"Can I actually be in Shanghai ... is this only a dream" ... the buildings here are so high and unfortunately I've arrived in Shanghai on a rainy/grey day ... I hope that tomorrow is sunny so I can really see the Shanghai I see in all the travel books or how it's televised on T.V.

Well, we arrived at our hotel and we had no bell-boy service ... I guess you can say ... we looked poor, boy did he miss out on our tips ... when touring I tend not to bring 'high-fashionable-clothing' but if you want to 'fit-in' then when you come to Shanghai be prepared or be prepared to purchase clothing ... the clothing hmmmm looks very nice but though I'm a Canadian 7/8 size in Shanghai I have to go to XXL department LOL ... My shoulders are wide in comparison to the petite, little, tiny women of Shanghai ... we Canadians do certainly 'stand-out', I don't know if that's a good thing ...

I got to experience the Meglav Train and ride it at 431kms/hr ... my tummy felt weird after but I couldn't figure out why cause my mind felt as if we only travelled about 100kms/hr ... the developers of the train placed some windows in that 'give' the impression that you're only travelling at a reasonable speed ... so you think you're travelling slow but the tummy it really knows ... picked up a souvenir then we were off to see the T.V. tower in Shanghai

Show much to see in so little time, hopefully tomorrow brings a day of relaxation and touring, NOT ... got to give up relaxing if I'm to get in all that I need to see in Shanghai ... especially when I think, I may not be back ... though if I can I will return!!

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There were some days when we walked on the streets in Shanghai and Hangzhou, we didn’t have a proper lunch in restaurants. We just bought whatever street food/snacks that looks good. Surprisingly most of them are pretty good! At first we were a little worry if the foods are clean…hey, we didn’t get sick! We can do it again tomorrow! It was extremely cheap and this saves us some times when we just need to walk and see more things.

The one that we love, we didn’t even know the name. We just name it as Egg Roti. It looks like an Indian bread, you have a choice either you want it plain or with an egg, meat floss or even lettuce. We choose the one with egg. We fell in love when we had the first bite. It was steamy hot (so we don’t need to worry if it’s clean) it has a taste of Chinese spice with taste of egg….yummy!!

The other one we like is onion pancake (again, we named it ourselves) It looks like a very thin pancake, crunchy outside and soft inside with a taste of green onion. It cost only CNY1 and fills me up! This will be a very good on the road breakfast or afternoon snack!

Charlie loves the one that looks like a tart; we named it as pop tart. The crust is crunchy and soft inside, I can’t figure out what was it inside but it tasted sweet and very good! It is not too sweet and it goes well with the crunchiness!!

I like the bean curd on a stick. There were 2 pieces of bean curd on a bamboo stick ( like satay ) and it was soak in a big pot of brown colored soup, I think it is a soap that consist of Chinese spices. It tasted like a cinnamon toast but it is a bean curd, so we named them as cinnamon toast.

There were many candy shops in Shanghai. We like the one that wrapped in a paper that looks like a bar of soap. It is fluffy and soft. Some makes out of black sesames, some makes out of peanuts and some makes out of walnut and many more different flavors.

We also like the vegetable bun. The Chinese call them Bau. It is a bun that has different stuffing like beef, pork, and vegetable. One Bau will definitely fill me up!

While walking on the snacks/shopping street in Hangzhou - Qing He Fang street, there were varieties of local snacks. One that I can’t forget is called the “Dragon whiskers candy” It used to be the snack of the King in the old days! It was sweet and fluffy - quite fun to eat if you don’t mind to get your shirt full of flour…

We saw some weird food on that street -  Fried rabbit head?!  Cow guts stew ?! We are not that adventurous…..

One must definitely try their stir fried dumpling when visiting Shanghai. It is one of their signature local foods. It usually comes in a plate of 6; dip it in a vinegar source that comes together with it…Yummy…

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Built in 1846 and just remodled . the Hotel boost that President Grant stayed there, Chaplian and all so Einstien.. It just across the canal from The Bund area. And about a bock from the river. We stayed on the second floor which was the executive floor. The room was modern. very clean, and had this OH WOW bath room! the bedroom and the bath were seperated by a glass window that ran the lenght of the bedroom and it has a power blind that came down when one wanted privacy. And it had this amazing rian shower that was massive. The cost was about 120.00 Canadian a night and included a breakfast brunch served in the Ballroom. only problem was the doorman when ever he hail a cab he ask us were we wanted to go. And when ever we said the South Shanghai rail station he tell the cabbie the wrong one!Number of times we ended up at the Shanghai Rail station and had to that the subway to the south one.

