sleepless in shanghai

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Our beloved blog is nearly at an end... but not without telling you guys about shanghai.

We actually had a small taste of shanghai on the way to europe as we stopped over for a day. First impressions - after being MASSIVELY ripped off by the taxi driver - not so good. Mixed in the with constant overhanging smog, and unbearable humidity. But things improved exponentially upon arrival at our hotel - the fabulous (airconditioned) Novotel Atlantis in Pudong. Definately the best accomodation we'd stayed in throughout our entire trip (once again, thank god for ush's qantas staff discount!).

We stayed in the same hotel on the way home too, but this time in a fabulous deluxe suite. The views from the 40th floor were absolutely amazing, the shanghai skyline at night is really something else! Puts dear Melbourne to shame.

Like our last destination in Spain, we knew what shanghai had in store for us - shopping like mad and trying to fit in some r&r (and possibly some sightseeing) in between. But boy, did we shop...

Our first mission: Find the infamous Nanjing Road and enter into (cheap) shopping heaven. Little did we know that we couldnt walk there from our hotel, deceiving as our stupid map was. We ended up wasting an hour wandering the smoggy streets before making the sensible decision to go back to our hotel and get a taxi.

We finally arrived at our destination, and were alomst immediately approached (more like pounced on) by swarms of people wanting to sell us "authentic" Louis Vuitton, Prada & Gucci merchandise. At first Ush and I were quite amused at the novelty of someone leading us into a little side street/ alleyway, into a little shop, through a secret hidden door, and up some steep narrow steps to a room filled with bags, wallets, watches etc. Let the haggling begin....

For anyone who has not shopped in south east asia (or dubai) for that matter, you have no idea how exhausting it can be!!! I thought our cinque terra hike was tough.. but bargaining with chinese people proved to be more of a challenge (anyone who's seen the russell peters clip will know what i'm on about). Haggling is really an artform, one which im proud to say i've nearly mastered given my previous global shopping experiences. Anyway, at the end of each day, we were absolutly buggered!

This is how it seems to work with buying the fake goods... one person will usually bug to to death until you agree to see their stash. That person will then escourt you to several shops where you are almost expected to buy something (and in our experience, we usually did... after tedious bargaining of course)

Some of the other places we visited were Old Shanghai, consisting of more traditional architecture (with the occasional Starbucks for the modern touch) - great places to shop there too; Chen Xiang Ge Temple and the expansive YuYuan gardens. Unfortunately, we didnt get time to visit the Bund (the classier part of Shanghai) or check out the party scene (maybe next time). Most of our time was spent in Nanjing road. Shanghai was our place for buying last minute gifts too, and towards the end, it got mighty frustatingbeing led into peoples houses who were woken up to show us their wares. So, to all you guys who got pressies, know that Ush and i went through hell to get them for you! On our last day, we visited the fabric market as Ush was particularly keen to get a suit tailor made. Surprisingly, we managed to find people willing to make us a suit each (pants and a jacket) and deliver them to our hotel that night... we didnt think they'd show up, but once again to our surprise, there they were as promised with our suits. I can now proudly say i own a tailor made corporate suit (big deal for a daggy physio, not so for Little miss corporate Ush)

Memories to last a lifetime! (or at least until our next asian shopping adventure). And may i say, there are few who could match my endurance for shopping, but Ush, well done mate! you did good

We left Shanghai with an extra carry on bag (each), and an oversized expandable airbag filled with more crap, on top of our backpacks bursting at the seams! Enough said i think...

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