First week back in Shanghai and what a long one it's been!

The week has been intense with jet lag and starting classes. I'm in the intermediate class (中级) which requires us to study 3 chapters a week over a 5 week period. I'm enjoying the intensity of the classes, it keeps me on my toes, but it is pretty exhausting. Classes at Jiao Tong run at 90 minutes with a 20 minute break between so it is quite challenging to stay focused for that long. On the plus, the coffee "shop" (it's a tiny room) is right next to my classroom so makes it easy to get in line quickly! They also sell snacks like "sandwish"...

You know things get serious when there is no pinyin...

I managed to take a trip to West Nanjing Road and found the cutest cake at Cafe 85.

And later at Mannings to get some mosquito repellent patches...

If these don't keep the mosquitoes away then I've lost hope in the power of the panda!

A trip to Xiantiandi on Thursday and found more changes. It still takes time to come to terms with how quick shops and restaurants can open and close. But a cute new shop opened that create "Mini Me's" where they take photos and make little dolls (much like that Big Bang Theory episode!).

On Friday I managed to finally get my temporary resident permit from the police station so afterwards I went for my favourite omelette rice at Manabe when I got a pretty major shock when a car reversed and knocked the glass so the waitress had to go out and tell the driver to move.

 I wasn't sure if soup should have so many bubbles?

Beef curry omelette rice

In the evening my friends took me to Din Tai Fung for some xiaolongbao to celebrate finally getting my permit sorted.

After dinner we tried to go to Brown Sugar in Xintiandi but it was closed but next door at Luna Bar was a Filipino band playing so we went there instead. It was a 100RMB cover charge so a minimum spend of that per person we spend on drinks. The band was called Fast Track and it was a great atmosphere with the band so close singing a mixture of English, Mandarin, Cantonese even, and during some classic songs the bar turned more into karaoke with everyone joining in. The band even took requests where the waiters were passing out tissues for you to scribble on as they handed them to the band. 

Pancakes and KTV with the Meet Up crowd

It started off another rainy day with a thunderstorm which woke me up around 9am and left me in bed for an hour contemplating if I should still go to the Meet Up or not. By 10.30am it had stopped thundering but it was still raining and I thought to myself I'm sure people of Shanghai can't stop their lives because of heavy rain and that I should try my very best so I headed out.

I underestimated the rain from the 13th floor it didn't look that heavy but when I got to the front door it was pouring and pouring. I put up my umbrella and took a brave step outside. It isn't cold and still a bit humid and as I got to the main road I saw a taxi. I thought someone had just got inside as I saw it leave the kerb but I waved anyway and to my surprise it came for me!

I went to Julu Lu to Mr Pancake House and there I met some people from the Meet Up website. At first there were only 4 of us but soon we had about 12. I had breakfast pancakes which cost 42RMB and is very filling.

Afterwards a few of us went to Party World as Lucy, the organiser of the event, had booked a karaoke room for a few hours.

KTV here seems quite relaxed and they didn't seem to mind us bringing in outside food and drinks. I'm not too sure the price of the room per hour though as I didn't pay but Lucy assured me it wasn't much. So we had English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese songs which was interesting and all very good fun. People came and left throughout but I stayed until the end.

Around 5pm I got a taxi with a friend and went to Berlinda's place and watched a movie there with Jorge. Another friend, Sho, came and joined us and we headed to Koala Bar nearby for dinner and drinks. I see this bar on HuaiHai Xi Lu as it is near the university and the sign says its a coffee bar but it is more of a drinks bar and has a pool table in the back. The atmosphere was nice, we sat outside to eat and the waiter could speak and understand English which is a bonus.

Burgers cost around 50RMB and breezers around 40RMB which is a little steep I think.

I'm hoping tomorrow's weather is ok and that the predicted typhoon has moved away so that I can do some exploring with my friends.