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This morning we flew to Shanghai. firstly,we visited the Xin Tian Di, which is a newly developed recreation area in Shanghai with old styled buildings. During our exploration there, we find many cafe or western-styled restaurants we visited  the Shanghai Museum and the beautiful Yuyuan Garden. After lunch, take a relaxing cruise tour on Huangpu River, we have experienced the prosperity of modern Shanghai. Then we were invited to a farewell dinner which enjoys 260 years history and serves the best Shanghai cuisine. Following the dinner was a fascinating Portman Acrobatic Show at the Shanghai Centre Theatre.

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Today our tour guide first took us to the Yu Yuan Garden which is an old Chinese quarter of Shanghai with cobbled streets that is lined with traditional shops selling herbal medicines, handicrafts, Chinese tea, and a variety of delicious snacks, but we had to just walk by and keep to the time schedule.

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Downtown Holiday Inn Shanghai is NOT located in Shanghai Downtown. It located right opposite the new train station. Although a 5-10 minutes cab ride is easy to get to downtown. It will be convenient for those who like to travel by train/metro around or out of town. There is a hypermarket – Tesco very close to the hotel. Some restaurants near by and there is a fancy coffee shop next to the hotel, a little expensive then the outdoor café that own by the hotel. Across the street, there is one big shopping mall. Overall is quiet convenient for the tourist. This hotel consists of 2 buildings - the Plaza Wing and Great Wall Wing. We stayed at the Plaza Wing, clean room, the king size bed is ok, not as hard as some of the reviews I read. Bathroom a little worn out, some furniture is a little old but still ok to use. At the time we stayed(April 7-April 10 2008), they were renovating the Great Wall Wing; therefore some noise were inevitable for those who stayed at the Great Wall Wing. The buffet breakfast was expensive but there are varieties of food. The room rate is a little higher then the Holiday Inn in Hangzhou but still cheap. Overall, this hotel is ok.

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We took train from HangZhou to Shanghai. We were glad that we had the hotel took care of our train tickets, a little service fee is definitely worth it. We safe a lot of time being in line and may not even get a ticket on the departure date. We booked the tickets 3 days a head. One must be very careful when taking train to and from Shanghai. There are 2 train stations in Shanghai. The one the goes to HangZhou is departing from Shanghai East Station whereas the train that goes to Suzhou departs from Shanghai New Station. We learnt a lesson in Shanghai. After getting thru the security at Shanghai New Station, we realized our train is departing from Shanghai East Station. We quickly ran outside that station to crab a cab to the East Station. The cab driver knew that we are in such a hurry (our train departing in 30minutes.) He told us he would rush and drive very fast so that we won’t miss the train but he wanted CNY100. Out of no choice, we agreed to the price. He drove extremely fast, we were scare to death but we managed to be at the train station with 10minutes to spare. Here is the best part – he said is CNY200 now! I told him we agreed at CNY100 why CNY200 now? He claimed that CNY100 is for one person. I am very mad at this cunning Chinese!! Charlie didn’t want to waste any time and just gave him the CNY200…. To anyone out there – be extremely careful when dealing with these Chinese in Shanghai. If you get into the cab, make sure to ask the driver uses taxi meter and price is ALWAYS for 2persons!!

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So we went on from Xian to shanghai.   Xi'an was a wonderful city that I would have loved to spend several days at.  The city wall and market are things I read about but did not get to see.....  I need to go back....

SHANGHAI: MAY 7, 8 and 9,  2007        huge huge city.   I think it is 19 million people..... over 4000 buildings over 20 stories: there was lots of shopping but honestly the stores we saw were quite up scale.   and not what we were looking for.  

