Well after an awful nights sleep as a result of being ill and therefore running for the toilet every hour or so, I made it downstairs to try and eat something. I met up with Mark as he was checking out, he had to get a train back to his placement, so I bade him farewell and went back to the bar to wait for the girls. I was beginning to feel better but still not 100%, don't think it was a mere hangover though!
Once the girls appeared we decided on a plan of action for the day. First port of call was Jing'an Temple in the centre of Shanghai's shopping district. We got the tube there and emerged to find ourselves at an old temple with a gold roof, surrounded by skyscrapers. To say it was a tad surreal would be an understatement. Noe the Jing'an temple was a working Buddhist temple, there were monks dressed in the traditional orange robes everywhere. It was quite a sight! We explored the temple and eventually made it to the main chamber that housed a 15 ton solid silver Buddha! Very impressive!
We left the temple and decided to walk towards People's Park, we stopped for ice cream on the way which was nice. The walk was lovely (even though we went the wrong way at first), we got to see a fair bit of Shanghai which was cool. We even saw one of the electric buses come off the cable! By the time we had made it to People's Park it was lunch time, we decided on some Chinese food! We walked through the back streets looking for something authentic and cheap. We found it and got some decent noodles!
We walked back towards the People's Park and the Shanghai Museum, we walked through the marriage market and then found ourselves surrounded by Chinese people trying to speak English at us! We had strolled unknowingly into the English corner, people come here to practice and improve their English. Some speakers were very good others, weren't but they were all eager to talk to us, ask us questions and tell us about Shanghai. It was really nice actually although we couldn't escape for an hour!
After escaping we went and got a coffee, well Laura and Kathryn did, I was a bit more adventurous. I tried bubble tea... Now the best way to describe it was very sweet tea served ice cold with haribo sweets at the bottom. Yep it was as disgusting as it sounds...
Anyway by this point the day was so lovely and sunny, we had no desire to go inside. Instead we found some grass and napped. It was glorious!
Next we decided to head to an old shopping street we had heard about. Shopping was good fun because everything was cheap, I bought some ties, a kite and some post cards. We then wandered in to an art shop quite by accident. Laura fell in love with a TinTin paining all in Chinese while Kathryn and I just wandered around looking at all the different pieces of art. Turns out Kathryn and I have similar tastes, who knew?
Next stop was dinner with the one and only Ellie Bush! We met up with her and she took us to her favourite restaurant (she is placed in Shanghai), REAL PASTA! It was GOOD! We caught up with the gossip asked her how her trip to Xi'an was and reminisced about the old CAMIC days.
We then said goodbye as she was exhausted and Kathryn, Laura and I made our way back to the Bund to see the view at night time! It was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking.
Next we decided to check out a pub Ellie had recommended, this is where things started to go wrong. We got the tube to the right stop and got into a taxi but the taxi didn't know how to get to it. We went to get out but he indicated I had to get out the other door so after some shuffling and amateur gymnastics we out and the driver drove off. A split second later I realised he was driving off with my wallet and phone!!! They must have fallen out of my pocket when shuffling. We tried to chase after him but he was long gone. I was rather upset so Kathryn and Laura took me back to the hostel and bought me a hot chocolate. We tried ringing my phone and the taxi company but both to no avail. Very upsetting, I was so angry with myself.
We went off to bed, saying we would try again in the morning. Kathryn had to leave early and Laura not much later, the next day was going to suck.
We left the temple and decided to walk towards People's Park, we stopped for ice cream on the way which was nice. The walk was lovely (even though we went the wrong way at first), we got to see a fair bit of Shanghai which was cool. We even saw one of the electric buses come off the cable! By the time we had made it to People's Park it was lunch time, we decided on some Chinese food! We walked through the back streets looking for something authentic and cheap. We found it and got some decent noodles!
We walked back towards the People's Park and the Shanghai Museum, we walked through the marriage market and then found ourselves surrounded by Chinese people trying to speak English at us! We had strolled unknowingly into the English corner, people come here to practice and improve their English. Some speakers were very good others, weren't but they were all eager to talk to us, ask us questions and tell us about Shanghai. It was really nice actually although we couldn't escape for an hour!
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| 'Children and Mental Patients must be accompanied' |
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Tadpoles  |
After escaping we went and got a coffee, well Laura and Kathryn did, I was a bit more adventurous. I tried bubble tea... Now the best way to describe it was very sweet tea served ice cold with haribo sweets at the bottom. Yep it was as disgusting as it sounds...
Anyway by this point the day was so lovely and sunny, we had no desire to go inside. Instead we found some grass and napped. It was glorious!
Next we decided to head to an old shopping street we had heard about. Shopping was good fun because everything was cheap, I bought some ties, a kite and some post cards. We then wandered in to an art shop quite by accident. Laura fell in love with a TinTin paining all in Chinese while Kathryn and I just wandered around looking at all the different pieces of art. Turns out Kathryn and I have similar tastes, who knew?
Next stop was dinner with the one and only Ellie Bush! We met up with her and she took us to her favourite restaurant (she is placed in Shanghai), REAL PASTA! It was GOOD! We caught up with the gossip asked her how her trip to Xi'an was and reminisced about the old CAMIC days.
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| MARKS AND SPENCERS! |
Next we decided to check out a pub Ellie had recommended, this is where things started to go wrong. We got the tube to the right stop and got into a taxi but the taxi didn't know how to get to it. We went to get out but he indicated I had to get out the other door so after some shuffling and amateur gymnastics we out and the driver drove off. A split second later I realised he was driving off with my wallet and phone!!! They must have fallen out of my pocket when shuffling. We tried to chase after him but he was long gone. I was rather upset so Kathryn and Laura took me back to the hostel and bought me a hot chocolate. We tried ringing my phone and the taxi company but both to no avail. Very upsetting, I was so angry with myself.
We went off to bed, saying we would try again in the morning. Kathryn had to leave early and Laura not much later, the next day was going to suck.
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