Gongqing Forest Park

I met with the guys again and we went to Nenjiang Lu Metro and took a taxi to Gongqing Forest Park. The taxi ride cost 15RMB and there are many gates to the park. Also many parks like this cost money to enter which was another 15RMB.

The park was very big and said to be the 2nd biggest in Shanghai. There are many activities here such as hiring rollerskates, horse riding, biking, boating and some fairground rides. It was beautiful weather with a nice breeze so many people were flying kites. There were also many wedding photoshoots.

After a few hours in the park we headed to Yuyuan Gardens to eat xiaolongbao. This famous place has a few choices of price range so we opted for the minimum 50RMB spend. Afterwards we tried to go to the market on Fuyou Lu but it closed quite early which was disappointing.

We chilled out for a bit but noticed the many scams that happen around this station.

Tourists need to be aware of young Chinese people hanging around this metro station. They will strike up a conversation or ask you to take a photo and then try to find out where you are from etc. They will convince you they can take you to a teahouse or something and if you follow them you could be the one ending up with the bill or you could be escorted to a cash point and forced to take money out for them. Please beware!!

So we noticed this American man following these two Chinese girls so Jorge and Joseph wanted to try and help so Joseph asked one of the girls for directions and Jorge and I tried to warn the man of these two. I'm not sure if he believed us or not but we tried our best and left.

We slowly walked to Xintiandi and Joseph helped me sort out my mobile phone (I will write another entry for this). Afterwards we went into Xintiandi Style and had some drinks and in the basement there is an international supermarket with many imported brands which is nice for when you are homesick but the prices can get a little crazy!

When it rains in Shanghai...

The weather out here can be rather unpredicable and when it decides to rain it decides to pour! It started with a trip to People's Square, I thought I would go to Book City on Fuzhou Lu. When I arrived at the station I decided to get something to eat and all the fast food places were insanely packed so I went to Pizza Hut where I can sit down and be served instead.

At 230 degrees this plate is hot!! Also very fatty so it wasn't so tasty to be honest. Service was also incredibly slow in this place and when I finally got my food I finished in less than 10 minutes and had to wait another 20 minutes just for the bill.

I headed to the exit of the station only to find it pouring with rain and people coming into the station for shelter - great. So I started walking around the station which luckily has quite a number of stores and even a small market area. I managed to buy some cross stitch kits for 5RMB each and tried to waste some time walking around. I thought there would be a way to go to other shopping centres but I had no luck and in the end as it was still raining, I decided to head to Xintiandi where I know I could be indoors without needing to go outside at all.

It is very useful to remember which stations have tunnels that lead to shopping centres and so I spent my day hopping on the metro trying to stay dry and busy.

Wifi can be found in most places although I have to say Coffee Bean wifi is really awful and sometimes decides not to work at all! Starbucks in Metro City in Xujiahui is really big and probably because there are so many people this wifi is also very bad so I would avoid it. When I am in Metro City I would opt to go to Saint Marc's cafe because it is less busy, good service and I've never had a problem with their wifi which is powerful enough for me to log onto VPN.

I have found a new school to study in for the summer and my teacher gives me these free magazines. She tells me you can pick them up from Starbucks or most Western restaurants. The website for City Weekend is also very good and I like to regularly check it for upcoming events.

(sorry my Blogger isn't rotating this image)

A family visit

I was very anxious in class to get out and meet Sami and Richie. I dropped my things off and headed to their hotel at the Bund. After meeting up we took a taxi to Yongfu Lu where there is an Elite club we were going to try to have tea there. I had walked past this place before and didn't know it was a bar/restaurant so it was interesting to walk in. They are very strict about no photos! However, we didn't find the tea menu and so we got a taxi and went to Xujiahui where I got to show them my favourite place which is in the basement of Metro City where there are many things to eat.

We went to the Udon restaurant which was nice and cheap for a big bowl of noodles. After lunch we took a taxi to People's Square to wait in Celina's hotel. We then went to Dapu Bridge station where there is a big hot pot restaurant. I had never seen something like this before where downstairs there are many small tables with games to play whilst waiting for a table and even places set up for manicures!

The service here was amazing and food was really good. You can mix your own sauces too.

The next day we had some small bao like xiaolongbao but made with bread it was really tasty. Then we took the sight-seeing bus and got off at Yu Gardens.

We made our way straight for the xiaolongbao restaurant and sat in the VIP section so we didn't need to wait. The minimum spend per person there is 150RMB. I had to quickly rush off to my class and then later met up with everyone at Xintiandi. I actually didn't know the Olympic torch was on display there so that was cool to see! We then walked through People's Square back to Celina's hotel and took a rest.

For dinner we went to Raffles City, upstairs is a big food court. I shared a roasted fish with Celina which was ok but not as nice as the fish I have more locally.  Then I had to say bye to Celina as she was heading back to Hong Kong the next day.