So, were currently sat in 30 degree heat in the rooftop bar in our hostel (they are cunning people fortunately and have a way to bypass the great china firewall hence we can blog and facebook). Weve had a well packed 3 days in Shanghai. My flight over was just lovely, I got a complimentary copy of HELLO magazine and a cadbury cream egg, this teamed with a whole host of good t.v made me a happy bunny indeed. The woman next to me kept trumping in her sleep though.
Scott met me at the airport, and this time around I arrived with my bag, much to Scott's amusement I wheeled out my backpack, its too heavy for my back but I couldn't take the wheely thing out of the airport unfortunately. We hit Xiabu Xiabu after hours of Scott searching, the second the sesame paste hit my lips I knew i'd arrived. We then stumbled across 'Mr Big Stomach 2011', with the tagline 'This spring, this city', e.g. a line of chinese people ramming as much pizza into their mouths as possible. One of those moments when you realise you've been awake for 24 hours and wonder what on earth is going on, along with the dancers for entertainment, and the sharks swimming round in a tank in the shop window opposite. Got to love China.
We spent the first morning getting aquainted with the city in the Shanghai museam, by the end of it we were both bored as hell, but more culturally aware (it was free). We have also been up the oriental pearl tower which was beautiful, and we went up as it was going dark so got some lovely views of the Shanghai skyline in the day and night. We did a river boat tour where we paid 10 pounds to get on the boat, was led to the roof to find a big piece of tarmac and a lovely VIP room, airconditioned with seats, with a frickin 3.50 entrance fee! Having a laugh, so we sat down on the tarmac and Scott got the Tsingtao in. Its day 4 in Shanghai and weve managed to fit in 4 Xiabu Xiabu meals, the guy even knows our order off by heart now. Im managing fine with my vegetarian diet, apart from the night I had to order two meals in seperate restaurants after I had to walk out of the other one leaving my meal fully intact as it made me want to vom. We went into the restaurant opposite in the hope they couldn't see us through the window. Scott tried to take me to an actual 'Vegetarian' restaurant but the menu seemed to misinterpret the meaning, offering fried chicken rice and pork. As you can guess we didn't sample the delights on offer.
Today Scott got his geography fix when we visited the Shanghai Urban planning exhibition, which I was actually quite impressed with. The chinese were proper bigging themselves up with how fantastic Shanghai is now it has grown but there was an amazing 3D visual model of Shanghai, the size of a 5 a side football pitch nearly, imagine Scotts face. We also had a little ride in a boat simulation made for kids, we waited for 2 kids to get off it then ran over.
Were off to Hangzhou in the morning tomorrow after our final farewell meal at Xiabu. We have 2 days there before our trek up the mountain begins so a serious amount of rest and relaxation are in order. Straight after this we are going for a 2 pound foot rub, whoop!!
Love to everyone at home,
Kate and Scott xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S in regards to the blog title, we will also be compiling a list of things never to say to your girlfriend when you are travelling. After hearing a scuttling sound during the night above us I joked 'That sounds like a dog', Scott then replied 'That sounds more like a rat'. I then sat bolt up right, had the light on the whole night and spent my time waiting to contract the plague. Luckilly for Scott just after he'd made this statement he fell asleep, apart from the two times I woke him up after I heard scuttling after that (I decided this was a useless activity as I would say 'did you hear that' and he'd say 'yeh' and then fall back to sleep.). Not a good night for me!
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Thursday 21 April 2011
1 day...
Hello, Scott here. I thought I had better post an update. Tomorrow Kate will be taking her second visit to China, but this time landing in the Paris of the East, Shanghai. Lonely Planet describes Shanghai as "the most dynamic city in the world's fastest-changing nation... an exhilarating, ever-changing metropolis that isn't just living China's dream, but setting the pace for the rest of the world". It is without doubt the city where East meets West. I have spent the past eight months living in Tianjin on a low teachers wage so have become a professional at tight travelling budgets. However, the sights of Shanghai are priceless. The Bund itself is beautiful, and the contrast between both banks of the Huangpu river brings to mind the constant contrast between old and new China. The high rise financial hub comes alight at night and makes for a mesmorising photo opportunity. It makes you feel very insignificant in the scale of things. The first photo below shows a wedding couple having their photo taken with the high rise buildings as the backdrop. The second photo is off a local father sporting some fashionable new season wear soon to hit the streets of Sheffield.
