Autumn in Shanghai

Photos at the end of this post if you want to skip the journal bit!

Monday 22 October 2012

We took the lunch time flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai Hongqiao airport. An easy journey with the flight just over two hours. Met by a driver at the airport and arrived at Jules and Donna's place in PuXi within about fifteen minutes. Almost three years since we were here last so the kids have changed a lot ... and it was great to finally meet the gorgeous Charlotte!

A lovely first evening catching up with good friends.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Time for Oli and me to explore the city! Navigated the metro (very easily!) and went to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. Apparently the largest in Asia! It was huge with lots of sea creatures and the longest underwater walkway in the world (so they say). A good couple of hours exploring the watery kingdom.

As we exited the aquarium I spotted an open top sightseeing bus. Ticket prices were much cheaper than their London counterparts so we hopped on. Gorgeous cool autumnal weather so we sat up top and enjoyed the fresh, crisp air. We started at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower station on bus line 2 and went under the river to the Shanghai Museum. We got off there and hopped onto line 1 and stayed on for the entire circuit! We got a good feel of the city and passed Nanjing Lu (huge pedestrian shopping street), drove down the Bund, around Shanghai Old Street and past Yu Yuan before heading back to the beginning of the route.  Gorgeous autumnal weather and great to spot places that I has visited on previous trips to Shanghai (this was my fourth time to visit the city). The ride was strangely relaxing and peaceful, even though there were millions of people and cars on the streets below. We got off and headed back ‘home’ on the Metro.

Another lovely evening with great company. Nicky and Oliver are getting on so well and Oliver adores Charlotte and is ‘learning’ how to be around her! Now THIS is what I call a holiday. Awesome.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Another long trip on the Shanghai Metro! I have to say that it is extremely easy to navigate. All the maps are in Chinese and Pin Yin, so if you know where you need to go, you can’t really get lost! We headed to the ‘old’ part of Shanghai which is also the part that gets the most tourists. First stop was the Nan Xiang Xiao Long Man Tou restaurant that reputably has some of the best xiao long bao in Shanghai. The queues downstairs for the takeaway option were already long by the time we go there, so we headed up to the posher third floor restaurant (where a bottle of maotai will set you back 4,000rmb). We ordered:

• crab roe and pork xiao long bao
• shrimp and pork xiao long bao
• crab meat puff
• spring roll with crab meat stuffing

YUMMMMMMMMM! Sounds like a lot of crab, right? Well, this is the best season for crab here, so we made the most of it! With our bellies full it was time to start walking.

We headed to Yu Yuan, an ancient Chinese garden in the heart of ‘old’ Shanghai. Outside there are millions of tourists hustling and bustling about, but once inside there is a peaceful serenity that is the complete opposite. Yin and Yang. I first visited the garden in 1996 and all I could really remember was the zigzag bridge leading up to it. I was a little worried that Oliver would find it a bit boring, but I needn’t have worried. Once inside there were narrow pathways to follow, bridges to cross, steps to climb, cave-like stone formations to hide in - Oli had an absolute ball in there! I managed to keep up with him... just. I had fun too taking a million and one photographs. Am definitely in relaxed Sarah mode. All good.

Next stop was the Cheng Huang Miao (City God Temple). A nice, peaceful temple. I don’t push any kind of religion on Oliver, but somehow he knows that people pray to the gods here. Whenever we go into a Chinese temple he always kneels down and prays, copying what the other people do. I’m really not sure what he is thinking when he does this, but he takes it quite seriously. He gets some very strange looks from the locals...

We kept walking around the area, did some window shopping and tried to avoid the street sellers. Oli definitely got some Mandarin practice in here - bu yao (I don’t want it!). After hours of walking I decided it was time for a treat when I spotted Haagen Dazs. Oli did not say no!

Then the long journey back on the Metro, changed lines twice and each time there was a loooooong walk to the next platform. Am amazed that my little man did not grumble ONCE. What a superstar!

Back ‘home’ for another relaxed evening with friends. Perfect.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Today we decided to not stray too far from ‘home’, so took a taxi to the nearby Shanghai Zoo. Am not a real lover of zoos, but the other kid-friendly choice was the Science Museum. It would have meant another long day on the Metro, which quite honestly I couldn’t face. It was raining when we arrived but thankfully stopped and just stayed cloudy for the rest of the day. 

I decided to let Oliver take the lead today. I was determined not to ‘guide’ him at all... he was in charge and found his way around quickly! Everything that he wanted to see and do, we saw and did. He loved the reptile house and was keen to go on the ‘road train’. He was a very happy chappy when we found the amusement rides and went on almost everything. I think he enjoyed those more than the animals!

I have to say this is one of the better China zoos I have been to, although it was hard to see bears and other large animals living in concrete compounds. I got a bit angry (inside) when I saw people throwing food at the massive brown bear. Oli noticed I was not thrilled and it was hard for me to explain why... not sure he understood... I walked him away quickly. 

Finding lunch was hard... the restaurants didn’t look too appetizing and there was hardly anyone inside (NOT a good sign). We ended up with a not-very-tasy hotdog from one of the snack stalls. Maybe we were to spoilt by food yesterday.

We watched the elephants for a little while then Oli spotted the road train and wanted to ride it again. It took us back to the main entrance of the zoo... we still had not seen the petting zoo and some of the big exhibits, so I offered Oli the choice of walking back to them and going to see more animals... or go home. He chose the latter. I didn’t complain. I think we were both pretty exhausted from all the walking we have done in the last few days.

Back at the apartment Oli settled down on the sofa with a movie to wait for Nicky to get home from school. I got busy writing this blog post! 

Friday 26 October 2012

A relaxing morning. Oli enjoying playing with Charlotte. He had learnt to be gentle. Thank goodness! He loves making her laugh and has become quite the clown... she giggles when he falls over (accidently on purpose!).

Lunchtime flight back to Hong Kong and then a restful ‘home’ weekend planned. Lots of odd jobs to catch up on... Happy Days!

Photos of the five days in Shanghai here: