A slow boat to Shanghai .......... the adventure continues

Now Shanghai is 6 hours ahead of South Africa so when my alarm clock went off at 6am, my mind was saying "you have to get up it's 6 o'clock", my body however was screaming "are you mad it's 12:00pm" not a nice feeling. Got ready and went down for breakfast, although the hotel offered a wide selection of both eastern & western food , I made a decision that I was now going to be more adventurous and only eat eastern food, this was the breakfast buffet where you selected a type of noodle along with bits and bobs (tofu, veges etc) they then boiled them in a little basket in the appliance on the bottom left of the picture, then when done you selected a broth from the pot in the centre which was then poured over your noodles, this was then topped with different additions found in the bowls in front (dried shrimp, nuts, sauces etc)

This was followed by dim sum with various fillings. I must say it was delicious, odd but absolutely delicious (as an aside with eating three times a day for 6 days, I lost weight, these Chinese people are definitely onto something)

Monday and Tuesday were work, work, work from early morinng to late at night, I must say though, I went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch on Tuesday with a colleague who lives in China. I pointed at a picture of what looked like beef and rice (seemed like a safe option) along with this meal came the following. a Chinese tea, a drink of marmalade with lemonade poured over the top (could be served hot or cold, I opted for cold, my colleague opted for hot) a bowl of noodles, with a dipping sauce, a salad (I didn't eat this, in case it had been washed in tap water) and a broth, all this cost me R52.00 and I no where near managed to finish it, however I was paying anything between R15 & R26 for a small bottle of water, which was never cold, never kept in a fridge of any sorts, always just on a shelf in the shop. I digress but I think this is actually the secret to Chinese people all being petite and slim (and possibly why I lost a little weight) they drink their drinks hot, not allowing fat to solidify and hang around in your body unnecessarily. Every restaurant I ate in served water boiling hot, as I found this very unpleasant I took to drinking Chinese flower tea and now really enjoy it.
All shops are open from 10am to 10pm giving me an opportunity to see some of Shanghai after work.  So I  left the office at 6 and went to a place called Xintiandi which was an area full of divine restaurants, and very high end stores.  I then made my way back to Nanjing Road to tackle those humongous department stores and feeling a little more sure of myself had a wonderful time flitting from shop to shop.  Nanjing road is a pedestrian road in between all these stores and I came across hundreds (no exaggeration) all line dancing in the road.  What a sight to see, such fun

Line dancing in the street

On Thursday after work I made my was to a magical place called Tiandifang, this was recommended by my colleague and I am so glad I went, It was pouring with rain and, numpty that I am left my brolly back at the hotel so when I arrived at Tiandifang  I popped into the nearest restaurant, where I ordered a champagne cocktail called "a slow boat to Shanghai", how appropriate.  Tiandifang is the size of a city block between four roads full of hundreds of teeny tiny little shops, filled with lovely things, with little alleyways running between the shops strung with twinkling lights, it was fab, strolling around (even in the rain) browsing all the little shops

Tiandifang

This was my last night in Shanghai and although I didn't have time to see very much, what I did see was amazing, the people are so friendly, it is safe (this is a big deal for a woman travelling on her own).  I would love to go back to Shanghai on holiday and have the time to take in many more sights.  I would highly recommend it

the desk in the hotel room that had wired in Internet 24 hours a day, making it easy to keep in touch with the office back in South Africa

Till next time
xoxo