Shanghai part 2

Our last day in China we had a tour of the sites of Shanghai. After about a 20 minute walk from Jasmine and Mark's appartment, we took the underground into one of the main shopping roads, Nanjing Road. We walked down to the river and the famous Bund. Unfortunately it was a really gray day and the view across to Pudong wasn't the best.

Mark, Jasmine, Amber and Dave on Nanjing Road (looking west)

Emily on Nanjing Road (looking East)

Neil with the buildings of Pudong in the background

We then headed to 1221 restaurant where we ordered heaps of Chinese food including salt and pepper squid, some great duck, chicken, Szechuan beef, tofu and vegies, dumplings and wontons. They also served tea of course, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I liked the way they served the hot water though.

Neil at 1221 restaurant with the waiter pouring hot water for the tea

The boys then went home to 'rest' and the girls headed out to the Shanghai 'Old Town' to have a look around at the markets. We spent most of our time around the Yu Gardens and restored Bazaar which was very commercial, but very interesting.

Yu Gardens area

Yu Gardens area

Yu Gardens

Amber and Jasmine at Yu Gardens

That night we caught up with some other friends from Canberra, Justin and Eli. Unfortunately Fiona had the same bug that many others had been dealing with the last few days and wasn’t able to meet up. But all the same it was great to see Justin and Eli even if it was for a little while. We capped off our trip with what else but food at a Xinjang restaurant where Neil and Dave went a bit crazy with the lamb kebabs. But they were pretty good, and cheap too.

Neil, Jasmine, Mark and Dave at the Xinjiang restaurant

The next morning was an early flight back to Beijing and a bit of another administrative overkill getting out of China. Of course the Philippines airlines flight getting back to Manila was late in departing, but we had a great taxi ride (joining part of a police led VIP escort through the peak traffic of EDSA – the main highway) to make it back home at a decent time.

China was a great place to visit and even having 6 whole days in Beijing didn’t seem like enough to see the highlights of that city. China itself is huge and I would have loved to have more of a chance to really get out and see some of the other mega-cities, the other amazing sites (like Nanjing, Xian, the West, the gorges, Yellow and Yangtse rivers – no river cruise though! - and some of the southern areas that Mark, Jasmine, Amber and Dave had just visited). As well as really going to see how the ‘real’ China lives in the countryside. China is definitely a boom country that can be seen when visiting Beijing and Shanghai. There are heaps of new buildings and construction projects, the place seems pretty clean and organized, and there is an evident pride in that it has been done the ‘Chinese’ way. I guess just how ‘Chinese’ that way is, and what kind of other development related issues (like how much does the success extend to the countryside, the huge numbers of rural to urban migration, pollution) is in a way hidden from the average tourist and could not be easily grasped in a 2 week visit staying with friends and relatives. But it definitely sparks an interest in the place. The food for the most part was great, the sites inspiring, the language was interesting and the variety offered seemed broad. Of course it was great to see Dad again and we always (I guess with most families) seem to be able to pick up where we left off – normally around a few plates of food!!! By the way, did I tell you all that my New Years Resolution is to eat more sensibly? Smaller portions, get rid of that junky stuff I eat all the time and don’t stuff myself just because the food is in front of me. Arrrgh. Not sure how long I will last with this one!!

posted by batik billy @ 5:49 pm