I decide to leave work at 1.45pm - I'd been monitoring my flight all morning and thankfully there was no issues, Shanghai here I come!! While there are soooo many people at the airport getting through security and immigration is easy. First stop after getting through is to see what gate my flight is going from, this will then decide the lounge I go too. Hmmm no gate, this isn't a good sign. I decide to go off to the closest Cathay lounge.
I'm told we are delayed 1 hour 20 minutes, then immediately a text arrives from Cathay advising the same. Ummm a bit late don't you think Cathay, especially when you ask people to arrive 2 hours prior to their flight time and it's now 1 hour 10 minutes to our scheduled departure time. To the bar I go!
I decide to head to the gate prior to the boarding announcement - I was getting cabin fever!! Fat lot of use that was; after joining a line (to board a bus to take us to the plane) a general announcement comes on advising the flight has been delayed an hour. Excellent - NOT! Thank goodness for lounge access, back to the lounge I head. 6.20pm comes and goes and I'm still here.....finally a boarding call comes at 7pm, 25 minutes after the time I was supposed to land into Shanghai. If you have time to spare, fly by air. Ooh so true!!!!
So we are all finally onboard (small win!) then the pilot comes on to make his welcome announcement telling us we are late due to the massive delays (of at least 4 hours) for all flights into Shanghai due to Shanghai traffic control. Fingers crossed this doesn't happen on the return flight!! He then informs us we have another 10-15 minutes sitting here. Bloody hell!
The pilot speaks to us 30 minutes prior to landing and advises its 12 degrees. Umm I'm sorry what?! Eeks alive! Not quite prepared for this temperature.....
We finally land - 3.45 hours later than planned; I'm thinking we are in Beijing as the taxi to the terminal goes on and on and on. Alas I'm in the country!
It's a long walk to immigration, good for the steps. Huge bonus of arriving so late at night is we are the only flight. I show my APEC card and are ushered down my own lane - sweet, this part is nice and easy. Next mission is locating an ATM....of course I could have handled this in HK with the amount of time I had at the airport but hey ho. Right now for the bag.
I follow the signs to taxi, as I'm going down the escalator I see the massive (and I mean massive!) taxi line - bloody hell its going to be ages before I get to the hotel! The line is 4 deep LONG zig zags.....for now I focus on joining the line and getting my jacket on. It's cold!
Thankfully the line moves, after 20 minutes I'm at the front of the line. I'm asked how many people, one; ok red car. Off I go. No Michael Jackson white gloves this time (my first trip to Shanghai the taxi driver put on white Michael Jackson gloves 5 minutes after leaving the terminal). We're off with a hiss and a roar - speed limit says 80, my driver says thanks but no thanks we'll do 120.....when we "slow" down to 100 it seems very slow! People don't use horns or indicators here; it's the flashing of the lights that tells the driver to move over. Will be interesting to see how it works tomorrow when lights aren't needed.
We pull up to the hotel 35 minutes after leaving the airport - definitely a quick trip given traffic was light and we were moving! Check-in is easy and within minutes I'm in my room. Wow! But no time to have a look around, sleep is needed!
Good Friday (14 April) I wake at 6.30am, FAR too early given the time I got into bed and that it’s not a school day. The view from my room is amazing, last night I had been more concerned about closing the curtains and getting into bed than looking at the view! I decide to head to the gym for a run….first time in a number of weeks but have to start somewhere! I manage 30 minutes before going to breakfast where I meet up Margaret (who has been here for a few days for work).
We take the metro to Yu Yuan gardens and wander the streets around before we enter. I had visited here the first time I came to Shanghai, which I believe was back in 2008.
Yu Yuan gardens (Garden of Happiness in Shanghainese) is a Chinese garden in the middle of the Old City. It was first built in 1559, then again a couple of other times before it was restored post the damage by the Japanese and opened to the public back in 1961. We wander around with many other tourists, thankfully finding a couple of quiet spots.
I’m starting to feel out of it (lack of sleep I’m thinking!) so we make a Starbucks stop. On exiting the number of people have increased a lot, time to find the exit and get out!
We do the walk from the lonely planet, from the nunnery through the alleyways. It’s nice and quiet in terms of the tourists around but busy with the locals going around their daily life – a few hanging their clothes / duvets outside to air.
From Yu Yuan gardens we walk to the Bund then along, with no fixed destination it’s lovely just to wander. The views to Pudong side are amazing! Such a perfect day for a walk in the sunshine as well. There is a lot of activity on the water, with barges and ferries everywhere.
We continue to the sightseeing tunnel where we decided to take the “train” across to Pudong. With great success we are on only ones in our little “train”.
Being on the “other” side we wander to the financial district, walking past the amazing Pearl Tower which I feel like I’ve taken one million photos of already….another one won’t hurt.
Lunch is at Din Ti Fung – typical Chinese food and nice and tasty.
We head off to Shanghai Tower, which we can see the whole time. Not difficult when it’s 128 floors…..of course it looks closer than it actually is.
The sun is still out and in full strength. On arrival we join a small queue to buy tickets to the top, well very close to the top – floor 118. Wowzers it’s not cheap!! Thankfully the queue to the top isn’t long at all. We zoom to 118 within seconds. Ears popping as we go up.
WOW WOW WOW the views are amazing!! We wander around the floor then head up to 119 where surprisingly the views are the same.
