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Adventures of a Global Wanderer
ok, back home now
hotmail is blocked in shanghai
facebook is blocked all over china
even some other sites like google or wikipedia your pc will just freeze
there are no internet cafes, only internet access is in your hotel
they charge per minute and again you dont know what sites are blocked until you log in and find out. at least i could do online check in for aircanada for my window seat
shanghai is nice, like a giant hong kong
the skyline is very reminiscent of hong kong and all lit up at night
we took a night river cruise to see it, kinda like vegas in some places
even the elevated highways are lit up in different bright colours on the underneath
we went to the shanghai circus which was nice
only problem was they were all 9 year old kids so i was wondering who makes this decision for them, the parents, the schoolboard, or does the kid have any say if they dont want to do it. it must take a lot of training and daily evening shows. a bit disturbing
shanghai is really good for shopping
the main pedestrian street is nanjing road like oxford st with all the dept stores
people will come up to you selling fake rolex watches
in fact they are everywhere, waiting for your cab to pull up or always waiting by our bus
at first they were offering 2 for 100 yuen = $20, then they'll drop to 3 for 100 or 4 for 100
one got desperate and offered me 8 for 100
i did buy a few but after a while it got silly and i showed them my 10 or so rolex watches but they wouldnt leave me and wanted me to buy more!
its not like hong kong where they have markets for knock off goods
because it 'illegal' and US and other countries have complained it has gone 'underground'
you have to inside a shopping centre now and they are only allowed to sell in designated areas. also is controlled, no fiming allowed, and they cant cross the boundary of their shop
this shopping centre is used by airline crew and they kept asking which airline we are from
one lady i started talking to actually turned out to be my stewardess the next day home on air canada so i said to her didnt i see you yesterday on nanjing road!
many of the ladies from our group bought a second suitcase in this mall because we are buying so much. i think by the end i had to bang my arms on the bus to let me back in coz i was just spending so much. i bought a lot of nike and other athletic gear. they tried to start at 400 yuen = $80 but is said that was too much and i only paid $10 in hong kong and showed the shirt i was wearing was from hong kong. so he let me take for 40 yuen = $8. then other stall again try to start at 200 yuen so i just show them the stuff from the first stall, that i only paid 40 yuen, then then open my bag and check the goods. once they know its from this mall then they agree to 40 yuen as well
they also had fake dvds. i bought avatar, sherlock holmes, the entire james bond collection 25 dvds for 180 yuen = $30. other dvds were 10 yuen = $2. they play them on the laptop to show they are good prints. they are factory quality, not someone in a movie theatre with a camcorder. the ladies bought lots of gucci bags, sunglasses, and other girlie stuff that i wouldnt know how to shop for and what prices are. one lady needed a suitcase just for all the gucci bags she bought. a lot of us agents were saying shanghai would definately be a great shopping trip for our clients and combine it with hong kong on cathay pacific.
they also have quite a bit of colonial architecture. the waterfront facing the new office towers on the other side is the old 1930s clock tower and typical buildings like the royal york hotel. there is also the french quarter which has lots of restaurants now but with the stone houses, alleyways, and town square, i could almost be in copenhagen or somewhere in europe
there are chinese halal restaurants all over china. the problem with a bus tour like ours we have meals arranged. i found a xinjiang restaurant, which is the muslim province in northwest china, 15 minutes from the hotel so i managed to sneak away twice. first time i ate lamb sizzler with naan for the sauce. have to eat with chopsticks but i did ok, second time i had chicken casserole wiht potatoes and hot peppers and two naans. they chop a whole chicken with skin and bones on into cubes and again eat with chopsticks. i think i did my stomach in afterwards but it was worth it for the experience.
if i were to send clients i did talk to them about halal food. if there are individuals we can request some halal meals and allow freetime to goto restaurants like i did. if we have a group they can do fully chinese halal menu. food is not the same as here either. no noodles like you have in the food courts. most of the meals we had were different. we went to a mongolian barbeque restaurant where you pick all your toppings then they fry it in a bathtub size flat wok. problem is even if i pick veggie it gets mixed in with other peoples orders so i was having to pick meat bits out.
we also went to this village outside shanghai which is a bit like venice with the bridges and gondolas. very nice and some tradtional crafts there. i saw lots of frogs for sale as a delicatessan, hard to describe them but have pics. there were also baby birds, not sure if they are duck, pigeon or what species. some other wierd things i took pics of. never did get to see scorpions, beetles or tarantulas like we've seen on tv. some of the local breads were nice and sweet and other things we can get back home
coming back you have to disembark in vancouver, collect your bags, clear customs and check them again. advantage from toronto is they have electronic customs kiosks so you dont have to talk to an agent asking questions. i was worried about all the stuff we were bringing coz they must know people shop in shanghai for all the knock off goods. luckily with the electronic booths nobody in our group got stopped. the lady that needed a suitcase for all her gucci bags only declared $250 at customs!
because we had to board our flight right away the last four of us from our group our bags did not arrive in toronto. luckily they came on the next flight one hour later so it was not like the experience i had in munich when they came 2 days later
i bought the monkey tv series. not sure if anyone remembers it, used to come on BBC2 as a kid. story about a monkey that takes human form, and four of them are travelling china to find bhudda. there is a new remake that i was watching a few times on tv. not much to watch on tv, only musical performances, and period dramas. gets tiresome after a couple of days, no variety and trying to keep people under control by not giving them ideas.
so it was definately a good trip. they say if beijing is the brain of china, shanghai is the face, and xian is the heart/soul. shanghai is more 'north american' very safe, more western in design, i took the metro a couple of times, very clean and modern.
