China: Shanghai Plus One

On day 14 of our adventure, I went to Pudong International Airport, and after what had seemed like a lifetime I finally met Kirstie in China. It was pretty damn exciting for me to now have Keegan along for the journey. We headed back to the hostel, hung out for a bit, met up with Vinny and Stu, and then we went for another stroll along Nanjing Road.

That evening we went to a restaurant called Little Sheep, which our guide book recommended as the best place in town to get Mongolian Hotpot. Essentially, at this restaurant you have to cook your own food. You get given a bubbling pot of sauce which is kept burning over a stove in the middle of the table, then you get given raw meats, and meatballs, fishsticks, vegetables, and dough sticks, or whatever you wish to order. Subsequently, you then cook your little morsels in the big pot of sauce. Kinda like a Meat Fondue. The novelty was great, but it certainly wears off after a bit, and the quality of food was not great. Keegan and Vinny were less than impressed. Me and Stu were a slightly more impressed. But not blown away that's for sure.

The next day we had a mammoth lie-in which was definitely needed by Keegan who had been awake for the past 40 hours or so. Then we decided to go and explore the stylish French Concession. Its leafy streets with french architecture, quaint cafes and charming boutiques were certainly a refreshing escape from the hyper-commercialism and headache-inducing buzz of Nanjing Road. We wandered the streets, hung out in the park, watched the locals doing Tai Chi, had a few cocktails, and went to Bao Luo (the same restaurant from two days before) for dinner and more Hongshao Rou. It was yet another relaxing day in Shanghai.

The next day, me and Keegan got up early and strolled along the Bund and enjoyed the views of futuristic Pudong across the river. Unfortunately though, we could only walk so far because major construction work was going on by the river for the Shanghai Expo 2010. Then we met up with the boys, and went to an amazing/cheap local eatery to eat Satay Noodles for just 40 pence. We then strolled to People's Square, where we just hung out in the park.

That night we went over to Pudong and became dwarfed by the incredible skyscrapers which lit up the sky. We went into the uber-posh Park Hyatt Hotel, and strolled through it, attempting to look natural whilst clearly looking completely out of place. We got the escalator to the Cloud 9 bar on the 87th floor, didn't buy a single drink and took lots of photos of the amazing views of the Shanghai skyline at night. During this little jaunt we met three others attempting a similar exploitation of the Park Hyatt's vantage point, John and Jess (who we would see a lot more of during our travels round China), and an aloof american guy called Eric. We went for a few beers together at a road side vendor in Pudong.

The next day it was absolutely belting it down in Shanghai, so after just grabbing some more Satay Noodles, we hung out in the hostel and caught up on correspondence etc. Then in the evening we got a train to Hangzhou to see the West Lake. More updates coming soon.

Jack x