I had had an itch on my back for a few days and when we first got to shanghai it was tiny tiny red dots.  Later that afternoon I had large red dots.  The next morning large red raised dots and in the evening really large raised dots.  In two days it changed dramatically.  I spoke to a nurse who was on the tour and she suggested I have it looked at:  before we went to the acrobat show,  David and I ran to a western doctor at one hospital.  (theoretically)  The desk nurse looked at my back and we were referred to another hospital  where they had an international medical unit.  It was at the university hospital on the 8th floor.  When we got there  I filled out papers and within minutes was called to see the doctor.  He looked at the rash and diagnosed  me.  He typed on a computer and gave me a little scan card.  (like a credit card or a hotel scan key)  He explained what I should do the next few weeks then directed me to walk to the pharmacy  (which was on the same floor).  I walked down the hall and got three prescriptions for 3 different medications and returned to the original room for a second consultation with the doctor.   When I went  back to the waiting room David was speaking to the travel insurance.   I let him talk and gave the receptionist  my American Express:   945 yuan (divided by 7.67 = $123.00).   for after hours emergency visit,  consult,  doctor, RX, consult).   David was shocked that I was finished already.  so ...   :(   .  as luck would have it I have shingles.   Oh my gosh.  I am very impressed by how really painful it is.   I think I will just take the rest of my vacation as sick leave.   (LOL)   really though,   I am just trying to make sure nothing (clothes, David) touch it....... even the air molecules hurt bashing at it.....  enough sniveling.   back to Shanghai. 

David and I took a taxi and found our tour group standing in a circle next to the door of the Acrobat show (do not miss this show) They cheered when we ran up and we all ran inside.   The show was amazing.   They juggled, tossed pots, did magic, rode motorcycles, danced, floated on ribbons, and had aerial artists... to name just a few: there really was something for everyone!   After the show the motorcycle girls and guys were standing:  I waited and waited for a man to move out of my way so I could take a picture.  He really seemed to be purposefully moving so that I couldn't get a shot.  Then another guy who was with the riders took my camera and told me to stand with them......  I started to tell him how to take the picture but he cut me off with yes, yes yes..... and shoved me towards the riders:  and I stood with the group and cheered for a picture:  Then:  I got my camera back and then: GET THIS!   the guy who had been blocking my pictures walked up and showed me a handful of 100 yuan bills and told me it was 100 yuan, and pointed to a sign I had not seen  (probably because I was looking through the lens at the riders and not looking around)   I started laughing and told him no way ...   he didn't say anything more:  probably because I was sort of tricked into the picture without knowing there was a cost and also, it would have been hard to talk / argue about it with the language barrier.

Shanghai is the largest city in the world.  it is immense.  It has over 4,000 skyscrapers over 20 stories high.  We saw that feng Shui was used and many circles and open air (even a building with a huge opening half way up.)  They have a building going up now that is the tallest in the world.   they are at 102 stories and have not divulged how many stories they are stopping at..... amazing.

  We went to the Shanghai Museum:  This place rocks!  We could have spent days there.  But, because we were on a tour we had only 3 hours.. We got a bunch of wonderful pictures: Their porcelain display was so wonderful: some of the pieces were BC:  The bronze wing was also amazing.  I could not believe the ages of some of the pieces. 

We went to the pearl tower and rode the incredibly fast elevator to the observation floor.  there is also a restaurant:  i would love to eat there on a later visit.   the view was wonderful but so was the  smog.   (see pictures)Shanghai had some wonderful sites. 

We  also went to a nice temple that had a large white jade Buddha.  It was in the style of India so it was a reclining Buddha. The yard of the Lamasery was so nicely landscaped and there were large brass pots ... (not really the right word.... ) that had incense burning.   David started sneezing....  Inside had many golden Buddhas in different poses.  It was allowed to photograph them so we got several nice shots.  Many larger rooms with great statues.   It was so wonderful to see them.    We could not actually photograph the real jade Buddha but there was a nice replica that we took pictures of.    

************ sorry everyone......  I put suzhou: city of gardens pictures on this page instead of the next entry******** I wrote about suzhou & more pictures next****

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很漂亮那个方大哥功夫梗罚梗非官方梗罚梗法国费功夫高非官方功夫个

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Location, Location , Location. Being in French Concession is wonderful and being in French Concession in East Asia is best. Walkable to some the good and trendy places in Shanghai. Good food around. You can walk to near by park and spend time. Nanjing road is slightly far. But you can take a taxi and not far off.

