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Published: November 28th 2006
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Group shot on the last night
The eight of us up on the 87th Floor :) Day 27 - Wednesday Well this was the last full day of our tour. We arrived in on the train back to Shanghai early in the morning. We had a nice surprise that our rooms were actually ready when we got in to the hotel (most days we cant log in until 2pm). YAY. That meant we got to have a nice long shower and freshen up. After that we all had lunch together and picked up some earings as a farewell gift to Anne (our tour leader Jerry's girlfriend who we begged to join us for the last part of the tour).
The evening was GREATTTTT....
The 8 of us (Dean & I, Kate & Mike, Sean & Trudy and John & Jen) headed out on the town. First up was cocktails on the 87th floor of the Jingmao tower. This in itself was an adventure as Jerry wasnt able to join us until later and we had to find our own way there. Ahem. The first four managed to get a cab, and then Dean, Kate, Trudy and I were left to find out all the cabs were refusing is for *some* reason and concierge vaguely explained to us (ahhh langueage barriers!) that the taxis wouldnt go to that area until after a particular time, so we had to make our way there by a walk and two subway trains!!! What an experience 😊
Oh well we got there eventually and downed a few cocktails whilst enjoying the views. Then had to quickly move on to dinner before KARAOKE. Man was that kick arse fun!!!! We hired a Karaoke private room (Jerry and Anne also joined us so therer was 10 of us).
The chinese do it in style! The rooms are sound proof, with lounges, a little stage, microphones, a screen and a little computer so you can queue up the songs!!!!
We kicked on until my birthday hit at midnight and then kept going until about 2am! I got some unexpected pressie for my birthday as i'd told everyone not to worry. Dean & Jen secretly plotted a few nights before and had a caligraphy master write up a scroll for me, Anne bought me some earings, Sean & Trudy bought me a cocktail (mmmm) and in Disneyland the next nigth Kate shouted a bottle of wine and got me a cute little minnie mouse/daisy duck best friends statue.
ANYWAYS, back to the karaoke. It was super fun, we all drunk much and screamed our lungs out and took a zillion photos. Jerry even arranged a (suspicious looking) cake, and across the karaoke screen a message saying "Happy Birthday Sarah we love you" awwwww!!!
Day 28 - Thursday - MY BIRTHDAY Agh, getting up early (6am) is NOT good when you didnt get to bed till about 2:30! Ah well. We checked out and taxied out to the Maglev station (Maglev standing for magnetic levitation, which is the high speed train that goes out to the airport at up to 440km/hour - WOW!!!!).
Unfortunately after a mad dash to make sure we got on our plane in time we then had to sit there in the plane on the runway for TWO HOURS before we took off (our flight was only 2 hours!!).
So by the time we got to our hotel at Disneyland we were BUGGERED! All the same though, it was hard not to get just al ittle excited when Goofy was standing in the entry and ALLL the Chrissier decorations were out all over the hotel!
We vegged a little in the afternoon and then had a few drinks and a lovely dinner outside (was nice to be back in warm weather after rainly ol' Shanghai).
Day 29 - Friday On Friday we hit DISNEYLAND. Yehhh. It was a great day, we had lots of fun and stayed all day checking it all out and then the fireworks over the castle at 7pm.
Whilst it was fun - I have to say, it doesnt compare to disney in Anaheim, or even our theme parks on the Gold Coast. There is only really one real "ride" (Space Mountain) the rest is kiddy stuff and "the Disney Experience" which was enjoyable but not huge on the adrenalin!
Day 30 - Saturday Saturday morning Kate & I headed back to the park to do a few things we couldnt squeeze in the day before before Dean joined us (ie the Winnie the Pooh ride that we just couldnt convince him to do hahahah).
We headed in to Kowloon in the afternoon and thus begun the shopping spree (also known as pain pain pain after all the walking) at the Jade Markets, Ladies Markets and Temple Street Night Markets. Lots of pain, but we did pick up a bunch of bargains (all the usual - t shirts, bags etc).
Day 31- Sunday Our last day WAHHH. But we did make the most of it. We had a sleep in, late breakfast and then hit the pool. We lazed out there for a while in the pool, jacuzzi and waterslide, before freshening up, grabbing lunch and facing the reality of fitting all we had purchased in to our tiny backpacks!!!
Anyway, it was a nice relaxing way to end what was 31 days of non stop excitement.
We headed to the airport at around 5pm with Kate flying out first and us a few hours later.
And now we're home and I have 1,920 photos to sort through! hahahahah. So i'm slowly making my way through them and intend on typing up a bit more about our travels and a bit more of a general overview of how much fun we had and what a trulty amazing place China is.
Bare with me, as unfortunately I have to face going back to work tomorrow *ugh*
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