The first leg of the trip, China, has been assigned to me. We have five weeks to travel China before we need to be in Hong Kong for our flight to Bangkok. During this time we are going to cruise down the Yangtze on a bamboo boat, take trains south to Yunnan province to marvel at the picturesque scenery, and village hop through rural China before ending in Hong Kong. The first stop after Shanghai is Hangzhou, only 150km east, which we can reach on the high-speed bullet train in an hour. For now though I need to track down the nearest Xiabu Xiabu restaurant for Kate. That is my one job to accomplish before she arrives. I have been trying to get ahead in the tanning war since the weather here has been top draw so far. Photos will follow as to who is most tanned. Keep in touch and Zàijiàn!
The first leg of the trip, China, has been assigned to me. We have five weeks to travel China before we need to be in Hong Kong for our flight to Bangkok. During this time we are going to cruise down the Yangtze on a bamboo boat, take trains south to Yunnan province to marvel at the picturesque scenery, and village hop through rural China before ending in Hong Kong. The first stop after Shanghai is Hangzhou, only 150km east, which we can reach on the high-speed bullet train in an hour. For now though I need to track down the nearest Xiabu Xiabu restaurant for Kate. That is my one job to accomplish before she arrives. I have been trying to get ahead in the tanning war since the weather here has been top draw so far. Photos will follow as to who is most tanned. Keep in touch and Zàijiàn!
Tuesday 19 April 2011
P.S
I forgot to put on the last entry that every time me and Scott travel together I usually put him through some sort of emotional turmoil...
Venice - I forgot my passport, we had to disembark the train (Scott's face when he realised this wasn't the standard 'I have forgotten my passport' joke was priceless) and complete a mad taxi dash to my house and East Midlands airport with seconds to spare before the gate closing.
Beijing - I had my flight cancelled due to snow (I broke the news to Scott that I wouldn't be coming for Christmas), an hour later I found out I could fly after all (had to ring Scott to inform him of the error). I also lost my luggage in transit and had the pleasure on arrival to Beijing of having to fill in a form in Chinese with a Chinese man who spoke no English to assist me (I know no Chinese), so after not seeing each other for 4 months I stormed through arrivals with a face like thunder demanding to know where I could buy pants.
Paris - I lost our travel documents at some point in the airport, so over the tannoy an announcement was made for 'Scott Rentell' to immediately make himself known to airport staff, at this point we had no idea I'd lost the documents and all they wanted to do was hand them back. Fortunately the top document was in Scott's name and not mine, so I was spared the name and shaming to the whole of Manchester Airport.
Fingers crossed bad luck comes in 3's, otherwise Scotty could have aged 60 years by the end of this trip!
Venice - I forgot my passport, we had to disembark the train (Scott's face when he realised this wasn't the standard 'I have forgotten my passport' joke was priceless) and complete a mad taxi dash to my house and East Midlands airport with seconds to spare before the gate closing.
Beijing - I had my flight cancelled due to snow (I broke the news to Scott that I wouldn't be coming for Christmas), an hour later I found out I could fly after all (had to ring Scott to inform him of the error). I also lost my luggage in transit and had the pleasure on arrival to Beijing of having to fill in a form in Chinese with a Chinese man who spoke no English to assist me (I know no Chinese), so after not seeing each other for 4 months I stormed through arrivals with a face like thunder demanding to know where I could buy pants.
Paris - I lost our travel documents at some point in the airport, so over the tannoy an announcement was made for 'Scott Rentell' to immediately make himself known to airport staff, at this point we had no idea I'd lost the documents and all they wanted to do was hand them back. Fortunately the top document was in Scott's name and not mine, so I was spared the name and shaming to the whole of Manchester Airport.
Fingers crossed bad luck comes in 3's, otherwise Scotty could have aged 60 years by the end of this trip!
3 days....