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I decided to drop by the Shanghai Museum (Art stayed in bed) and we both went to the YuYuan Gardens, which is a bit south of the Bund.

don't have a lot to say about the Shanghai Museum bc I was sorta disappointed - it was well touted in the guidebook and a lot of people were going through so I thought it would be pretty interesting. It was sorta interesting, but it turned out to be more so the history of certain aspects of chinese crafts (like sculpture, bronze,pottery/vases, calligraphy, painting, etc.) and less so about the political/military history of china or shanghai. oh well. it was free though, which was nice.  but the hall of ethnic minorities was interesting - I recognized some hmong-ish stuff that I saw in Thailand (Chiang Mai)

the building is sorta neat - shaped somewhat like an ancient chinese food pot with handles (have the pictures to show the resemblance)

on the way home to the hotel I dropped by the Jingan Temple - looked like it was under reconstruction and had this huge metal container thing that everyone was trying to throw coins into <yawn>

Art and I decided to hit the Yu Yuan gardens, especially since we weren't planning to go to Suzhou and the main attraction of Suzhou are the ancient chinese gards (something about the garden of the humble administator?). a friend's mother told us that if we do the Yu yuan garden, it would be exactly like what we'd see in Suzhou.

the yu yuan garden in situated in this touristy shopping area with the yu yuan historical theme (sorta felt like epcot center-ish) and the gardens themelves are large and beautiful, though strangely close to urban neighbors. I'd climb atop some stairs and overlook the serence ponds and trees and buildings, turnaround and then see some neighbor's underwear hanging from the window 6 feet away across the alley. 

a word on the touristy "old street" - the place is crazy, crowded with tourists in confined spaces (well, admittedly, we had gone on a 3-day holiday weekend, so maybe that contributed to the crowds). the stores were medium to slightly high end, but nothing like the enormous mall/shopping centers you see on nanjing road. it actually took a little while to figure out where exactly the gardens were since they wer "hidden" amidst this crowded shopping complex.

prob the most memorable thing about the old street is that there are these hawkers trying to sell this "liquid pig" toy - it was quite astonishing when you first see it. there's a plastic pig (they also have rodents I think) that the hawker throws onto the ground (a covered flat surface) at high velocity. on impact, the pig flattens into a pancake, and then 3 seconds later reforms into its original shape. sorta cool - and for a few yuan, sorta a good deal.  I wound up buying one (which later got confiscated at the airport) despite art's warning that the stuff is almost certainly toxic. oh well 

food in shanghai - art and I had a lot of "xiao lim bao" which are the soup dumplings (popular items at joe's shanghai and new green bo in NYC chinatown). Essentially they are dumplings that have a hot soup inside - the technique to eat it without burning your tongue (bc it's so hot inside) is to bite a little hole in the dumpling skin and sip the soup out. another friend took us to a place famous for the xiao lim bao - Din Tai Fung in the Xin Tien Die <sp?> area of shanghai.  this particularly neighborhood is sorta upscale/expat/touristy (another friend mentioned that it is also filled with gold diggers) and the draw is that the architecture is pretty well preserved but filled with stores like the coffee bean and other western retailers, western cuisine, etc. - btw, Din Tai Fung has several locations (only US locaton is LA) and the food and service is superb. it was voted as one of the top 10 restaurants ever by the NY Times some years ago. Another interesting thing about the restaurant in Xin Tien Die is that there's murals of famous HK/Chinese actors/singers/celebrities. Didn't recognize any of them personally but my friends do

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We got into Shanghai withouth incident except for a lot of delays. It turns out that's a theme for Air China and getting through airports in China these days - hurry up and wait. Beijing airport security was really tight (understandably bc olympics/tibet) and they opened, squirted, smelled all my toiletries. Despite having everything in bottles under 100 mls, I had to give up my purell (guess it's the gel thing) and on a later flight they took my bottle of antibacterial soap and a squishy pig toy that was all the rage on the streets of shanghai! (you throw this pig at high velocity against something, the pig flattens into a liquid, and then reforms in a freakish kind of way - oh well, it was probably carcinogenic anyway)

sidenote - Pudong airport is really, really far from the city. We also came in during rush hr on the thursday before a 3 day holiday weekend, so we spent a lot of time in traffic, the last hr was stop and go (worse than LA traffic according to art). so if possible, try to fly into Hongquou <sp?> which is closer.

