China

Our final day in Shanghai and mainland China. With a favourable weather forecast for today we woke up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, at the prospect of finally getting to explore Shanghai a bit more.

We set off first to Renmin Park.

The promised sunshine had not materialised, and it was still cold, but we walked through the park to Peoples Square. Walking under the subway across a busy road, we were greeted on the other side by…..

You’ve guessed it……..

RAIN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Luckily, we sheltered under a tree for the initial deluge, and then launched ourselves into the Shanghai Museum. We had no intention of going in this, but it had two main things going for it at the time. Firstly it was free. Secondly it was dry!

Shanghai Museum was a prime example of a modern-ish building that they obviously didn’t have a clue what to do with. After walking around the scintillating displays of coins and jade, we felt like going to the front desk and demanding money for having been there! If we’d paid to get in, I think I’d have started a riot! Irredeemably crap beyond belief!

We left this bastion of mediocrity and headed to Nanjing Road. And yet again the heavens opened up. Luckily we were near to a “tourist train”, which for 2RMB ferried us from one end of the road to the other. Getting off at East Nanjing Road subway station, we walked down to the Bund to wait for sunset and to get our first view of the skyline at night since our first day in Shanghai.

At first the buildings were shrouded in mist/fog. Just as the sun started to set though, the bad weather disappeared and we were treated to an excellent last view of the Pearl Tower and the other skyscrapers.

To sum up Shanghai; we did everything we intended to do, but the weather seriously prevented us doing additional activities and really getting a feel for the city. We’ll be leaving it with a sense of not having scratched its surface, which at least gives us something to do when we eventually go back in the future.

To sum up China; it really has been a wonderful experience. We’ve had no difficulties with anything, it’s been so easy to get around and understand what things are with the English translations, and the 24 days we’ve had here have passed in the blink of an eye. We’d definitely recommend coming here to anyone.

After the rain came down on the previous night, it didn't stop.

For the past two days.

So ..........

No new pictures

No new stories

No witty comments

Nada

We've done nothing but watch DVD's and plan Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia.

We were going to put a picture up of us doing nothing but watching DVD's and planning Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia but we've been too busy doing nothing but watching DVD's and planning Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia.

So there.

Thats your lot.

Go away.

We woke up this morning to glorious sunshine and, for the first time in Shanghai, it was warm! The weather forecast website we had been using had indicated cool temperatures with heavy rain all day, so we finally stopped using that and switched to another site which had seemed accurate in the past. This stated we would have a sunny day but that there would be a massive 55mm downpour at night. So, having an unexpected sunny day, we decided to go to the Yuyuan Garden.

To get to Yuyuan Garden, we walked for around a mile on the dubiously named Fang Bang Road. This was a busy street, nearly untouched by the westernisation of much of the rest of Shanghai, and it is the sort of place we have become fascinated with.

One of the things we have noticed is that it has been hard to get a sense of being in China at times, as everything looks so western and most of the writing is in English. When you’re in the midst of places like Fang Bang Road though, there’s no mistaking where you are. The sounds and smells, the constantly dodging bikes and scooters, and the general hustle and bustle of such places are completely unlike anything at home, and this is exactly what we wanted to experience before setting off three weeks ago.

We finally arrived at Yuyuan Gardens. It took a while to reach the main entrance, as you had to walk through a series of other buildings first.

On the way, we spotted a massive queue at a particular food stall. This is what they were selling!!

Probably the most vomit inducing item we’ve seen for sale yet!!

We got to the main entrance, paid our fee, and went in.

We spent hours in here, every turn bringing something new to see. The best way of describing it is a series of Chinese buildings, bridges and rockeries built around pools of fish, but this doesn’t do it justice.

It was very peaceful, not too busy, and the warm weather made it a really good experience.

Having left the Yuyuan Garden, we decided to carry on walking down Fang Bang Road towards the Bund. We wisely picked a route which took us right through a building site, but eventually got there.

We got back to the hostel, still not having had the promised downpour. No sooner had I mentioned this to Mandy, there was an almighty crack of thunder and it started. We went onto the hostel roof to have a look and it was some of the heaviest rain we’d ever seen. And it didn’t stop all night!

Our must do item in Shanghai was to go up the Pearl Tower. Finally having a break in the bad weather (and from the forecast potentially our only days break from the bad weather) we caught the subway and arrived at the tower.

The only problem with having “must do” items in places is that is means you “must do” them, irrespective of how unbelievably expensive they are. Pearl Tower was the worst example of this we’d seen so far, costing an extortionate 150 RMB (£16.30) each, which blew our entire budget for the day immediately.

Still, we paid for our ticket and went up. Starting on the middle level, we were greeted with a view of the city which was somewhat ruined by the poor visibility.

We then went to the very top level, where the visibility still was poor.

We then went down to the lower level, where I met a robot called Charlie.

And that was the Pearl Tower! Our ticket also got us into a small museum on the ground level, which went some way to compensating us for the cost.

So in summary; maybe having “must do” items is something you “shouldn’t do”. We also realised that the main view in Shanghai was to actually see the Pearl Tower across the water from ground level, and that it didn’t enhance our experience going up it.

One of the plans on this trip was to acclimatise to the hot weather gradually. The idea was to start at Beijing, where the weather was similar to Manchester, and then build up so that the 33 degree plus weather in Cambodia wouldn’t knock us out.

The plan was going so well, until we hit Shanghai. For the past two days it has done nothing but rain, and with the wind chill it’s been close to freezing on both days.

Having made the decision that if we wanted to get wet and cold, we’d have stayed at home, we made a conscious decision to stay in the hostel and just be lazy.

Which is exactly what we did. Except for going for food provisions, we have played pool, table tennis and watched DVDs and done nothing else for the past two days.

