Shanghai Wrap-Up

I figured I should finish the last two days of our Shanghai trip in this post so that I can move on to Beijing.  Otherwise, I'm going to get behind.

On Sunday we slept in until 10am!  It was wonderful.  We decided that we had better get back to the Shanghai World Financial Tower so we hopped on the subway and had an easy trip there.  The tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world (I tried to look up where it ranked but there is too much debate over criteria, so let's just say that it's pretty tall).  Our tickets took us up as high as the 94 floor and although we could have paid more to go higher, that was far enough for us.  The air quality wasn't great that day so there wasn't a whole lot more too see from the 100th floor.  We took a few pictures, bought a couple souvenirs for the kids and made our way back down to the third floor for lunch.

There were many choices of places to eat but we picked the busiest one (usually a good sign) and sat down.  For a change, the service was quite good and the food tasty too.  Most interesting was when Tim noticed on one of the tables a little picture of Bib (the Michelin Man).  It turns out that this particular restaurant has been rated in the Michelin Food Guide with one star.  For those of you who didn't know, Michelin is also famous for rating restaurants and a star (or four) from them is something that the top chefs in the world strive for.

Following our lunch we went outside to find the bus stop for our Big Bus Tour.  Again we had a difficult time finding the stop and while we waited around in front of the tower (we knew the bus had to go by here) we were asked over and over again if we wanted to buy sunglasses, hats or lasers.  Yes, lasers.  One guy was particularly insistent that we needed a laser and didn't want to take no for an answer.  After a while Tim started having a little fun with him and we had a good laugh.  It's better than getting upset with the harassment.

Eventually we gave up waiting for the bus and instead went to a mall and got the subway back to People's Square.  We hopped on a bus there and took it to Old Shanghai.  This was a cool looking Chinesey shopping street with lots of little sellers and people approaching you with, "Lady.  You want watch?  Bag? Cheap".  Over and over we heard this and again it got pretty annoying.  We just had to make fun of them and laugh it off.  "Bag? Watch? Watch? Bag? You need, lady?"

After all that we needed a rest so went back to the hotel.  At supper time we decided to check out Nanjing Jie (Street).  It's a major pedestrian street here and it was great to see it at night.  We strolled around looking for a place to eat and, again, were approached to buy things.  This time is was mostly wheelies - little two wheeled roller skates that attach to your sneakers.  Tim thought it would be neat for our nephew so he negotiated and bought a pair.  Of course, seeing that we had purchased a set didn't deter other sellers from trying to get us to buy more.  And it worked.  Once Tim realized the next person was willing to sell them for less than half the price of the first, he bought another set.  As we walked on they got cheaper and cheaper.  All the other sellers wanted to know what we had paid and after a while I started telling them 1000 yuan ($150) just to see what they would say.  It's amazing how irritating these people can be.

Soon we were approached with a menu.  There is a lot of competition for the hungry tourists and eventually we agreed to go into a place since I recognized the name, UBC Coffee.  We had seen another one while we were searching for the Beijing Duck restaurant near our hotel.  The service was lousy and the steak I ordered tasted rotten.  I tried to tell them that I couldn't eat it and shouldn't have to pay for it but they didn't agree.  I left feeling rather beaten and gave them a bad review on Trip Advisor.  I had no problem paying for our drinks and the food that we could eat but didn't think it was fair to have to pay for something that I had to spit out.  The nice thing about an iPhone is that you can write your reviews while you're still angry:)

After our meal we continued walking down the street and came across an Apple Store.  Apparently there are only two authorized Apple Stores in China and this was one of them.  We didn't go in but sat on the steps and people watched for a long time.  It was rather relaxing.

Eventually we made our way back down Nanjing Jie to the subway and returned to the hotel.  Monday morning we again walked to the Jade Buddha Temple so we could catch the Big Bus Tour.  This time we found the Beijing Duck Restaurant along the way - it had a statue of a large duck in front of it, but I'm convinced that wasn't there the other times we were looking - but it was too early for lunch.  Instead we caught the bus and went to an area called the French Concession.  Apparently this area was designed for the French who lived in Shanghai.  There were lots of familiar shops and little restaurants.  We picked on called Simply Thai and had some very nice food.  Unfortunately, the service was again quite bad.  I am sounding like a real complainer here but I couldn't believe just how awful it was at most places - not just for us but for other diners as well.  We were asked three times by three different people if we had placed our order yet (another woman sitting nearby was asked four times).  The food came quickly but we had no drinks, not so great with spicy food.  We had to ask twice if someone could bring our water and pop.    At least the food was good this time.

After lunch we walked up the main shopping street in the French Concession, checking out a couple stores.  We got a t-shirt for Ryan and a drink but that was it.  We hopped on the bus again and took it to another shopping street (there are so many of them in Shanghai) but only so we could check out the large Marks & Spencer store.  I had a quick look for peach bubble bath but couldn't find any so I bought dark chocolate instead.  It was good!

By this time we were pooped and ready to go back to the hotel.  My feet were sore from all the walking so we chilled out then had supper in the hotel dining room, again.  The food was good because we knew just what to order but we were the only people in the place.  The "waiter" (I don't think he was really a server) was rather impolite and stood staring at us for most of our meal.  When he wasn't looking at us he was gawking out the window behind us.

Tuesday morning we took another trip on the Maglev train back to the airport.  It was very easy and since we had lots of time we had lunch at a coffee shop.  The food was great and the wine even better.  I had two little bottles of Great Wall Red and they left me feeling quite tipsy.  It made the flight home that much quicker.  Mom and our boys were at the airport in Shenyang to greet us and it was so nice to be back with them.  We sure missed the little buggers!