Sydney to Shanghai

We have reached our first destination Shanghai, CHINA. We spent 2 days in Sydney with my sister Toni and her family. Our timing worked out well as we were able to be there for Jackson's 4th birthday party. It was a fun day with Buzz Lightyear being the theme of the day. There was a Toy Story jumping castle and 15 3-5 year olds, lots of candy, lots of energy. The young ones certainly tired the adults out and we were in bed by 9:30 which was good because Jack wakes up at 6 most mornings. It was nice to spend a few days with family before we left.

On Sunday Mike and Jack dropped us at the airport and we were on our way to China. We were still on our way to China 5 hours later as our incoming flight had been delayed. The flight was about 10 hours but it didnt feel too bad as Kellianne and I are used to the 15 hour Aus to USA trip. The comfort level was great as we had the new Airbus with extra room and individual tv screens in the back of the seat in front of us. We got to Shanghai at about 9pm local time, about 2.5 hours later than scheduled. We got through customs and immigration without any trouble. I was trying so hard not to cough as I have a chest cold at the moment. I didn't want to get hauled of to the quarantine rooms and tested for SARS. (no I dont have SARS ....yet)(Kel may have Malaria already as the one mozzie in our room last night did manage to find her).

Anyway the second we walked out of immigration it started, 'you want Taxi?' Making our way through the Taxi offers we changed some money, bought a map and boarded the no 5 bus to The Peoples Square, in Shanghai. The bus was nice, it was a typical 'coach.' The driver was a little crazy with lots of honking at, well, nothing, and the regular habit of sudden brake checks. (yes we have whiplash too)
Arriving at our stop we decided to get a cab, well that decision sucked as the cabbie didn't know the road we wanted to go to. We decided to walk. Not really knowing where we were were we managed to find the road we wanted. Shanghai at night is fairly quiet considering the population. There were a few people walking, some cycling, construction in progress, spitting police officers, and a group of 6 Military dudes out for a late night march. There was a group of 4 girls hand in hand that passed us and then were whistled at by the group of 4 guys going the other way. (guys are the same the world over)

We reached the Captain Hostel at around midnight (3am Sydney time) only to find our beds were taken due to our late arrival. I managed to negotiate a cheaper rate for a twin room for the night which worked out well as we could just spread out our stuff and pass out. We woke this morning to cars, horns, clocktower bells, bicycle bells and a constant whistle (it sounded like a raver in full swing). The source of the whistle turned out to be the policeman directing traffic and bicycles just down the street from us. From our room we could see the Huangpu river and the Oriental Pearl tower.....just. Shanghai is pretty smoggy this morning but maybe that is everyday, we will find out tomorrow. Kel reckons it should be called Shang-High as sometimes it smells like pot, among other things not to be mentioned.(ok, shit)
This morning we wanted to have a more traditional chinese breakfast but the only thing we could find on the MEMU was French breakfast, English breakfast and SANDWOICHES. (yes we have found evidence of Engrish already). So we went for the English breakfast and swore that tomorrow we will find a traditional chinese breakfast. Failing that McDonalds is down the road, but we swore that it is for emergencies only. Oh yeah Starbucks is in the same building.
-N