Shanghai
Ok, so… for those interested, here is what I intended to be a short summary of my time in Shanghai! Obviously have lots more stories :0) thank you sooo much Louise for taking me everywhere and showing me wonderful things (haha)! I also notice that I talk about food a lot. Enjoy!
---
Day one: Arrived about 7am, so me and Lu had the whole day to play with. Walked through People’s Square and had lunch before going to Pudong, which is on the other side of the river and had skyscrapers… really sunny so it was great. Went on this wonderfully rubbish tunnel ride thing with a light show to get to the other side... unfortunately the sex museum is now an ancient bronze museum so we didn’t go there on our way!
Went up the Financial Tower (which looks like a bottle opener - apparently the world’s tallest observatory tower) and looked at all the tiny people and buildings - was so high up! After that I kind of crashed… yeah. In the evening I met the lovely Valentin and we all had Chinese food - really good. Sooo much nicer obviously than the English version (this sounds weird… you know what I mean) and then finished off the evening really nicely watching a set by Louise and Adam at Oscar’s!
Day two: Taikang Lu was a little shopping/market place which was really cool to have a wander round. Had a nice Italian on a balcony/terrace type thing which was pretty special :0) found everything really interesting! And bought some compulsory holiday earrings - hooray! I think the teppenyaki was that evening which was amazing again (no octopus for me, thank you)!
Went to an Ozzie bar and then went on to Zapatas! Hip hop night… cheap mojitos all night… lots of European guys to talk to… veeery good night!
Day three: Louise dropped me off in the rain to Longhua si mao to wander around the temples and the gardens by myself - really loved it, saw lots of people praying to many gods and politely nodded at the monks as they walked by… and then there was a pyramid-shaped mausoleum which had beautiful gardens that I wandered round and took many many photos with very soggy feet. I managed to get the cabbie to take me back home with probably a terrible pronunciation of the address - was quite impressed with myself though that I got home ok!!
Met some more of Lu’s friends that evening and we went to The Grape - very nice Chinese restaurant :0)
Day four: Wandered around Shanghai - the big shopping malls and things which was another adventure! Met Lu on her break before more exploring. That evening we went to a Mexican restaurant and then to a very nice posh cocktail bar! Good times!
Day five: Very sunny day :0) went to the park nearby and took loads of photos in the sun (and had photos taken of me… bizarre people… I decided that anyone who would take a photo of me I would take one back! Take that!) had another wander around the shops and things as well, before meeting up later for dinner at Abbey Road - a very nice Beatles-themed restaurant.
Day six: Aaaah! Zhouzhaung! Took a bus an hour or two out of Shanghai to an ancient water city, which was amazing. The markets were really interesting (got people presents) and there was an opera (I’ll try and post the video up somewhere…!) and more temples and gardens… it was so pretty. Obviously lots of bridges and water and boats and ducks and things… wow. Lots of photos of here!
The evening was pretty damn special - went up the Hyatt hotel to the VUE bar, where there is an amazing view of the skyscrapers lit up at night. The top-top floor has a Jacuzzi surrounded by beds, and the floor just below where we were was this really posh bar. Was pretty damn special!
Day seven: My last day was amazing. We took the train to Hangzhou (just over an hour away) and started off visiting this mountain area, which had amazing gardens, a theatre, loads of steps and caves and waterfalls and things! And lots of traditional Chinese decoration (as with Zhouzhaung yesterday) so we climbed lots in the sunshine and yay! Then we went for a walk along West Lake to find some lunch (my lunch came in a bucket cooked in a leaf… it was awesome) before going on a BOAT RIDE :D which I got to drive! I was verrrry excitable. Was such good weather that day as well! Then was the market where I got more presents and we got a little tuk-tuk/tricycle thing back to the station :0) aaaw yay.
Then Lu had the GENIUS idea of taking us to Whisk - which had loooots of chocolatey goodness (and wine) and I ate too much. But it was awesome. Had such a good week :0) hopefully will find a better way of putting up pictures soon!!
