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)

Typhoon Haikui

I think I arrived just in time to Shanghai as later in the evening Typhoon Haikui was heading our way. All through the night there were strong winds and so much rain. I think the last time I witnessed something like this was in Hong Kong one year and the electricity went out and we were all forced to sleep around 7pm.

I didn't get to my class today due to the weather and also due to my jetlag. I slept until about 1pm and saw the rain was still very bad I decided to stay indoors. Checking the news it seemed the typhoon had moved on and didn't directly hit Shanghai which was lucky enough. Many flights this morning were cancelled which reminded me of February when I was lucky to even fly out of England due to the snow - I seem to make some close calls!

By 5pm my housemate text and asked if I wanted to go to dinner at the local fish place we like so much. Glancing out the window at the torrential rain I was in two minds but I was also starving as I hadn't eaten a proper meal (plane doesn't count!) since Sunday lunch. She did assure me the rain would let up by the time she got back to the flat.

Around 7pm we went out and got super dressed up in waterproof gear. The alleyway around our flat was so windy our umbrella broke but we thankfully brought another with us. It reminds me to get a bigger umbrella as they have a smaller chance of turning inside out.

The food was good, a big roasted fish in a tray of spicy soup - like a hot pot and we cooked other bits and pieces inside. Came up to 62RMB each which wasn't bad for a big fish. The rain is currently still going but nowhere near as bad as before - and with a little luck I may even begin my summer course tomorrow ;)

The lady who turned up yesterday I found out was the landlady - I somehow wish I'd known and been a bit nicer to her but it was hard enough to understand what she was saying to me in my jet-lagged state of mind. In fact even in this state I'd confused the date and missed the premiere of Shanghai Calling which I'd thought was tonight, not yesterday...

It is very humid here, especially in the flat that when I leave my cool AC room and go into the kitchen my glasses are all steamed up! The evenings are a little better but with the rain and humidity you feel rather gross and just want to jump in the shower. Not much to do now except stay awake until a reasonable hour and then sleep and hope to be feeling up to class tomorrow.