Shanghai: beauty and the beast
Upon our taxi exiting off the highway and bridge, we wind our way in traffic downwards on a corkscrew off ramp, an interest sight to see. It becomes apparent to us that as we got closer and closer to the city that it is a mix of the old and the very new, as well as more and more heavily polluted.
With exhaustion on our brains, I felt a bit nauseous breathing in the exhaust fumes that got thicker and thicker while we worked out way through the traffic jam. Once off the ramp and onto a street leading to our hotel, it got a bit better, easier to breathe. As we drove through the old Shanghai area, we could see wonderful old buildings along The Bund, and in contrast behind it, modern new buildings. This area's road was under construction so we hit another traffic jam, as the cab had to take a detour to get to our hotel.
After checking in, we were pleasantly aware of how quaint and lovely this hotel was. It used to be known as Richard's Hotel orginally. With Victorian detailing and updated bathrooms, it was charming and comfortable. We showered and freshened up to meet up with my cousin Ben, who was taking us to downtown to get some really good Thai food, at Simply Thai. It was good. Then afterwards, we went over to the People's Square, and walked in to get to Barbarosa, a restaurant/bar, popular hangout for expats, mainly French. It was pretty cool, with it's Morrocan styled decor and terraces. My only horror was that a bottled water cost me $7!! And I couldn't do with out it as the water in Shanghai is scary. The tap water is faintly yellow, very apparent when you run a bath, and it also smells of petrol or machine oil. After my mojito that night, my stomach gurgled all night. Then the next day for a mid-afternoon snack after a long 15+ km walk around town, we had instant bowl of noodle, but Jason forgot to use bottle water. Our soup smelled of petrol. Though we avoided drinking the soup, we both still felt somewhat ill from what ever chemical was in that water. After that, we both drank lots of bottle water to flush out our system, as we both got itchy skin and gurgly digestives from it.
On day two, we decided to walk our way around the downtown, as I mentioned about 15+km worth. We walked on The Bund, then down to Old Town, then to NanPing Road, then back to the Hotel. It was quite the feat I think, since we were still dealing with fatigue from the previous weeks. The saving grace was on the last third of our walking adventure, we really needed a break, but wasn't so hungry, so we managed to miraculously be right across from the Radisson hotel, and so I suggested we go in for a drink. Ahhhhhhh.... after we sat down in it's lobby lounge, and each had a couple of ice cold Asahi beer. After having been rejuvenated, we made our way home, after stopping in at a Lawson's to grab some bowl of noodles.
After our return, we took a nice couple of hours nap. Had a noodle snack (uggghhh the water), showered up, then hooked up with Ben again at a sports bar to meet his friends for trivia night. It was fun. A great bunch of guys. We lasted till about 12:30am, then taxi'd it back to the hotel for a fabulous sleep, ready for the next trek to ZhuHai.
Photos from our Shanghai adventure here.
With exhaustion on our brains, I felt a bit nauseous breathing in the exhaust fumes that got thicker and thicker while we worked out way through the traffic jam. Once off the ramp and onto a street leading to our hotel, it got a bit better, easier to breathe. As we drove through the old Shanghai area, we could see wonderful old buildings along The Bund, and in contrast behind it, modern new buildings. This area's road was under construction so we hit another traffic jam, as the cab had to take a detour to get to our hotel.
After checking in, we were pleasantly aware of how quaint and lovely this hotel was. It used to be known as Richard's Hotel orginally. With Victorian detailing and updated bathrooms, it was charming and comfortable. We showered and freshened up to meet up with my cousin Ben, who was taking us to downtown to get some really good Thai food, at Simply Thai. It was good. Then afterwards, we went over to the People's Square, and walked in to get to Barbarosa, a restaurant/bar, popular hangout for expats, mainly French. It was pretty cool, with it's Morrocan styled decor and terraces. My only horror was that a bottled water cost me $7!! And I couldn't do with out it as the water in Shanghai is scary. The tap water is faintly yellow, very apparent when you run a bath, and it also smells of petrol or machine oil. After my mojito that night, my stomach gurgled all night. Then the next day for a mid-afternoon snack after a long 15+ km walk around town, we had instant bowl of noodle, but Jason forgot to use bottle water. Our soup smelled of petrol. Though we avoided drinking the soup, we both still felt somewhat ill from what ever chemical was in that water. After that, we both drank lots of bottle water to flush out our system, as we both got itchy skin and gurgly digestives from it.
On day two, we decided to walk our way around the downtown, as I mentioned about 15+km worth. We walked on The Bund, then down to Old Town, then to NanPing Road, then back to the Hotel. It was quite the feat I think, since we were still dealing with fatigue from the previous weeks. The saving grace was on the last third of our walking adventure, we really needed a break, but wasn't so hungry, so we managed to miraculously be right across from the Radisson hotel, and so I suggested we go in for a drink. Ahhhhhhh.... after we sat down in it's lobby lounge, and each had a couple of ice cold Asahi beer. After having been rejuvenated, we made our way home, after stopping in at a Lawson's to grab some bowl of noodles.
After our return, we took a nice couple of hours nap. Had a noodle snack (uggghhh the water), showered up, then hooked up with Ben again at a sports bar to meet his friends for trivia night. It was fun. A great bunch of guys. We lasted till about 12:30am, then taxi'd it back to the hotel for a fabulous sleep, ready for the next trek to ZhuHai.
Photos from our Shanghai adventure here.
Comments
your photos look amazing, such a cool place...but, wow i see what you mean by all the smog in the air! there is so much British influence on the buildings. make sure you bring back some of that great grease cleaner for me! HAR HAR
miss ya and much love, tobs