Shiny Shanghai

Shanghai stories....

Shanghai is ultra modern and you can tell that it's where the money is, in China. It is a shop til you drop kind of city with shopping centres everywhere you look. We were able to resist... well not entirely (we both have new handbags!) most of the people on the street who stopped us with their standard "you want shoes, watch, bags.. gucci, prada louis vuitton" sentence. And i don't just mean on one street, i mean on most of the streets!! 'twas funny and the only way we could get rid of them was to say the sentence in chorus with them verbatim. It got a laugh and they left us alone, understanding that we had been in the city for a few days (we stayed 5! we loved it so much) already

Our main reason for going to Shanghai, i'll admit, was on my mum's recommmendation of the Shanghai acrobatics. And we were not let down at all. it was amazing!! Way better than the opera in Beijing that's for sure! And.. we were lucky enough to get 6th row seats!The guy next to told me he had bought his tickets months before so i think we had cancellation tickets. Yay! It was a fantastic show and here you can see 6 girls balancing on chairs (they scramble up one another and sometimes use springboards!) with one arm..... crazy and we even got some video footage which will have to wait til we get home. These people are too talented for words... and if you think chinese gymnasts (where the girls are picked at age 2 or 3 and train 6 days a week! their whole childhood) then you can maybe begin to imagine how good these acrobats are... i'm guessing they train just as hard..... It was fantastic and i don't have stong enough superlatives right now.................... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED/A MUST SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The famous Shanghai 'Bund' lit up at night.

We also did a night cruise on the Huangpo River, went to the Shanghia Urban planning exhibit, the Shanghi museum, Yuyuan gardens, Strolled through ther French concession and visited the ultra new and modern Xintiandi area. We also went to the Art district at Taikang rd (not as good as factory 798 in Bejing) which was very trendy, expensive and clearly the place to be seen.

This pic is taken in trendy Xintiandi ouside a bar. We were impressed with the design, it didn't really have a chinese feel... more european.

here is a pic from the Old Town and the Yuyuan bazaar at night. We loved walking through this area, we went their twice and happily invested in some beautiful jasmine tea (full flower style which open up after a minute with boiling water).


The main shoping street. East Nanjing Road! See what i mean about how many Chinese people there are in China. We stick out in a crowd which is why we have so many people approach us to buy theier goods. The people on the street work in the black market (fakes of the big brand names) and we were taken to some shops that were hidden within and behind shop walls (think of the bookcase in Anne Frank's house) and then there were more rooms even behind those walls. They acted as if it was so normal and we found it hilarious!

Shangai scene inclusive of typical pollution, skyscrapers and bicycle rider.