On Good Friday I’m off to meet Scott who is currently holidaying with his parents in Shanghai! Coincidence has it that I am arriving 2 hours after his parents board a flight to leave, nothing personal mind, just scouting out the cheapest (direct) flights possible. After my last journey from Beijing back to Manchester I swore off China Southern Airlines after being faced with the prospect of either sitting behind a man who had put his chair so far back that I couldn’t see my feet, or the screening of the only film Legally Blonde 2 or sitting next to the toilet. I went for the latter, Legally Blonde 2 was good, however I will not fly in hellish conditions again. Virgin Atlantic got my custom this time round. Here is a very simple run down of our itinerary over the next 16 weeks…
China
Thailand
Laos
Vietnam
Cambodia
Malaysia
Wormley
Im anticipating some jetleg in Shanghai, therefore we’ll be taking it easy for the first few days. Over my Christmas visit to China I got obsessed with a chain restaurant called Xiabu Xiabu, where you are given your own pan of boiling hot water and veg, noodles, tofu etc and sesame dipping sauce. I got OBSESSED with the tofu sheets in sesame sauce, that its all I’ve been dreaming about in the run up to the trip. Luckilly I’ve checked the Xiabu website and there are a few restaurants in Shanghai, its Scott’s job to locate those restaurants and ensure that I will be dining in them on a daily basis, it is after all going to be possibly the last chance in my lifetime, unless I move to China. After Shanghai were heading towards Huangshan where we will be trekking the yellow mountain, I went on the treadmill today and managed about 15 minutes walking on the hill setting. The quiet peaceful views could be soon disturbed by the view of me trying to lug myself to the top, gripping to every tree and rock as I pass, photos will follow. After some banter on our last holiday about tans, the competition between me and Scott to develop the best tan on this trip has become outrageous. This could potentially result in us being wheeled off the plane after it has landed at Heathrow and into an ambulance towards the nearest major burns unit. Were thinking we better invest in some heavy duty moisturiser at least, picture the scene in The Hangover when he is discovered on the roof.
We’ve set up this blog as facebook is rather cruelly banned in China, so it will be a nice easy way to stay in touch, were requesting that you subscribe to it for a lovely email every time its updated, or at least put it in your favourites list. We hope everyone has an enjoyable few months until we return in August, we’ll miss you and keep in touch. Here is a photo of us for you to keep so you don’t miss us too much :-P.
Kate & Scott
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
China
Thailand
Laos
Vietnam
Cambodia
Malaysia
Wormley
Im anticipating some jetleg in Shanghai, therefore we’ll be taking it easy for the first few days. Over my Christmas visit to China I got obsessed with a chain restaurant called Xiabu Xiabu, where you are given your own pan of boiling hot water and veg, noodles, tofu etc and sesame dipping sauce. I got OBSESSED with the tofu sheets in sesame sauce, that its all I’ve been dreaming about in the run up to the trip. Luckilly I’ve checked the Xiabu website and there are a few restaurants in Shanghai, its Scott’s job to locate those restaurants and ensure that I will be dining in them on a daily basis, it is after all going to be possibly the last chance in my lifetime, unless I move to China. After Shanghai were heading towards Huangshan where we will be trekking the yellow mountain, I went on the treadmill today and managed about 15 minutes walking on the hill setting. The quiet peaceful views could be soon disturbed by the view of me trying to lug myself to the top, gripping to every tree and rock as I pass, photos will follow. After some banter on our last holiday about tans, the competition between me and Scott to develop the best tan on this trip has become outrageous. This could potentially result in us being wheeled off the plane after it has landed at Heathrow and into an ambulance towards the nearest major burns unit. Were thinking we better invest in some heavy duty moisturiser at least, picture the scene in The Hangover when he is discovered on the roof.
We’ve set up this blog as facebook is rather cruelly banned in China, so it will be a nice easy way to stay in touch, were requesting that you subscribe to it for a lovely email every time its updated, or at least put it in your favourites list. We hope everyone has an enjoyable few months until we return in August, we’ll miss you and keep in touch. Here is a photo of us for you to keep so you don’t miss us too much :-P.
Kate & Scott
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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