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After six weeks back at work, it was time for another vacation! Sam, Leesa and I were of to Shanghai, China to see the sights, relax and have lots of laughs. Why Shanghai you ask? Well, we got a cheap flight during the busiest travel time of the year in Korea. Decision made.
Wednesday - FEBRUARY 6, 2008 We were up at 5:00 to get ready to head for the airport! Our flight wasn't until 10:30, but as I said, Lunar New Year is the busiest time to travel. Took the subway to Gimpo Airport and then the subway line that goes to
Inchon International Airport and we were there in about 50 minutes. So convenient! There were massive line ups to check in at every counter, but fantastically enough, the security line was pretty non-existent! Inchon has a great set up, there are many security entrance points, right next to your check-in counter, then beyond the security is your gate. So they have cut out a lot of the wandering around! Very clever.
At the airport we ran into a friend on her way to India to see some family, and we ate Subway at
the marriot
located next to our 4$/night hostel9:30am just because we could! We had a good flight with
China Eastern Airlines. Our plane was filled with Koreans, the second that the plane landed the announcement comes on, "Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened" and all you hear is *click*click*click*click*, and old women are standing in the aisles and the flight attendants are shouting, "sit down!"Oh, Korean people...
We were so excited to hop on the
Maglev Train! It is a high speed magnetic train that gets people into the city of Shanghai in about 12-14 minutes. That is amazing. Every city should have this.
Our hostel was very cool, in more ways than one. We stayed at the
Shanghai Etour Youth Hostel and it is truly a summer hostel! Not intended for the cold weather of early February. I definitely bought some long underwear that kept me slightly warmer for the rest of the vacation!
We celebrated Chinese New Year at the hostel bar, that we affectionately named the "Shanty" not because of the way it looked, just the temperature. . We were offered a shot of
Biju, Chinese Vodka I guess, but it is 60%!a(MISSING)nd I have never tasted anything so
french concession
are these really the streets of china? awful that burned so bad! There was a guy there who was so excited to talk to us about Poutine, just because we were Canadian!
Let me leave you with a note on New Year's Eve: The rumours are true about the fireworks/crackers, they do go all night long. I enjoyed my ear plugs that night.
Thursday - FEBRUARY 7, 2008 Planning the day over coffee is a necessity. Since it was a clear day, we figured that the
JinMao Tower would be the best bet. It turns out that Leesa "tricked" us! She thought that her cell phone would automatically adjust to the time zone, but it turns out that it didn't! We were up and on the road an hour earlier than planned. The Tower was a pretty cool sight because it has a view of the other tower, the Pearl Tower as well as the rest of the river that flows through the city, from 88 stories above.
Debateably the best part of our trip was the visit to
H&M. We spent 2.5 hours on the 5 floors of this store. We have been so deprived of shopping in
Korea, we saved ourselves for the excitement of this store. There was even a snack break by the blouses where we chowed down on some peanuts to recharge.
Because there was a Pizza Hut on every corner, we figured we should have it for lunch! Afterwards we went to the
Dragonfly Spa for a manicure, a pedicure and a massage. All for the grand total of 45$. It was an amazing afternoon. You may be thinking, why did these girls go all the way to Shanghai to do things they can do in Seoul? Well, we wanted to relax and have fun! Then we would check out the sights of the wicked cool city of Shanghai.
Found this amazing restaurant called
Simply Thai that was filled with foreigners and served delicious food! The three of us couldn't stop ourselves from saying Korean words the whole time we were in China, but another table over heard us and it turns out they live in Busan, Korea and were on holiday as well! Small world! (I have a feeling I will be saying this so many times over the course of my travels this year!) That area that we were
in,
Xiantandi felt so European and not at all like China.
Had some drinks in our room, then hung out in the "Shanty" and met some really great people.
Friday - FEBRUARY 8, 2008 Had a very eventful morning! It was not a very restful sleep because of the guy that was in our room. We were woken up at 4am by him moaning and crying and wailing "why"! I had no idea what was going on, it was the strangest thing!