Looking forward to seeing you Louise in Juuuune!!!! x x x
---
Day one: Arrived about 7am, so me and Lu had the whole day to play with. Walked through People’s Square and had lunch before going to Pudong, which is on the other side of the river and had skyscrapers… really sunny so it was great. Went on this wonderfully rubbish tunnel ride thing with a light show to get to the other side... unfortunately the sex museum is now an ancient bronze museum so we didn’t go there on our way!
Went up the Financial Tower (which looks like a bottle opener - apparently the world’s tallest observatory tower) and looked at all the tiny people and buildings - was so high up! After that I kind of crashed… yeah. In the evening I met the lovely Valentin and we all had Chinese food - really good. Sooo much nicer obviously than the English version (this sounds weird… you know what I mean) and then finished off the evening really nicely watching a set by Louise and Adam at Oscar’s!
Day two: Taikang Lu was a little shopping/market place which was really cool to have a wander round. Had a nice Italian on a balcony/terrace type thing which was pretty special :0) found everything really interesting! And bought some compulsory holiday earrings - hooray! I think the teppenyaki was that evening which was amazing again (no octopus for me, thank you)!
Went to an Ozzie bar and then went on to Zapatas! Hip hop night… cheap mojitos all night… lots of European guys to talk to… veeery good night!
Day three: Louise dropped me off in the rain to Longhua si mao to wander around the temples and the gardens by myself - really loved it, saw lots of people praying to many gods and politely nodded at the monks as they walked by… and then there was a pyramid-shaped mausoleum which had beautiful gardens that I wandered round and took many many photos with very soggy feet. I managed to get the cabbie to take me back home with probably a terrible pronunciation of the address - was quite impressed with myself though that I got home ok!!
Met some more of Lu’s friends that evening and we went to The Grape - very nice Chinese restaurant :0)
Day four: Wandered around Shanghai - the big shopping malls and things which was another adventure! Met Lu on her break before more exploring. That evening we went to a Mexican restaurant and then to a very nice posh cocktail bar! Good times!
Day five: Very sunny day :0) went to the park nearby and took loads of photos in the sun (and had photos taken of me… bizarre people… I decided that anyone who would take a photo of me I would take one back! Take that!) had another wander around the shops and things as well, before meeting up later for dinner at Abbey Road - a very nice Beatles-themed restaurant.
Day six: Aaaah! Zhouzhaung! Took a bus an hour or two out of Shanghai to an ancient water city, which was amazing. The markets were really interesting (got people presents) and there was an opera (I’ll try and post the video up somewhere…!) and more temples and gardens… it was so pretty. Obviously lots of bridges and water and boats and ducks and things… wow. Lots of photos of here!
The evening was pretty damn special - went up the Hyatt hotel to the VUE bar, where there is an amazing view of the skyscrapers lit up at night. The top-top floor has a Jacuzzi surrounded by beds, and the floor just below where we were was this really posh bar. Was pretty damn special!
Day seven: My last day was amazing. We took the train to Hangzhou (just over an hour away) and started off visiting this mountain area, which had amazing gardens, a theatre, loads of steps and caves and waterfalls and things! And lots of traditional Chinese decoration (as with Zhouzhaung yesterday) so we climbed lots in the sunshine and yay! Then we went for a walk along West Lake to find some lunch (my lunch came in a bucket cooked in a leaf… it was awesome) before going on a BOAT RIDE :D which I got to drive! I was verrrry excitable. Was such good weather that day as well! Then was the market where I got more presents and we got a little tuk-tuk/tricycle thing back to the station :0) aaaw yay.
Then Lu had the GENIUS idea of taking us to Whisk - which had loooots of chocolatey goodness (and wine) and I ate too much. But it was awesome. Had such a good week :0) hopefully will find a better way of putting up pictures soon!!
Looking forward to seeing you Louise in Juuuune!!!! x x x