Sheer lazy I know, when we have a whole new city outside to explore, but a perfect response to the bad weather!

Waking up at the, quite frankly, irresponsible time of 5 am, we prepared for our trip to Shanghai. After a brief panic after checking out, when I couldn’t find my wallet (luckily resolved when it appeared in my pack) we set off for the 40km taxi ride to the airport. The taxi was the biggest wreck we’ve ever been in and we were both pleasantly surprised when it got to the airport in time!

Our flight to Shanghai had been changed during the week. Possessing, as I do, a “rain man” like ability to recount obscure facts and trivia, I was less than happy with the change of airline we were now facing. I was probably the most apprehensive of any flight I’ve ever been on, but luckily it passed without incident (although I physically paled at each bit of turbulence). We even got an edible “burger” as the snack (again: meat source unknown!).

From Shanghai Pudong Airport, we caught the Maglev train. This is an extremely high speed train which travels the thirty odd miles between the airport and the city centre. It travelled at a top speed whilst we were on it of 301 km per hour (when the line is fully upgraded it will be capable of over 450 km per hour) and did the journey in less than 10 minutes.

The hostel we are staying in is superb. As well as having a vastly superior internet connection to the previous “top name” chain hotel we stayed at in Xi’an, it has a pool table, table tennis table, and hundreds of DVD’s to watch if we get too tired (or CBA) to do anything).

After a brief rest from the journey, we took the subway to East Nanjing Road and walked the half mile to the Bund. This is the main harbour area of the city, which we’d seen developing on a couple of Michael Palin series, and it totally blew us away.

We couldn’t stop looking at the view, especially of the Pearl Tower. Even as we were walking away to head back to the subway, we kept looking back at it. It’s a view we have wanted to see for years now, and there was such a sense of disbelief that we were finally here.

If Shanghai lives up to our initial impressions, it is going to be one hell of a place!

Feeling much better today, we set off for a final look at the city.

We walked through the park surrounding the city walls at first.

There was lots of free exercise equipment dotted around the park. I took full advantage of the back massaging equipment, cruelly being snapped in the process by a caddish little’un.

We took five minutes outside the drum tower, our Yorkshire bred financial prudence enabling us to pass upon the opportunity of paying to go in. We then went into the Muslim quarter.

The sights, sounds and smells were a whole new experience on the trip so far. However, we managed to take a turn onto Entrail Row, where all the leftovers were being sold. A whole section was devoted to selling lungs – from the size of these they must have come from elephants!

We ended our day with a final look at the city walls at night.

How do you sum up Xi’an? Probably as “Proper China” (copyright Mandy Gambles 2009). Every day we were here, something surprised us. From the new buildings on the outskirts to the run-down living quarters in the city, from the madness of the train station to the solitude of the wall, the whole city felt like a microcosm of China. Very hard to define, and very hard to get a true feel for.

We fly to Shanghai tomorrow for our first trip experience of a Chinese Hostel. Should be interesting!

The title says it all.

I felt crap. Stayed in bed all day!

Was it the dog pasties or Karma for the people barging?

Who knows. Who cares!!

Today we spent the day relaxing, still saddle sore after the bike ride the day before. We took the opportunity to sample some of the street food nearby.

From what we could tell, this was fried bread dough with a spicy (and unidentifiable) meat inside. For future reference, and in deference to the unidentifiable nature of the contents, we have now given it the English name of “dog pastie”. And for 2 RMB (around 20p) each it was better value and more tasty than any Greggs Steak Bake!

In the evening we went down to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to watch the evening fountain show. There were four large fountain areas in the square, absolutely hammered with people. At first we didn’t think we’d be able to see, as everyone had stood on the walls surrounding the fountains. I then hit on the novel idea of barging past everyone to get the best view in the square!

The fountains were timed to music and a light show and were pretty impressive. We then hung around for a while near the pagoda, to wait for the thousands of people queuing for the buses back to die down.

(it didn’t work! We still had to wait for ages!)

Around Xi’an is an ancient stone city wall 8.5 miles long which surrounds the town. Waking up this morning after nearly two weeks on the road, the pace already starting to take it’s toll on us, what better we thought than to hire bikes and cycle the entire wall!

For two people whose idea of strenuous exercise was the walk from the car to work each day, this was obviously an idea founded in the delirium of exhaustion. Nevertheless, off we trotted in the hottest day of the trip so far, paid our entrance fee to the wall, and 50 steep stairs later arrived at the bike hire stand.

And what a brilliant decision it was. For sheer fun and exhilaration, it was the best thing we’ve done in Xi’an (beating even the Terracotta Army) and was only beaten into second place on the whole trip to date by the Great Wall.

Less than a quarter of the way around, it suddenly started to get tougher to pedal. Obviously thinking it was just my lack of fitness, I persevered with the pedalling until it got too much. Getting off the bike to investigate, I realised that the back wheel of the bike was wobbling and catching the frame, the effect being that it was like cycling with the brakes permanently on. I quickly found a novel solution though; every time I felt the cycling getting difficult I merely stopped, got off the bike, and kicked it to death until it worked again! This got me half the way around where I could thankfully change the bike for one that actually worked!

The wall itself, once you got away from the North, East, South and West gates of the city, was deserted and was a welcome respite from the madness of the city itself. For the contrast, you can see the number of people on the wall versus the number of people at the train station (which by the way was the most deserted we had seen the train station all week!)

It took us three hours overall, mainly because of the number of stops we were making to photograph the scenes below.

This took us 80 minutes over the time the bikes were due back, but the penalty fine for this was more than worth it. As was the sunburned faces we’ll have to hide for the next two days!!