16th Sept to 18th Sept 2014
Checked out of the hotel in Xian and went in search of a taxi to the airport. It cost us ¥93 ride for over half an hours journey, and surprisingly we felt more relaxed as the ride wasn't as scary.
Arrived at the airport, checked in, went through security, and went for lunch, I had beef noodle soup and Shan decided on a Western club sandwich which wasn't the best.
So you know those massage chairs that you see at airports? Well I had a 20 minute massage for ¥10 about £1. It felt amazing it probably looked like if was having a fit to passers by though as I was jiggling around.
Our Air China flight was a bit late on boarding on an airbus A321. The flight took 1 hr 50 minutes and was a good flight, we had some turbulence at the start which I like anyway cause I'm weird, and then we got a nice surprise when they brought us a hot meal and 2 drink services. We had a window seat and middle seat and had good views of the blue sky and fluffy clouds below us.
The sun continued after we landed in Shanghai too. We caught the metro from the airport to a station in our road, then hailed down a taxi and got dropped at our hotel 'Yun's Paradise'. We booked the hotel last night on travel republic and it cost us £95 for 2 nights. The hotel had mixed reviews when I checked trip advisor, but we are really happy with it. The lobby was big and our room on the 5th floor is spacious with lovely views of Shanghai. (Only the breakfast was crap).
We walked through an old part of town full of shops selling just about everything and headed for the Bund. Shanghai's skyline looks really cool, across the Huangpu River the business district's tower blocks were lit up and reflecting in the water, and as we strolled along the promenade the view of the old buildings of the Bund appeared in front of us. For dinner we went to East Nanjing Road for dinner followed by a stop at Hagen Das for some dessert.
We had planned to visit Huangshan, a mountain about 3 hours away but decided it was too far and also too much effort, jumping on trains and buses and climbing the mountain to find somewhere to stay the night to climb down and get bus and train back, so decided to stay in Shanghai for an extra night.
After a bland breakfast we went on the city sightseeing bus which told us information do all the big landmarks. When we arrived at the Oriental Pearl Tv Tower, more commonly known as the Shanghai Tower, we jumped off the bus and booked to travel up the concrete space age looking building. We went to the 91st floor where we marvelled at Shanghai dotted below us. We then went down to the 90th floor where there is a glass floor circling the ball shaped viewing area. I thought I might be fine but I got scared and just clung on to the side of the building. Shan was hesitant at first but he likes a challenge so stood on the glass floor and he said it was such an adrenaline rush. I wanted to stand on it so badly so walked on it without looking down until the very last second. It was freaky!!
After we viewed some more of Pudong's business district we jumped on a ferry to take us back across the river. We done some more sightseeing on the bus before watching the world go by at People's Square. We were approached by touts selling their wares, but I actually really fancied something they had- they were like heeleys- you strapped on the wheels to your shoes and off you went. We haggled the girl down from ¥150 to ¥30. I was pleased and attempted to try them out but it was very difficult to keep my balance. Then a man selling them came up to us with a starting price of ¥20! But I think he was playing.
I wore my wheels as we walked back across the Bund- and I seemed to be an interest to lots of people, well my wheels were also lighting up as I rolled along- although I had to hang on to Shannon's arm otherwise I feared I might topple over.
We had dinner near our hotel in a restaurant called Secret Recipe, and it had tons of Western food on the menu. Shannon went for Thai, while I had spaghetti bolognaise which was okay. They had lovely looking desserts too, so I picked a cake to takeaway back to the hotel with me.
Checked out of Yuns and walked a few blocks to the Ibis hotel where we stayed for the night. We changed hotels as the prices had went up online. The Ibis cost us £44. Also we booked through Expedia as we found them to be better than Travel Republic. We also used Expedia to book our hotels in Macau and Hong Kong and our flight to Macau.
After unloading our bags we headed to Pu'an Road bus station at People's Square where we caught the pink and white bus to Zhujiajiao, which is an old canal town 30km out of Shanghai.
We wandered around the old towns alleyways and over the bridges looking at the shops trying to sell us everything and anything, we had a beer overlooking the water and watched the boats go past. We went over the most photogenic bridge the Fangshen which was first built in 1571 but it wasn't photogenic today as it was under scaffolding- we always get caught out by scaffolding!! We past by a shop offering the fish tanks where you put your feet in and they nibble and your dead skin, so decided to do that. We have done it before in Cambodia but again it ticked too much so I spent half the time trying to get used to it. The fish in our tanks would certainly have got a treat! We wandered around some more taking photos of the lovely old town.
At one point there were people taking photos at a view point and we wanted to also take photos at, when a Chinese man jumps in front of us and took photos, I remind Shannon that in China no ones queues and we should have been quicker to get in, Shannon replied with a rude remark- and then the Chinese man turned round and said in good English- 'sorry you were first, you take your picture' Eeek!! We must remember that they will understand us more than we understand them!
Caught the bus back to Shanghai and headed down East Nanjing Road where all the shops are, we went back to Forever 21 and both bought some clothes. We both have enough with us, but it means we can put off getting out laundry done for a few more days. We had seen a Pizza Express the other day so decide to head there for dinner. It was super yummy, had rosemary and garlic bread to start then a pizza each. It was nice to have food knowing it would be as it said in menu, no hidden extras. Wandered back to the Ibis and had a relaxing night.