To Hell and Back

Today we decided to start of the day a bit cheaper and went to the corner restaurant for breakfast. We went in and approached the counter where there were pictures of all the dishes. The girl immediately handed us the english menu. The restaurant was neat and tidy and the staff had an almost McDonalds type uniform on. I dont know the name of it but it has a smiley face as a logo. We sat down and started to read the menu. There were noodle dishes, rice dishes, duck blood dishes and drinks. The descriptions were vague at best so I decided to just point at the pictures on the board. We chose a serve of steamed dumplings, potstickers and a bread type looking thing. The bread came first. It was covered with sesame seeds that as soon as you touched them dispersed themselves all over the table. It was quite sweet, and hard as a rock, but not bad. The potstickers were next which were great, nothing scary here. Kel had a bit of trouble with the type of chopsticks they gave us, or she just woke up a bit spastic. The steamed dumplings came in the traditional steaming vessel and again were great. We survived breakfast.

Now full of energy we walked up Fuzhou road to the Shanghai Museum. It is built to represent an ancient Chinese ding vessel.....yep! The museum contained traditional calligraphy, jade carvings, ceramics, official seals (the red stamps you see on chinese documents and art) and coins. We spent a few hours strolling around here and enjoyed the seals and calligraphy the most. It is here we saw the highest concentration of 'whities' besides our stop at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. As we left I waited at the front of the building while Kel visited the bathroom again. As I waited I was approached by three chinese teens who asked if I would be in a photo with them. Doing so I felt quite famous. When Kel returned another couple approached us and the guy asked if we would pose with his girlfriend, which we did. Smiling at his camera we noticed that it was suspiciously tilted at Kel. We were pretty sure his girfriend wasn't in the picture at all. Taking a short rest in the Peoples Square we were offered countless number of kites, black with flouro orange bats on them. Boi Yeow (NO THANKS!)

Next stop the Pudong New Area across the river from where we were staying at the Bund. To get there we took the Bund Tourist Tunnel. We boarded the small pod like vessel, a 'futuristic' train type thing. Now, Shanghai used to be the Opium capital of the world, and judging by this experience there must be some heavy users still about. The tunnel was lit with flashing lights spiralling forward as we moved along....at a snail's pace. Accompanying this psychadelic experience was a fragmented english narration describing what we were 'experiencing.' We moved through a star field, the earths crust, melting magma, fossils, paradise through to HELL!! In hell apparently there are spiderman, a clown and a funny smiling guy, depicted here by those stupid fan blown waving figures (the kind you see out the front of used car dealerships). Safely making it through Hell we emerged from the ocean and a meteor shower to stop at our destination.

First stop the worlds biggest shopping mall EVER!! (according to us). Walking through the department store with more shoes than a shoe factory. The main brand being 'No Name'. Kel was harassed by a young lady trying to sell her a handbag which was offered at 55% off the original price. Kel bartered by stealth which involves not bartering at all. She didn't want the bag. From the Sony Digital Dream World we saw a beautiful sunset overlooking Starbucks, the river and central Shanghai.

The Jinmao building in the Pudong area is a highrise that has been built to the traditional specifications of a Pagoda. The Hyatt Hotel starts at the 54th floor and in the lobby has great views back over Shaghai.

We decided to get our train tickets to Beijing from the Shanghai Train Station. OK, so we found all the people. There were masses of people sitting in front of the station with their luggage waiting to catch a train somewhere. At a quick guess maybe 3000 people. Surprisingly we found it easy to get our tickets.

Returning to our hostel we had dinner and a drink on the top floor. Australian beef burger a Carlsberg and a Pina Colada. Delicious.
-N