Aaaaand she's back in town!

I have always used Virgin Atlantic to fly to Shanghai but I am finding it slowly getting worse and worse. I ended up moving 3 times on the flight to find a tv that worked as there was no way I was going to sit on an 11 hour flight without anything to do and I can never sleep on a plane. Luckily I got to sit in the escape exit row which gave me lots more space and since nobody was sitting beside me I could sit my chair back without feeling guilty.

Service wasn't so good as I recall before there would be night time snacks being served, constant drinks being offered, but instead there was nothing. You had to go to the kitchen area where there were some poured drinks and cookies. The food was quite awful and this was the first time I saw air hostesses "saving" food that hadn't been touched I presume to serve again on another flight.

Customs at Pudong was quite slow and painful and trying to get my heavy suitcases off the conveyor belt resulted in crushing my hand and a kind man helped me out. However, when I tried to get past quarantine I was pulled over and made to take the suitcases off my trolley on my own and place in the x-ray machine. Yep, not a single person to help and a lot of people behind getting frustrated I'm not moving fast enough...

 

Travel tip

A tip given to me was to go to the drop off at arrivals to get a taxi. The drivers there are keen to help and get back to Puxi and I find less likely to scam you than at the taxi rank. Driving along and it all felt so familiar seeing the same roads, same signs etc. I was a little rusty to respond to the driver but we got to my friend's house without a problem.

Seeing as I didn't sleep on the flight I was pretty tired but the humidity is so high here that I just wanted to shower at this point! We headed to the police station as it is stated that anyone arriving in Shanghai and not living in a hotel or school dorm needs to register for a temporary residents permit. From the last time I did this there wasn't too much of a problem apart from I needed the written permission from my landlord that I was living in their flat. But it seems the rules changed in Shanghai as of July 1st and it has become a lot stricter for foreigners. So the policeman was making so many excuses about documents I didn't have but I hadn't even enrolled yet. So I have no choice but to go tomorrow to discuss the case with my university to get some kind of form to say I was seeking accommodation outside of the university.

Later in the day my other friend joined us and we went to have dinner in a local place with really good bbq meat and huge urns outside which contains a steamed kind of soup. Tonight on the menu - fish head!

 

Chinese menu's are always amusing

I love these but have never seen them this long before!

Photos of Guilin and Xi'an

I didn't have time to write a full update but in January I visited Guilin and Xi'an so here are a few photos.

Guilin (13-16 January 2013)

 On the Yangtze River

 Arrived in Yangshuo

 The Dragon Cave

 Elephant Trunk Hill

 Night boat tour

Xi'an (26-28 January 2013)

 The Bell Tower

 Beiyuanmen Street for street food!

 La Zhi Rou - specialty snack of Xi'an - like a hamburger

 Smashing peanut candy

 A type of bread

 Dumplings

 Dog fur =(

 

 Terracotta Army

 Most complex Chinese character

 That's what it is

 Emperor Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum

 Huaqing Pool

Man rides his bicycle with this giant telescope offering science lessons for 20RMB

Trip to Huangshan

Having to get up at 5am was hard but me and my friends made it to People's Square by 6.15am and the bus left around 7am. We booked the trip through CITS and paid around 1300RMB in total which included an upgraded hotel room. There is a cheaper option at around 800RMB (for the room only) which involves sharing a room with 12 strangers and one bathroom so we opted for a bit more comfort.

It took around 6-7 hours to arrive at Huangshan town where we were taken into a local restaurant and given lunch. We had to learn to eat very quickly because people grabbed food so fast we barely had time! Also the restaurants out here tend to not have any heating and the waiters and waitresses all wear coats. The food was pretty good, typical Chinese dishes. There was a small shop attached where we were encouraged to buy supplies and a torch.

We were then split into two smaller buses to be driven up to the mountain which took about 30 minutes from the town. From here we were given our entrance and cable car tickets and went up the mountain. The view was amazing and I was so grateful the weather was clear. When we arrived up the mountain and given walking sticks, rain coats and a map. In total there must have been around 30-40 people, everyone in their own group.

Climbing a mountain in China is very different because there are stairs and it's all paved. There are staff members who can carry you in a special chair or carry your luggage for around 500RMB depending on the distance. Bottles of water then start to cost 10RMB which is incredibly steep compared to the usual 1.2RMB in most stores.

The altitude and the cold air made it a little difficult to breathe and we walked for about 90 minutes quite casually and were actually the end group. We kept stopping to take photos and admire the view. A few times the tour guide called us to find out where we were so we picked up the pace. We walked past a staff member and asked how far it was to the hotel and he told us 30 minutes so we were relieved. When we caught up to the tour guide and asked him he told us we hadn't even started to climb the mountain! I nearly cried! Already I was so tired...

When we asked him how much longer he wouldn't give us a time which wasn't a good sign. So we kept going and around 5pm the sun started to go down. At one point we were faced into going down a dark tunnel stairs and had to start using the torch. It was scary and my stupid mind started thinking Blair Witch whilst I was walking with the torch.

The view was amazing and you didn't notice the cold so much because you were walking a lot. By the last 20 minutes I was so tired I ended up climbing up on my hands and knees. When we finally reached the hotel it was such a relief I just wanted to sleep!

The hotel wasn't too bad but you had to keep in mind it was very old and there are only 5 hotels at Huangshan. The room had two single beds, a shower, toilet, tv, telephone, heater and kettle. The room also had slippers, cups, towels. However, the hot water is only available until 10pm and doesn't turn on until 6am the next day. There is a massage room in the hotel but when we tried to go there they told us we were too late so after dinner we had an early night.

The cupboards also have extra coats but we were a little wary about how "clean" they probably were. Already we had been warned by the travel agent the bedsheets might not be cleaned very often.

We got up by 5.30am and headed out 6am to the most beautiful sight. It looked like something out of a painting. The mist settled over the mountains like snow, it was so thick and the sun started coming up so we followed the crowd of people about 15 minutes from where the hotel was and saw a huge amount of people gathered on the peak. I was in too much pain to climb much higher so we just stayed where we were to take photos.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to be there, it feels like a dream. It made that 4 hour climb all worthwhile. I was so happy to experience this in my lifetime.

We stayed out until breakfast which was at 7.30am. Breakfast was porridge, cakes, bread, eggs, a little plain. We then had some free time until 10am so we went out to take photos and explore a bit. We went to the cable car and headed back down the mountain and to the bus where we were taken to another restaurant for some lunch before we headed back to Shanghai.

 

Padlocks you can get engraved to attach on the bridge