We enjoy some quiet time in a small park with peach blossom trees looking up at the Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao Tower. Three amazing buildings! To be honest it’s great to be off my feet. They are sore from all the walking we have done.
Time for a drink! We had done some research prior to coming to Shanghai so headed off to IFC mall, which is exactly the same as IFC mall in Hong Kong. Thankfully it’s nice and close to where we currently are.
We manage to score the last table outside, which is looking at the Oriental Pearl Tower which has featured in SO many of my photos day. We experience day turning into night.
It’s been a LONG, but great, first day in Shanghai. We take the metro back to the hotel then enjoy wine in my room staring at the night lights at the bund.
Saturday 15 April I wake at 7am - an improvement on yesterday morning :) The sun is out in full force already, ye ha another clear blue sky day!
I met Margaret at breakfast, where it's quieter than yesterday. So nice not to be rushing!
My room is still far too hot! I head down to the lobby to cool down before Margaret comes down. Fingers crossed engineering can fix the a/c otherwise it might be a room change.....
We take the metro to Xintiandi and do the French concession walk from the trusty Lonely Planet. Such a huge difference to sky scrapers from yesterday.
We walk to Tianzifang which has lots of little alleyways with shops, bars and restaurants. After wandering around for a while hunger kicks in, now the fun begins of choosing somewhere to eat.
Feeling normal again we continue wandering the alleyways, at times I feel like we are going around in circles
It’s like a maze trying to get out…..but we succeed.We continue our walking, thankfully in the direction of the metro, to Fuxing Park. We had walked by an entrance this morning when we were walking around the French Concession area, little did I know there seems to be only one entrance and exit. Fuxing Park use to be the largest park in Shanghai a while ago. Post the Japanese damage the size has decreased. We wander around a small part of it. It’s SO hot and me feet hurt!! There are lots of groups, of primarily men, sitting around playing cards and smoking. It’s a hard life.
The hotel is calling me loud and clear! It’s a few minutes’ walk to the metro then we’ll off; back to the a/c. The view from my room doesn’t disappoint.
After relaxing for a while we meet up in Margaret’s room a couple of hours later for pre-dinner vino.
We had read earlier that Xintiandi is a shopping and eating area, close to where we have been today, so decide to head there for dinner. It’s a pedestrian area which makes wandering much easier!!
There are far too many options for dinner!! We decide on an Italian restaurant…not very cultural but hey ho. It doesn’t disappoint.
Easter Sunday, Sunday 16 April, I wake to my alarm. A novel experience for me! We are going to a champagne brunch today so it's up and out for me - time for a run.
After getting instructions to the Bund, I'm told twice its 10 minutes by taxi - no thanks, I'm off with a hiss and a roar.
I'm surprised there aren't more people around but also pleased as it would have meant more weaving in and out. I manage to get myself to the Bund easily, and then run along the Bund. The further I go the number of people out and about increases. Getting back to the hotel is easy! Maybe Shanghai is my city where I master directions??!
Margaret and I meet just after 11am - time to get our brunch on.
Wow the place (The Westin Bund Center) is huge! We are clearly not the only ones with this idea. We are shown to our table, provided with instructions on where everything is then are poured a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne. Happy Easter everyone!
I decide a walk is required before heading back to the hotel so leave Margaret in the taxi line and walk to the metro - a nice and easy 3 blocks from the hotel. It's another beautiful day in Shanghai.
Purchasing the ticket is super-efficient, then it's bag through security check. No idea how this works when it's rush hour!! For the first time since being in Shanghai all of the locals obligate.
Whoops I get off at the wrong stop....but like last night it's a quick fix as I jump back onto the train!
I have a couple of hours chilling in the room before meeting Margaret at 7pm for a walk - definitely NO more food or drink is required tonight!!
Within minutes we are in a totally different part of Shanghai, lots of shops and bright lights. We are no longer walking the streets alone.
We come across a park where there are a large number of groups of people dancing - all different types. Great people watching!
Easter Monday, 17 April, I wake before my alarm - it's a rainy day, not what I had wanted for our last day, but hey ho. No run outside today, instead it's to the gym I head. We have a leisurely breakfast - with the rain we decide it's a quiet morning before we head to the airport.
I pack up then decide to head out for a walk as the rain has stopped, and we'll be sitting down a lot later.
We get into a taxi just before 12.30pm, traffic is steady but thankfully doesn’t take more than an hour to get to the airport.
On arrival we have to scan our bags before entering the airport - the line moves quickly! At the Cathay check-in we are straight through; we ask for an earlier flight and are told no. No worries. A few minutes later another staff member comes over and says we can - it's all go now with lots of shouting between a few employees. We're told this means no lounge access, no worries at all with that!!
It's a brisk walk to immigration - thank goodness for the APEC card as we are through very quickly. Now to join the long security line. I have two options with the security gate so the line moves quickly! Margaret didn't have as much luck. Once she arrives we hear our flight boarding - perfect timing!!
Once we are all on board the pilot introduces himself and announces we have a delay due to air traffic control - yes of course we do because why would we depart on time??!
25 minutes later we push back from the gate.....we are getting somewhere! I'm not counting my chickens until we are up up and away.
And bingo we are in the air!
It's been a wonderful weekend in Shanghai - would absolutely recommend to anyone that hasn't been to come and experience this amazing city. Back to HK I head.....where I have 11 days to my next adventure :)
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