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Morning all,
Having a bit of an easy morning today as we have been up since 7am the last few days. so it's 10am here now. Sally is having a lie in and I have just had a shower. Then going to do some laundry.....yes chores still follow you to China!
Anyway so when I last left you we were in Shanghai. The following day started well - Dim Sum for breakfast....does life get any better than this!
I also have afresh lemon and honey juice. It was delish. I'm getting on them when I get back to the UK. So refreshing.
After breakfast we wandered to Peoples Park. We were not meeting Max until noon. Peoples park is full of family walking, T'Chai do-ers. I had a go at T'Chai by following another man doing it. There was lots of pretty music in the park. We come across some rows and rows on writing some had pictures on some had none but there was writing on each sheet of paper and so many sheets pf paper and this went on for rows and rows. The people manning it were stopping Chinese people and saying something to them some people appeared to be signing something. i assumed it was voting. However we later learnt from Max that is was a "wedding Market", which involves people putting their names down next to a potential spouse (and no I did not go back and put my name down)!!!!
We decide to get a tea at a stand and are faced by so many. Sally opts for a coconut milk tea, but we know she isn't going to end up with that. Instead she appears to have a really milky sweet cup of tea, fine she thinks. So as I'm ordering mine she takes a mouthful and I see her wince, I assume this is because of the sweetness. She gives me a mouthful and it is very very sweet. I get my tea. When we walk away she asks me did I get a mouthful of the jelly, "what jelly", i say and sure enough there was this funny gloopy jelly in it. My tea appeared a bit better at first glance, Honey tea I think. But not as I thought, this was just a cup of honey with a bit of hot water in it and what appeared to be some mushrooms in the bottom.....YUK, I think MUSHROOMS IN TEA, IS THIS LEGAL. However I soon realise they are infact lotus flowers!
Anyway a few mouthfuls later and we are off to find a bin. At this point we are yet to realise that buying food/drink in the street and sampling a tiny bit of it and then heading straight to a bin is not going to be an isolated incident on this trip!
We meet Max and it's really good to see him. He looks well and is on top form with the bantering and piss taking :-)
We head to the french quarter for lunch with him and just sit and have a catch up on life etc while munching. We then head out and for old time sake he takes us to a pavement bar that does mulled wine (yes Max and I were big mulleders when he was in the UK). This little hut of mulled wine and beer could be in the Alps. They give us these great handwarmers. Dinky little hot water bottles. They are fab and warm us right up. plus with the wine we are feeling toasty and a little giddy.
After our wine we look around the little shops and then head over to the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party. I like any tourist worth it's weight poses for an obligatory photograph with the guard outside. After this it's getting on for 5pm and we are conscious that Max needs to get away. It is his last night of living in Shanghai for 5 months so he needs to attend a farewell dinner and drinks which he invites us along too. we say our goodbyes and head back to the hostel. We both decide to leave Max to his plans tonight and not to gatecrash. We relax for a bit at the hostel and plan our next move on for the following day so we get packed up and then head out for dinner. Once out though we decide we are really not that hungry. So we head to Cloud 9 bar, on the 84th floor of Hyatt. It has amazing views and was voted one of the worlds best bars (google it). The skyline from here is breathtaking but the camera isn't really picking it up that great as it's so dark but the flash flashers back on the window. Even fiddling with the aperture cant pick it up that great. This is why I say google it!
I order a Singapore Sling and it is a very generous measure. After tsi we head back, but we have missed the last Metro so have to get a taxi, Who isn't sure where he is going. I think this because he is a 'red car'. Max explained earlier that the colours of taxis in Shanghai mean something, yellow is the top one and then blue and so on. This is determined by how much the driver knows the streets.
So when back at the hostel it is a cup of tea and bed, ready for Hangzhou tomorrow. xxx
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