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Published: April 6th 2008
Shanghai 23rd - 30th December 07
Being away at christmas is a weird experience, particularly being in a non-christian country! The usual routine at home with Ethel and Linda's christmas dinners will always be 1st choice. We arrived in Shanghai on the 23rd with a view of maybe staying for 3 or 4 days, due to a lazy festive period this turned out to be more like 8 days ! It was a tale of 2 hostels and 1 hotel, the first hostel was by far the best and we probably should never have left. It had a bar with a good atmosphere and plenty of backpackers, the most we had come accross gathered in one place in China. We left to spend Xmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day in a nicer place as it was Christmas after all !
On Christmas Eve we splashed out a bit and went for a drink ( or 6 ) in a bar on the 88th floor of the Jinmao Building, the views were stunning of the city and the nearby TV tower. The Jinmao is half office space and then from the 50th floor up is the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Our presents to each
other gave us the disguise of normal people rather than scruffy travellers ! We searched for a traditional dinner for Xmas Day but decided against it, it just wouldn't have been the same would it ? Spaghetti Carbonara followed by a Haagen Daaz fondue did the job instead.
On our other days in Shanghai we headed to the Old Town which is really nice, apart from at night ( photos will explain ), the chinese love a bit of neon ! We also visited the French Concession area which has some really nice bars and restaurants. We also did a daytrip to Suzhou, which is a 2 hour train ride away from Shanghai. Well i say a daytrip, this is how it should have been ! We got to Shanghai's central train station to buy tickets, the ticket hall had to seen to be believed ! Absolute chaos. Normally buying tickets in the big cities is fairly easy, they will normally have an English speaking window or the 'International Desk'. I couldn't find that or find anyone who spoke a word of English ( Not that i can complain, my Mandarin isn't to hot either) . The shambles continued
on the train which was delayed and then really late arriving in Suzhou. Anyway , by the time we got there the 'daytrip' turned into 'overnight stay' ! Its a really nice city though with canals running all the way through it and great for shopping and weird markets .We loved it , it was only bettered by Lijiang later on.
We did spend too long in Shanghai, but we all need a lazy festive period don't we ?
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the fozzies
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dis n dat
nice to hear you are gettin well in with the locals?? not like you two to be late?? thought they would be more accomodating to one of their own cabbie. thanks for getting me off my arse every 5 minutes the other day. we ended up taking the phone out of the socket and forgot to put it back for a few days. you are so behind in your blog..... you should do an all night sesh to catch up... i'm sure you dont have anything better to do??? Hope you both are doing well (in real time that is). nothing changes here. got back from italy with school last week (skiing) was v.good. however, snowboarding not so good (i have a long way to go before i look cool)...... I am going watching everton v chelsea a week on weds (with school)........ cant wait???????????????????????????????????????????????? ta ta Fozzies