following some time afterwards, and the food quality was not great.
After that we picked up some lovely almond pocky (biscuity snacks) for tea dunking and went back to the hostel.
We'll update you again soon.
Kate and Ali xxxxx
