3 days in Shanghai

Apologies for our very delayed blog for Shanghai....
After leaving the Yangtze river cruise (on a very rickety cliff top path by minibus) we arrived in Yichang - about 1 hr later to board a sleeper coach to Shanghai. We got off the minibus with our tour guide (who was going to see us on to our sleeper coach safely) - only to realise we had left our treasure vietnamese painting behind - which we had haggled long and hard for. So our tour guide did a mad dash for the mini bus as it drove off into the distance. He did his best bless him, but he couldn't keep up with it and my heart sank. However, next minute we saw him run across the road in front of moving traffic to flag down a taxi to follow in hot persuit of the minibus. What a guy - we were cheering from the distance....

Almost 40 minutes elapsed and we were getting concerned. Where had a tour guide gone?? Where was a precious painting?? And then we saw him jumping out of a taxi at the other side of the street, beeming smile on his face and waving the picture above his head. We couldn't believe it, we were so relieved. We paid the hefty bill for the taxi (well the least we could do!) and then made our way to the sleeper coach.

We were pretty tired after our cruise so were looking forward to getting our heads down for a good kip on the bus. However, neighbour from hell. We had got used to the strange noises (I won't go into them too much) that we were hearing all the time of men spitting and snorting etc but we didn't expect to be trapped next to one on the coach. He also had the loadest voice I have heard, which became anoying after the15 phone calls he made throughout the night. We did manage to get some shut-eye after a while though.

So then we arrived in Shanghai. We had no hostel booked. No idea where we were going to stay that night. So - as we had done in all the places so far - we just got on a train and headed for the centre of the city hoping to find a nice little hostel to walk into. Not so in Shanghai. The centre of the city is made up of looming and expensive hotels - 5 star complexes that would make a backpackers eyes water. So then we had to resort to plan B - the lonely planet - holy grail of backpackers - and a chinese phonecard. Eventually we found somewhere that could take us and made our way there. It turned out to be a really nice hostel. To be honest, after the adventures of the previous day and the lack of sleep, we had a pretty lazy first day in shanghai - just chilling at the hostel and not venturing out too far.

So day 2 we had our itinerary in place - a walk down to the old town ( about 40 minutes stroll) to have a look at the markets, souvineer shops and food stalls. The place is incredible. Just as the name describes, the old town is full of very old architecture, quaint little side streets and a garden in the middle of it all. We bought some famous dumplings from a shop recommended by LP - and the queues for it were massive! They were really nice dumplings - mouth watering and definitely worth the wait. We got some other little snacks from stalls around and then made the walk back to our hostel through the side streets of Shanghai. Our plan for the evening was to go on a cruise along the river to see the famous skyline at night (Including the Jinmao Tower all lit up). The cruise was okay - I would say it was short and sweet but a little overpriced And after all you can view the skyline from the river banks just as well. But this is part of travelling - you never know until you try. So after the cruise, we went back to the hostel and grabbed some food - special fried rice is always a good bet in China.

The next day we had more plans - to walk the Lonely Planet route around the city to take in the historic sights. We noticed, on this walk, that there is an awful lot of building work going on in Shanghai right now - in fact there were large areas of flattened land with more skyscrapers waiting to go up. So we had to make a few detours on the way. It was interesting to see that besides the modern architecture in Shanghai there is also some historic buildings of interest to see. Dales sandal strap snapped so he was walking like Quasimodo for the rest of the day! The walking tour took us back down to the old town again so we tookadvantage of walking around the famous tranquil gardens for an hour or two. They are really beautiful - and well worth a visit. A nice little retreat from the urban noise. On our way back from the Old Town it was beginning to get dark so we decided to grab something to eat from a nearby food stall. We ended up getting some noodles fried for us right in front of our eyes - with spring onions, garlic, chillis etc thrown in. They were delicious and we ate them at a nearby table with some other chinese locals which was really nice. It was dark now - and there were stars in the skies. I remember thinking it was one of those moments I would look back on in our travels.

After a good nights sleep our final day in Shanghai was going to be a good one. We were meeting up with a friend we had made whilst in Thailand- Cyrus - a golfing pro from America, living and working in Shanghai. So he was going to show us the best of what to do in the City - and send us off in Style...

The day started with a stroll to the famous fake markets - everything designer (but not) that you could possibly want to buy, from gucci handbags to sony ipods. On the way we stopped off at a few of Cyrus' favourite food stalls and ate the genuine shanghai dumplings (different to the ones we had tasted in the old town - these had steaming hot meat inside with gravy mmmmmh). After the market we had a hot drink followed by a couple of beers at a morrocon style bar in the middle of a park which had a authentic eastern feel to it. Very nice setting - and so peaceful considering it was right in the middle of the city with skyscrapers surrounding it.

After our drinks at the morrocon bar we then jumped in a taxi to our next stop- a turkish/chinese minority restaurant which boasts a whacky atmosphere of dancing and black beer. It was great fun. After ordering pretty much everything on the menu (you select plenty of smaller dishes rather than each having mains) and a black beer each, we sat back and soaked up the music from the band at the front. It was an unusual electric/arabic sounding music - and then suddenly before we knew it we were both being whisked up on to our feet to dance at the front to the sounds of all the other diners clapping. It was surreal - and a little frightening!! But once we were released we were able to go back and enjoy the food that had been brought to our table ....... until they tried to pull us back up again for the next dance. Being one of only a few westerners in the restaurant meant we were a bit of a novalty but as this would be our last night in Asia before we join the normality of Australia, we didn't mind at all.

The night ended with drinks on the highest floor of the Shangri La hotel bar with a birdseye view of the Shanghai skyline by night. We also had the luck of seeing a fireworks display from a boat on the river. So the day came to an end on a high.

Reluctantly the next day we packed our bags, had one final Chinese breakfast with noodles and fried rice and then set off for the airport. Luckily enough though I was able to use the tiny amount of Chinese I had learnt so far to prevent us getting ripped off by our cabby. "Ching Wen, Ti Guela!" I said shaking my head and pointing at the astronimical fare on the metre (I had already asked the hostel what price it should be before we left off). This roughly translates to: excuse me, too expensive! I wrote down the price I was prepared to pay, he wrote down another and finally we agreed on a price somewhere nearer mine. As we said goodbye he gave us smile, as if to say: "well I tried!"

We were both going to miss China. In fact - we were both going to miss Asia. So now to Australia.........

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