photos and videos will take upto next weekend with rogers slow upload speed. videos will all be on youtube i will have a page setup
hotmail is blocked in shanghai
facebook is blocked all over china
even some other sites like google or wikipedia your pc will just freeze
there are no internet cafes, only internet access is in your hotel
they charge per minute and again you dont know what sites are blocked until you log in and find out. at least i could do online check in for aircanada for my window seat
shanghai is nice, like a giant hong kong
the skyline is very reminiscent of hong kong and all lit up at night
we took a night river cruise to see it, kinda like vegas in some places
even the elevated highways are lit up in different bright colours on the underneath
we went to the shanghai circus which was nice
only problem was they were all 9 year old kids so i was wondering who makes this decision for them, the parents, the schoolboard, or does the kid have any say if they dont want to do it. it must take a lot of training and daily evening shows. a bit disturbing
shanghai is really good for shopping
the main pedestrian street is nanjing road like oxford st with all the dept stores
people will come up to you selling fake rolex watches
in fact they are everywhere, waiting for your cab to pull up or always waiting by our bus
at first they were offering 2 for 100 yuen = $20, then they'll drop to 3 for 100 or 4 for 100
one got desperate and offered me 8 for 100
i did buy a few but after a while it got silly and i showed them my 10 or so rolex watches but they wouldnt leave me and wanted me to buy more!
its not like hong kong where they have markets for knock off goods
because it 'illegal' and US and other countries have complained it has gone 'underground'
you have to inside a shopping centre now and they are only allowed to sell in designated areas. also is controlled, no fiming allowed, and they cant cross the boundary of their shop
this shopping centre is used by airline crew and they kept asking which airline we are from
one lady i started talking to actually turned out to be my stewardess the next day home on air canada so i said to her didnt i see you yesterday on nanjing road!
many of the ladies from our group bought a second suitcase in this mall because we are buying so much. i think by the end i had to bang my arms on the bus to let me back in coz i was just spending so much. i bought a lot of nike and other athletic gear. they tried to start at 400 yuen = $80 but is said that was too much and i only paid $10 in hong kong and showed the shirt i was wearing was from hong kong. so he let me take for 40 yuen = $8. then other stall again try to start at 200 yuen so i just show them the stuff from the first stall, that i only paid 40 yuen, then then open my bag and check the goods. once they know its from this mall then they agree to 40 yuen as well
they also had fake dvds. i bought avatar, sherlock holmes, the entire james bond collection 25 dvds for 180 yuen = $30. other dvds were 10 yuen = $2. they play them on the laptop to show they are good prints. they are factory quality, not someone in a movie theatre with a camcorder. the ladies bought lots of gucci bags, sunglasses, and other girlie stuff that i wouldnt know how to shop for and what prices are. one lady needed a suitcase just for all the gucci bags she bought. a lot of us agents were saying shanghai would definately be a great shopping trip for our clients and combine it with hong kong on cathay pacific.
they also have quite a bit of colonial architecture. the waterfront facing the new office towers on the other side is the old 1930s clock tower and typical buildings like the royal york hotel. there is also the french quarter which has lots of restaurants now but with the stone houses, alleyways, and town square, i could almost be in copenhagen or somewhere in europe
there are chinese halal restaurants all over china. the problem with a bus tour like ours we have meals arranged. i found a xinjiang restaurant, which is the muslim province in northwest china, 15 minutes from the hotel so i managed to sneak away twice. first time i ate lamb sizzler with naan for the sauce. have to eat with chopsticks but i did ok, second time i had chicken casserole wiht potatoes and hot peppers and two naans. they chop a whole chicken with skin and bones on into cubes and again eat with chopsticks. i think i did my stomach in afterwards but it was worth it for the experience.
if i were to send clients i did talk to them about halal food. if there are individuals we can request some halal meals and allow freetime to goto restaurants like i did. if we have a group they can do fully chinese halal menu. food is not the same as here either. no noodles like you have in the food courts. most of the meals we had were different. we went to a mongolian barbeque restaurant where you pick all your toppings then they fry it in a bathtub size flat wok. problem is even if i pick veggie it gets mixed in with other peoples orders so i was having to pick meat bits out.
we also went to this village outside shanghai which is a bit like venice with the bridges and gondolas. very nice and some tradtional crafts there. i saw lots of frogs for sale as a delicatessan, hard to describe them but have pics. there were also baby birds, not sure if they are duck, pigeon or what species. some other wierd things i took pics of. never did get to see scorpions, beetles or tarantulas like we've seen on tv. some of the local breads were nice and sweet and other things we can get back home
coming back you have to disembark in vancouver, collect your bags, clear customs and check them again. advantage from toronto is they have electronic customs kiosks so you dont have to talk to an agent asking questions. i was worried about all the stuff we were bringing coz they must know people shop in shanghai for all the knock off goods. luckily with the electronic booths nobody in our group got stopped. the lady that needed a suitcase for all her gucci bags only declared $250 at customs!
because we had to board our flight right away the last four of us from our group our bags did not arrive in toronto. luckily they came on the next flight one hour later so it was not like the experience i had in munich when they came 2 days later
i bought the monkey tv series. not sure if anyone remembers it, used to come on BBC2 as a kid. story about a monkey that takes human form, and four of them are travelling china to find bhudda. there is a new remake that i was watching a few times on tv. not much to watch on tv, only musical performances, and period dramas. gets tiresome after a couple of days, no variety and trying to keep people under control by not giving them ideas.
so it was definately a good trip. they say if beijing is the brain of china, shanghai is the face, and xian is the heart/soul. shanghai is more 'north american' very safe, more western in design, i took the metro a couple of times, very clean and modern.
photos and videos will take upto next weekend with rogers slow upload speed. videos will all be on youtube i will have a page setup
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