shanghai is a city that's less about china's past and more about china's future - or at least what china wants its future to be and how it wants to be portrayed internationally. the city is big (like beijing) but very international (esp due to its history of a port city and where the european/western powers had a foothold) and it's subway system is a lot better at getting you to where you want to go (it helps that the places you'd want to go are more concentrated in certain areas).  the culture of shanghai is very cosmopolitan - it seemed to be a lot like NYC/HK - and there's a similar superiority/arrogance here from what both local Shanghai people and from what non-Shanghai chinese people tell me.  everyone tells me that shanghai people are very money oriented, much more so than the rest of china, but that's a result of the immense opportunities there.  (someone told me that no shanghai girl would marry a guy who didn't already own his own condo/house, and property values are through the roof). And I definitely saw the expressions of wealth being generated, though perhaps unequally

as such, shanghai is a lot less about traditional chinese culture and a lot more about nightlife - whereas in Beijing we were scrambling to see what the people do for fun,  in Shanghai there was an overabundance. we hung out with a friend who lived in Shanghai and took us to see the full range of shanghai nightlife - from the rather seedy expat bars (ie Malone's, Judy Too, basically the kind of places you'd see in every large asian city filled with middle-aged western men and rather tired looking and unattractive local girls) to where the local shanghai people go like M2 and another place I can't remember.

M2 (Muse 2) is a lounge/club where it was on par with anything I've seen in NYC or Bangkok in terms of crowds and sophistication.  some of his friends came out to chill with us (some were reputedly models, and I can easily believe it), and I learned some shanghai/chinese drinking games. we went to a number of venues that night (some kind of after party club similar to what we did in Bangkok after Route 66), and we got back to our hotel at around 5pm. the next day I woke up at 2pm... very few pics of course, bc what happens in shanghai stays in shanghai

the following night, art and I decided to drop by M7 (I think that's what it's called) which is also a local place and decently high end. we didn't have our friend with us that night, and so there was the obvious language barrier, but being asian american, we can easily blend into the crowd and observe quietly. the girls were definitely as beautiful as any I've seen in the world and the ones who were part of the staff put on an amazing and skillful dance show the likes of which I've never seen in an club in the US.

there are other venues we hit during our time in shanghai but they shall be lost in memory...

warning/side note - we were at one extremely high end venue where I tried to pay with my credit card (we were taking my friend out that night) and I'm not totally sure what happened (it was all discussed in mandarin bt my friend and the staff) but apparently, they wouldn't take my western credit card bc many westerners go over to china, run up huge bills, and then claim that the card was stolen - thereby getting everything for free. fortunately, my friend footed the non-cash portion of the bill, but if any of you travellers plan to go to high end venues in shanghai, keep this issue in mind.

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We spent our time during the day in the people's park (renmin park), walking through the french concession, navigating the bund (the old European power base, ie shanghai's past)and viewing pudong across the river (the new financial district filled with skyscrapers and the rather garish oriental pearl tower).  It's amazing that 15 yrs ago, pudong was some kind of swamp land - in 15 more yrs it'll be even more developed I'm sure.

as usual, between bad weather and pollution, our experience in shanghai was less than ideal - can't seem to get a good view of pudong through the haze - and the jin mao tower in pudong overlooked pea soup that night. note - you don't have to go to the observation deck and pay a fee to get a view, you can just go to the grand hyatt lounge on the 53rd fl

one of the strangest and nonsensical tourist experiences I had was the bund sightseeing tunnel. the tunnel is a good idea to get pedestrians from the bund over to pudong under the river (there's shuttle that you get into) but the experience is a strange experience of flashing lights, something out of the movie 2046. it's really difficult to explain - fortunately I have a lot of pics - but the strangest component were these humanoid balloon-like figures that pop up on the tracks. it was simply a weird experience

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Total of 11.000 km by train in 3,4 weeks WHAT A GREAT TRIIP!!