Then, while I was writing in my diary, in the "Shanty" I saw a fight between two of the Chinese guys that worked at the hostel. It was a full on scrappy fight, one was trying to pick up a chair and smash it over the other guy's head! I had no idea what to think! Anyways, I met this really nice guy, Joe, from England who was 20 and new at the whole traveling thing. He'd just started his adventure a few days earlier in Beijing and was planing to see SE Asia for the next few months.
We wanted to get to
Old Town so we took
a 2$ taxi (15 mintues). We bought art and little things at the 2 Yuan store (.15$). People were peddling fake goods, we were warned about them. There was a huge square that was just filled with lanterns and silk animals to celebrate the New Year. 2008 is the year of the Rat, which is me! so exciting, I know. 😉
There was another peanut break where we had to step aside and stand on these stairs to be able to have our snack. It was just so crowded that we wouldn't have been able to stand anywhere else! We were also like a freak show, people were waving to us and laughing and pointing and taking pictures.
Ran into a couple guys from the hostel who joined us on our walk through the back roads of Old Town. The people that live in these alleys are so poor. There were wash basins in front of their house, and they removed the handle of the tap so that no one could steal their water.
Walked through beautiful
Fuxing Park and had a delicious Cantonese lunch. There was some more shopping in Xiantandi, drank some wine
and wrote postcards in a little restaurant.
On our way back to the hostel, Leesa bought some leeches, and then dropped them because the bag broke. There were leeches rolling down the sidewalk, into the street and lots of screaming and laughing on our part! When we got back to the hostel there were tonnes of people in the "Shanty" so we joined in on a few games of "Kings" that had European rules of course. Then the whole group got into many different cabs and went for 45 minutes to a non-existent bar, gave up and went back to the hostel.
Saturday - FEBRUARY 9, 2008 We woke up late and took our time getting ready. I had breakfast in the "Shanty" but it took forever, what more can you expect from a "Shanty"?
The
Propaganda Store was a highlight of our time in Shanghai. It was a bit challenging to find, in the basement of an apartment building, but well worth it. The man that owns it, has set up the propaganda posters in chronological order and paired all the posters with explanations of the political intention of each.
shanghai skyline
down in the bund It was interesting to see how the political themes changed over the years as well as the styles of art they chose. We bought some postcards, and black and white original photos.
The National Museum did not impress us, maybe it was just too busy, or everything was just really boring. They had a thousand of the same thing. A thousand coins that all looked the same, a thousand pieces of paper with calligraphy, a thousand vases. Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration I suppose!
In China, we ate Korean food, just because we missed it! Sam and I had some wicked BiBimBap, and Leesa got the BeoKumBap (fried rice). Leesa loves kimchi, but after three tiny servings, they cut her off! That would NEVER happen in Korea! They want you to eat as much kimchi as humanly possible!
The
Acrobat Show at night took every last cent from us! We were scrounging our change together to see this show, because the cheap seats had sold out. It was so amazing though, they were so flexible and controlled. They were so well rehearsed and I'm sure have a sold out show every night. A good
way to spend our last night in China!
Sunday - FEBRUARY 10, 2008 Poor Leesa was super sick, turns out that her fried rice didn't go down so well! So she stayed in bed and slowly packed up until it was time to go to the airport.
Sam and I ran into two guys, Joe and Andy so they came for a walk with us down to
The Bund to check out the skyline. It took maybe 15 minutes walking from our hostel and we saw so many interesting buildings along the way. I saw a rat too, in the year of the rat, and I am a rat.... is that good luck?
The number of homeless/beggars was staggering along the river. It was also pretty dirty and crowded, but maybe that was just because it was a holiday.
The boys decided to come with us to the airport because they wanted to ride the Maglev train! They weren't flying out of Shanghai and otherwise wouldn't have had the chance! It worked out perfectly because the two of them were able to carry Leesa's bags for her since she was still
not feeling well.
All was well on the trip home, got to sit together and was back to my little home by 10:30pm. It was an awesome, relaxing yet sight-filled vacation!
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