Girlie weekend in Shanghai

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Ok, the title is probably a little confusing because it's always me and Rachael, and I suppose all our of our weekends could be considered girl's weekends, but this felt a little different.

Firstly, the main reason we were going to Shanghai was dress fitting, which is of course very girlie. Long story, but I had a dress to collect as well, which was a little nerve wracking but a good tester so we could see if the seamstress was any good. I didn't have high hopes for my dress but it was lovely. It's a kind of silky material with black and pink circles on a white background. The neckline is great, flattering but not revealing so I can wear it for work. It's a bit of an odd length for me, but I can always get it taken up.

We were staying near Jing'An Temple which is in the French Concession at a Youth Hostel called Le Tour Travellers Rest. It was a bit pricier than we'd normally go for, but it looked lovely on the website and I think this will be the last time we can spend two nights in Shanghai so we thought we'd spoil ourselves. It was odd to see so many foreigners. We started, as we always do, by pointing them out to each other, but after a while realised that we wouldn't be talking about anything else if we continued! It was a ten minute walk from the subway to the hostel past some lovely boutiquey shops and there were lots of bars and restaurants around.

So after we'd picked up my dress on the Monday we had Subway for lunch (I rarely eat subway at home but it is such a treat here...tuna, with cheese! the luxury!) then went back to the hostel. As we'd had to get up early for the bus we were both shattered so went for a 45 minute power nap. It was so tempting to just stay in bed but we forced ourselves up and out. We were worried that we wouldn't find anywhere decent for a night out, given it was a Monday and the youth hostel bar was empty apart from a south american couple and a cat (made me sneeze, the cat, not the couple) but the receptionist receommended a street with lots of bars so we jumped in a cab and thought that if all else failed we'd at least be seeing more of the city.

We were tempted into a bar called Soho despite reservations that it shares the name of one of the rubbish clubs here in Tonglu. The main draw was a deal where you paid 60yuan for a wristband and all your drinks (from a fairly decent selection) were included and given that we paid 30yuan for one drink in the youth hostel it seemed a fair deal. The club was pretty good, except that as cheapskates on the bar deal we were coralled into the bar section and weren't allowed to sit on the comfy seats. As we were dancing it wasn't a big deal though. The bar was mainly hip hop and pop and very friendly. There was a good mix of foreign and Chinese people and a bit of live music too. The alchohol was pretty lethal as they weren't putting much mixer in, and you never had to queue at the bar. One bad thing was that a very small bottle of water cost 75 yuan. It's normally 2! Ridiculously irresponsible so I've decided that next time I'll either take my own bottle or just chance it with a drink out of the tap!

So, we danced, met some nice people and generally had a lovely time. We stayed until he end and by the time we left I was so shattered I couldn't even keep my eyes open. We met some boys from Switzerland and in my sleepy/tipsy state I kept confusing my french with chinese and coming up with things like, "Je suis lei" and wondering why they didn't understand me!

Next day we were both shattered and feeling a little queasy but had to spend the day visiting tailors and getting measured. My head was too sore to try to haggle so we didn't buy anything else from the markets. In bed for 9pm which was a good thing too because we had to be up at 6.30am for the bus home.

Food, as usual, was a highlight of my trip. We had Mcdonalds, pizza hut, subway and went to a little Italian near the youth hostel called Saprinos. Lovely and very indulgent. I've already had to go for a run and the gym twice to try to repair some of the damage!

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