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This is not a hostel in the strictest sense of the name. It used to be a grand hotel - Charlie Chaplin and Einstein stayed here - and it still is, but it seems like the staff rooms or larger rooms have been converted into dorms. I chose to stay in a 5 bed girls only room because I was on my own, but there are larger ones too. On my last day I ran into some of the others I'd been teaching with and they were in a 15 bed dorm - all fold up camp beds, very squashed in and with one bathroom between them. Everything was very clean though, and the character of the building was quite special. Each floor also has a key minder, who you have to leave your key with and collect it when you get back in. It was more expensive than other hostels - but I think everything in Shanghai is more expensive than in the rest of China! It was well worth the extra cash - as I say, because I was on my own, I was happier in a smaller room. The room itself had a large main room, and a small side room, where my bed and one other were. There was a large colour TV in the main room, which also had an elaborate traditional fire place. The beds were VERY COMFORTABLE which was a blessing! It was also an en suite room - a great power shower and western toilet. Bed linen is included. There's a bar which serves food, where I ate one night - bog standard stuff, pizzas and burgers, but that was fine for me! It wasn't jumping at night, which was also nice, probably because a lot of the hotel is a proper hotel rather than a hostel. There's a laundry at the hotel, with an attendant who does everything for you. I had a real struggle explaining to her that everything could be tumble dried (woo, first drier in 2.5 months) apart from my jeans and bras! I had to kind of mime to her but she got it right, and everything came back to me pressed and folded - it was very reasonable, and a definite improvement on the hostel in Xi'an where the drying lines were stretched out over the roof and everything came off with soot on it! There is an internet room but it is VERY EXPENSIVE by Chinese standards, even by other places in Shanghai - I only used it briefly when I couldn't be bothered going out to anywhere else. There's a mini mart just along the street for soft drinks and snacks, and Shanghai has so many places to eat you'll not be stuck. As for the hostel overall, I loved it. Totally different experience, the staff were friendly and helpful: I had to change my flight tickets at the Emirates office on Nanjing Road and they wrote the address out in Chinese so I could show the taxi driver. They also found out times of the airport shuttle bus for me, leant me an umbrella and confirmed my flights. There was building work going on when I was there, but you only heard it outside the building! I think I could hear it in the others room, but that didn't bother me! I think the Pearl Tower is nearby, but I didn't get to it. So I'd highly recommend the Pujiang - it's in a great location (5 mins walk to the Bund), lots of character and you're bound to make friends!

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Arrived in Shanghai at 7am.  This time, I could sleep so I wasn't so tired. Only I needed a few more hours to sleep in.. :)

Got back to the same hostel, checked emails, did some laundry,  and lazy around for a while. Left hostel at noon and went to Henghan Rd. According to my guidbook, there are some nice cafe and shops. Really? I couldn't find any!!! Was walking on the street, and started to raining all the sudden! Heavy rain for about 15-20minutes. I couldn't wait any longer so I went to Chruch and I was all wet! Attended English service but at the entrance, a middle age guy looked at me and thought I was Chinese. Chinese people are not allow to enter to English service so I said, 'I'm not Chinese' in English, he was like 'ahh..' . haha!! Yup, I look like them! It was freezing cold there.  I realized everywhere I go is SO COLD!!!! And I didn't bring any cardigans cuz I thought it'd be very hot and didn't think of inside!  After I had coffee at starbucks, went shopping to get a cardigan. Is it because it's summer or what!? It was so hard to find one cardigan. I finally found them at Chinese brand shop. It was an okay one so I got it. Now I can go anywhere :P 

At that night, I went to bund to see a night view. Rain again!!! But this time is much shorter and lighter. Wow this place is so crowded at night and the view is amazing!!!!!!!  Just kept taking pictures. I was there for about one and a half hours. haha. I loved the view here :D

Day 9 (the last day in China) :

This is my last day.. What I should to? OH! buying souvenirs and food for ferry. I hated food on the ferry and it was expensive!  Got omiyage and food also wanted to give my subway card that i used all the time. I heard if I give it back, I could get my deposit back. I went to ticket center and told the guy to return the card but the guy didn't say ok. I had no idea what he said but there was an old lady on my right side and saying something with 10yuan bills so i thought she wanted it. I didn't care who she was and what she was saying but I gave it to her and got 10 yuan. yay!!! I got money back!! It's just 10yuan though.. pretty much nothing in Japanese yen..

Anyway, got back to the hostel and took a nap. WOW I slep too long!!! I didn't pack so I did and hoped there would be no more typhoon on the way back!

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