Shanghai

The maglev

Locals trying to earn some cash



Ummm chicken feet

View from the bund at night



West Lake in Hangzou

The green tea village


One of the many insects at the insect market

Locals doing their early morning Tai Chi


Leaving the lovely weather in NZ to come to -5 in Shanghai was a little bit of a shock! But the idea of going 300km/h on the Maglev from the airport successfully took our attention else where!

Overall I think Shanghai was no where near as tacky Chinese as I had imagined. In fact, it was so authentic and original in so many ways. The old buildings, the beautiful Chinese food, the temples, the ceremony of drinking tea...

We started off feeling a bit apprehensive to all the attention the locals gave us, but after a few days we realised that they weren't trying to rip us off, but only wanting to be nice and practice their English. So cute! I was told "your boyfriend has big muscles. big muscles." by the local ladies. hehe and we were asked to be in a few photos...

I took Simon to Lu Lu's massage in the French Concession district. Traditionally in China, massage is carried out by blind people. So, we went the traditional way. An hour long foot massage by a blind man for £2. So nice after a long day of exploring the city!

Our first few days in Shanghai we were taking the metro around, but after meeting some Australians at breakfast they told us how cheap taxis were. We never looked back! You can travel from one side of Shanghai to the other for no more than £1.50. The only problem was communicating with them. We soon learnt that our Hotel could write notes in Chinese for our taxi drivers of where we want to go. All good!

I think we drank China out of green tea and jasmine tea. Oh so many lovely tea pots and teas to try. I was in heaven! If Air NZ didn't have a weight restriction on luggage I think I would have brought a lot more!

We were in Shanghai for the western new year, however no-one here was celebrating it. It's just like another day for them! We did know that the Chinese have their own new year, but I guess we still thought that there would be some sort of celebrations or fireworks... not a dicky bird!

Back to London now for the real world of work again... :-(