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Wake up, shower, organise the tea and tea paraphernalia then head out to find a bus.
We are off to the water canal town of zhujiajiao 30km from Shanghai and dubbed the "Venice" of Shanghai. After our Disneyland experience at the Shaolin temple, we're excited about this one. And weve bought our breakfast for the bus....turns out the Chinese do make yogurt, even if it does have a slightly bizarre after-taste!
We make friends with the smiley bus driver, who doesn't speak a word of English but scampers off to find us a lovely clipboard with an English translation explaining where to get off the bus and how much we need to pay him. £1.20 for an hours bus ride seems something of a bargain!
We arrive in the water town and it's pretty hot! It is Venice like in appearance (just with Chinese roofs etc) though, and we do the obligatory bridge shots. Then we do the second obligatory and get on a gondola for a little trip around the canals- we are once again a tourist attraction in our own right (very few Mzungus here), and we are very much papped! Very enjoyable though, and adds another mode of transport to our ever-growing list. Double win.
The aromas emerging from some of te shops are retch-inducing. Pigs trotters, dead fish with flies swarming, and the usual tourist crap. Gemma is beginning to get overwhelmed, but luckily her favourite yoghurt flavour marshmallow (EURGH) is enough to pick her up. (we have been carting a multipack of these grotesque things for when she is beginning to flag.The flavours have been declining- they started with peach and now we have progressed to yoghurt. Probably be on pea before we leave but at least they do the job of perking her up).
Find the temple and climb the pavilion. Luckily Gemma is good with knots as she naughtily "unlocks" (unties) the window for some much needed breeze (and photos.)
"After some further pottering in the sweltering sauna heat we head back to the bus station, accidentally get the bus that uses the normal roads and stops every 2 mins, rather than the bus that uses the expressway and make it back to shanghai....."
The above paragraph was written by Nic as we sat on the bus 10 minutes after it had left the Watertown. What actually happened is that we got on a bus that not only stopped every 30 seconds (honking down passengers on its way), but also seems to be circling shanghai in a spiral pattern. It's saved us 30p on the £1.20 but with a "jumping the red light" count of over 5, a quadruple length journey and the delights of the pirate bus driver doing the Chinese phlegm spitting we are fairly pissed off with all involved parties. Just about to take over steering and acceleration of said bus when we just decide to bail and take our chance with a cab.
We grabbed a cab to the old part of town- and once again, the winds whipped up and the heavens opened.
We dived inside to grab some food before hitting the yuanyan gardens. Bit of a letdown after some of the sights we have seen over the last 2 weeks plus it is peeing with rain so we just continue shopping instead, slowly, on account of slippy floors and flippy shoes. manage toget a wonderful selection of crap- Gemma got the splatty tomato she has been lusting after for a few days and Nicola solved the mystery of the washing up brush hitting - it was infact a massage stick, it cost 1 pound and it's rubbish!
After a quick trip home we head to cloud 9 bar in pudong. 87th floor, requiring 3 lifts (each with staff to ensure you're not lost) to reach the dizzy heights of the grand Hyatt. Sadly it was a little foggier that planned, but the views from our seats were astounding and the cocktails not bad either. Nic had a Malibu mango and Gemma a rum chocolate. Yum.
After watching the sky darken and the lights turn on we head down a few levels to the 57th floor and enjoy dinner with a different view. Toilets are amazing with floor to ceiling windows, but sadly no swish functions, to Gemma's disappointment. It's all rather impressive.
In conclusion we prefer the other Hyatt, but we both agree we have been utterly spoilt by all of it.
After this we head over to "glamour" a bar on the bund side of the river. This place is seriously cool with swanky furniture, a glittering bar and amazing views. We have another pair of cocktails (a dragons pearl and. Shanghai martini). In heaven.
Shall be returning to the floor above for brunch tomorrow.
Bonne nuit xxx
- comments
Anne Read Hello girls, Wonder now where has been your favourite place and what has been your favourite 'experience'-probably too many of those to actually pick out one?? Cloud by name, cloud by nature! Love Mum xx
Candace Dovey Every day has sounded an amazing experience . Have a feeling you will both want to see more of China? Enjoy the rest of your time there, Love Mum XX
Ting tong Wish i could've got wasted on Cloud 9...Enjoy your last few days! x