Shanghai in Style

It's been so long since I last posted. It seems that when there are lots of cool things to blog about, there just isn't anytime to do so.

I spent 3 days with a friend from high school. Dave, he's in China at the mo teaching english. He managed to get a few days off so we could hang out in Shanghai.

 

Day 1.

The markets. Firstly, we went to the biggest market, Chipulu. This experience with Dave, Kenji and Peter was completely different to when I went with mum, Danny and XiaoYi. You see, the second list of people don't stand out in a crowd of chinese ppl (apart from the fact that we're incredibly good looking of course). So... Dave (the tall white boy) and Kenji (the Japanese boy) attracted lots of hagglers. It was horrible!! They kept following us around, trying to take us into certain stores. I hated it! I felt so preyed upon. It was intense and I didn't feel safe at all! It's one of the few times in my life that ever second word it my head was a swear word or some kind of aggressive phase :(  We didn't stay there for as long as we initially planned. There wasn't much that Dave saw anyway so it was no great lost. We didn't have this problem at Jiang market. In between this, we went to Nanjing Rd to have lunch at one of the side restaurants. It was a noodle place where you get to pick and choose the vegetables, meats, meatballs and tofu. It was quite nice and very cheap.

 

Before we left Jiang market, I needed a coat since it was almost evening and I was starting to get cold. This meant that I didn't have to go back to the hotel to get one. I can't say that I do that regularly in NZ. Kenji and Peter left after that since they had dinner plans. Dave and I came across a CD and DVD store. It looked nice so we went inside, down some steps which led to a slightly dodgy looking store. They were selling DVDs for 8 yeun each! pirated ones ofcourse. I checked out the CDs. They were alot more expensive. I'm not certain about whether they were pirated or not.

 

Haagen Daz icrecream was the next stop. Really yummy but definitely western prices.

 

We walked aroung afterwards looking for the mexican restaurant that was in out guide book. It didn't exist. We found a posh looking french restaurant. We decided to share a bottle of wine. Wine is 2-3 times the price of what would be charged in or the rest of the world. They had Montana Pinot Noir that we can get in most NZ supermarkets for about $15 and many restaurants for about $35. They charged $80. We went for an Australian Pinot. They didn't have the tasting notes and our waitre couldn't tell us what each bottle was like. Our choice fortunately turned out to be good and the waiter did an above average job of serving it, better than many NZ restaurants.

 

Day 2.

We walked along the bund river, had brunch at another western restaurant (my chicken and avocado grilled sandwich was fabulous) before crossing the river to explore the other side. We discovered that the observation deck of the Jaimao tower (on the 84th floor) that we wanted to go to would cost us 70 yuen. I called Danny. He gave us the inside info. He told us that we could get onto the 87th floor for free if we went to the bar and restaurant instead. We spent a few hours in the Shanghai historical meusum before browsing in the giant mall. We were waiting for 5pm to arrive which was when the bar in the Jaimao tower ("Cloud 9")would open up. While walking there, Dave observed that I was hungry. He commented that I get quiet just before meal time. So we did a detour. Thai restaurant. It was ok. Their Papaya salad made me happy though. By the time we arrive at Cloud 9, the city lights were out. We enjoyed the 100 million dollar view while sipping on cocktails. Oh the life!

 

We went back to the hotel to freshen up and so I could get more of my money off my brother. The taxi fair was quite expensive. Danny and his 2 flatmates said that the taxi driver probably took us for a detour. We've learnt to always grab the taxi receipts. They suggested where Dave and I could go for a night out on the town. They weren't keen on coming out because they had school the next day and 2 of them were quite sick also.

 

The taxi driver dropped us off. We got the impression that the bar that we wanted was close by. We wandered briefly before deciding to go into a nearby mall to ask for directions. We asked a styly girl at the counter. We told us about a bar at the top of the mall and said she'd take us there. We were treated very well. She gave us her card and said we could contact her whenever we came. Aparrently there was a cover charge but she said we were with her. Then we filled in our names and email addresses before getting a free drink voucher and having 2 people finding us a good table. The place was very popular and way more hip and funky than any bar that Dave's found in China. We had a few drinks (expat prices) and danced the night away. In between that, we had a photographer taking a few pics of us and at one stage, the bar top was lift of fire and there were bar men pouring drinks into people's mouths. Fun Times!!

 

Day 3.

We slept in. We caught the bus to People's square, walked through people's park before finding a flash thai restaurant at the top of a mall. We were hungry and lots trat of how many dishes we ordered. Turned out to be 7 dishes!! It was no surprise that we didn't finish it all. One of the dishes that we ordered was gross so it was really only 6, but still!

 

We went to the Shanghai museum. We had just over an hour since the museum was closing at 5pm. We later went to the foriegn book store so that Dave could get a few novels to read. Then we walking along Nanjing Rd, it was absolutely beautiful. We were grinning from ear to ear that we were hanging out in Shanghai, living a high roller's lifestyle. We enjoyed some yummy desserts and snacks before heading back to the hotel so that Dave could grab his things.

 

We said "see you in Christchurch" to each other and goodbye to 3 fabulous days of our lives