Shanghai March 2013
Day 1
I arrived in Shanghai on a horrible day, 10 degrees and raining, a vast difference from the 30 degree weather in Thailand I had become accustomed to. Although to be honest the coolness was quite refreshing. I met my friend Claire at a Shanghai subway station with her two friends and we went to Xintiandi to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant called 1930. There are some restaurants and several high street and high end stores at Xintiandi. She ordered for us and we had a combination of rice, pork, chicken and mince. After lunch we had tea at a Chinese tea room, there are several of them located around the city. There was a selection of different teas to choose from and after we picked the waiter came with our teas in different teapots and glasses. There was a pheltora of colours and flowers in some of the teas. I got a honey and lemon tea which was sweet and fruity which I liked. Everyone else wasn't so lucky in their tea choices but its all part of the Chinese experience.
After tea we split up and myself and Claire went to my hotel to pack my things so I could go to their hostel while the boys went onto a museum. We met the boys later at the hostel and decided to nap before we went out that evening.
One thing that is quite annoying in Shanghai is that there is no heating in most of the buildings, so when you go into a building you don't even have the relief of knowing when you step inside you'll be warm for a little bit.
Also, not that many people speak English, even in the service industry which can be a bit of an issue to say the least but my friend Claire speaks Mandarin so it wasn't an issue for me but if travelling to China alone bear this in mind.
It's a bit better in Shanghai compared to other places but the Chinese are still not used to seeing people that aren't Chinese so when they different races extreme staring and picture taking is imminent.
There are also several squat toilets instead of regular toilets in China for some reason. Several Chinese people also find it perfectly acceptable to spit in the middle of the street at any given time.
China is cheap when it comes to most things, its more expensive than Thailand which was a bit annoying for myself as I constantly kept comparing prices but overall China is still vastly cheaper than the Western world.
After our nap we headed to the 93rd floor of the Park Hyatt in the financial district to check out the view at night. We luckily snagged a table next to the window and copious amounts of picture taking commenced. The bar stops serving at 10:30pm, you can still stay after that time but you just can't purchase anymore drinks which is something to bear in mind. The bar is popular among the high rollers which is evident in alcoholic drinks starting at 80 yuan/£8.51/$12.86 and water at 60 yuan/£6.38/$9.65. So we had one drink each whilst taking in the exquisite view. We then headed to a much more modest bar called Perrys with drinks starting at 20 yuan/£2.13/$3.22 which is much more reasonable. Perrys is very international with several people from all over the world drinking there. We stayed at Perrys for a few buckets and then headed back to the hostel to get some beauty sleep.
I arrived in Shanghai on a horrible day, 10 degrees and raining, a vast difference from the 30 degree weather in Thailand I had become accustomed to. Although to be honest the coolness was quite refreshing. I met my friend Claire at a Shanghai subway station with her two friends and we went to Xintiandi to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant called 1930. There are some restaurants and several high street and high end stores at Xintiandi. She ordered for us and we had a combination of rice, pork, chicken and mince. After lunch we had tea at a Chinese tea room, there are several of them located around the city. There was a selection of different teas to choose from and after we picked the waiter came with our teas in different teapots and glasses. There was a pheltora of colours and flowers in some of the teas. I got a honey and lemon tea which was sweet and fruity which I liked. Everyone else wasn't so lucky in their tea choices but its all part of the Chinese experience.
After tea we split up and myself and Claire went to my hotel to pack my things so I could go to their hostel while the boys went onto a museum. We met the boys later at the hostel and decided to nap before we went out that evening.
One thing that is quite annoying in Shanghai is that there is no heating in most of the buildings, so when you go into a building you don't even have the relief of knowing when you step inside you'll be warm for a little bit.
Also, not that many people speak English, even in the service industry which can be a bit of an issue to say the least but my friend Claire speaks Mandarin so it wasn't an issue for me but if travelling to China alone bear this in mind.
It's a bit better in Shanghai compared to other places but the Chinese are still not used to seeing people that aren't Chinese so when they different races extreme staring and picture taking is imminent.
There are also several squat toilets instead of regular toilets in China for some reason. Several Chinese people also find it perfectly acceptable to spit in the middle of the street at any given time.
China is cheap when it comes to most things, its more expensive than Thailand which was a bit annoying for myself as I constantly kept comparing prices but overall China is still vastly cheaper than the Western world.
After our nap we headed to the 93rd floor of the Park Hyatt in the financial district to check out the view at night. We luckily snagged a table next to the window and copious amounts of picture taking commenced. The bar stops serving at 10:30pm, you can still stay after that time but you just can't purchase anymore drinks which is something to bear in mind. The bar is popular among the high rollers which is evident in alcoholic drinks starting at 80 yuan/£8.51/$12.86 and water at 60 yuan/£6.38/$9.65. So we had one drink each whilst taking in the exquisite view. We then headed to a much more modest bar called Perrys with drinks starting at 20 yuan/£2.13/$3.22 which is much more reasonable. Perrys is very international with several people from all over the world drinking there. We stayed at Perrys for a few buckets and then headed back to the hostel to get some beauty sleep.
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