Blogs from Pudong, Shanghai, China, Asia - page 17

Arrived at Pudong international airport and greeted by our pre-arranged chauffer driven limousine, which in China is a mini van. Our English speaking guide barely spoke English, it was a challenge getting to our accommodation at 8.30pm. Finally arrived at the Bund Riverside Hotel at 10.30pm. Dragged ourselves and four large bags, to our room and then collapsed for the night. Next morning, we went to breakfast. Not the usual breakfast you get at home, there was dumplings, rice, vegies, savouries and all the food you would expect for dinner, however we did discover some bacon. That was about the only thing we could recognise as a normal breakfast item. Breakfast cost us about 50 yuan which is around AUD$8.00 each. This is expensive because we ate at the hotel. Later in the morning we went ... read more

Happy New Year from Shanghai. It was really incredible to ring in the New Year from a big city. We went out to dinner and then since it was pretty cold out we came home and watched the waterfront festivities on one of the Chinese TV channels. Around 11:00 we walked to the waterfront and celebrated with about 4000 other people. It was a lot of fun. On our way down there we saw a light in the sky and were wondering what it was until we turned the corner and saw about 100 of them. People were lighting lanterns and setting them off into the sky. The buildings were all lit up too. We got some coffee to keep warm and then listened to the bands until it was time for the countdown. At midnight ... read more

The school that I attend for my Chinese lessons will sometimes have group events so the students can meet each other. The last event was a cooking lesson to make dumplings or in Chinese “Jiaozi”. We all had a wonderful time and after we made our dumplings they were cooked and we had lunch. I hope to make more of these in the future as they are my favorite food here in Shanghai. My Chinese teacher was also the Jiaozi instructor for my room of students. I believe we had three rooms in all. ... read more

The Super Brand Mall is definitely bigger than any mall I've ever been to! Now for those of you who know me well, I'm not really much of a shopper, so that doesn't say a lot, but, it is 10 stories high and even has an ice skating rink on the 8th floor! The Chinese call it Zhengda Guangchang. After almost 2 hrs traveling time - a taxi to the metro station nearest our apt, then 3 different metro lines, and a walk across a huge street - with everything we needed for the weekend in our backpacks, we arrived at the mall! This was our first "solo" travel other than by taxi, so we were glad we made it successfully! The Shanghai Metro System is very clearly marked and I had an English metro map ... read more

A quick train ride from Hangzhou (1.5hr) and we're in Shanghai. The view from the hotel was great. Later in the evening we met with family for dinner at Xiao Nan Guo. The meal and service was excellent. This restaurant is one of many owned by the same group and it has served Chinese President Jiang Zemin.... read more