Very social week and my birthday ^^

My new classmates invited me out to join them. I had no idea what would happen but I was told to meet at the university gate at 8pm. So me and another classmate walked together and in total 8 of us met up. We took a taxi to Shouning Lu which is near People's Square and I'd been before but only walked through. It can be a little intimidating to walk down this street. It is full of small eateries and outdoor bbq's, with seafood and skewers etc.

One friend had been here many times and took us into one where we sat upstairs. He then went to choose the food for us and ordered bottles and bottles of beer. He also taught us how to eat these crayfish. The restaurant gives you a silver tray to put the shells and bits in, plastic gloves, plastic cups, tissues. We had scallops, whelks, crayfish, oysters, chicken, beef, lamb skewers. In total we paid about 100RMB each which included all the drinks and another friend joined us mid-way.

We then got into a taxi to Hongmei Lu (Laowai Jie) where we went to Vegas Bar and played drinking games with dice, pool and table football until about 1am. It was really good fun and I feel closer to my classmates now.

 

On Friday my old classmates held a small party for three of us whose birthday it was and two friend's who are leaving Shanghai to go back home. We ate shabu shabu (Japanese hotpot) which was really good and a buffet style so we could order as much as we wanted. They surprised me with a cake too which was so sweet of them! It was apparently from a very famous Japanese bakery and chocolate (perfect for me!). Afterwards we went to Camel Bar nearby and had drinks and met a few more friends there. The kitchen also gave us some free pizza. All in all it was really fun and I always love days where anything can happen. 

 

 

My first trip to Laowai Jie

I love unplanned days they seem to work out much better when there is no expectation.

So I decided I need to go out every day or I just stay in my room being anti-social. I walked to Hongqiao Lu station and decided to go to West Nanjing Road where there is Krispy Kreme. It's one of the few places I like the tea and reminds me of England. The doughnuts though are pretty soggy. A tea and doughnut came to 27RMB so around 70p for a doughnut isn't bad.

I read my Kindle for a little while and then decided to go for a walk, did some window shopping and then went to Ajisen for some noodles. I'm feeling better that my appetite is coming back. I was a little sad that the Enjoy Easy store had closed down though. I went to the station and headed to People's Square to meet Jorge only we had a communication problem and after walking up and down the platform 4 times to discover we were at different stations which was why we couldn't find each other! And People's Square station is one of the few that doesn't have any AC!

Finally we met up and walked along East Nanjing Road in the hot hot sun before finding a place where we could buy some ice tea. I bought a pear tea which came in a cute bottle for only 10RMB so I'm planning to buy some flowers and use it as a vase.

We went to a shopping mall to cool off before deciding to make a move to Shanghai Indoor Stadium to meet Berlinda at Ikea so she could buy some things for her new flat. We got to the station and found we needed to ask directions to Ikea. The first guy was a new student to Shanghai so didn't know anywhere yet, the other guy didn't know what we were saying and then we spotted Ikea and walked over. Even that short distance in the humidity was getting too much to me. I was so relieved to be indoors!

Ikea is much like in England, prices are similar too. After a good shop we went back to the flat to drop off things and took a taxi to Carrefour in Gubei.

Nearby Gubei is a place called Laowai Jie which is a pedestrian street that has many different restaurants and bars so it was full of foreigners, expats etc. Prices are quite expensive - much like in Xintiandi. We had dinner in a Belgium restaurant and for a plate of fish and mash and a glass of coke came to almost 200RMB so very expensive! But the atmosphere in this area is nice and a good escape if you feel China is becoming too much.