Ok, so this is the first time since I have been here that Blogger has been available. So I have to post quickly on everything that has happened, so please excuse the bullet points...well actually, I can start with one I wrote originally that didn't get to post, and then continue on....so, from 10 days ago....
We flew into Shanghai at 9am Sunday morning. Customs and the airport were no problem at all, and we quickly found our way to the Maglev train to travel into the city. The Maglev train is (I think at this point) the fastest train on earth. It gets up to speeds of 430km/h and goes from the airport to just outside the city of Shanghai . It only takes about 8 minutes or so, but really cuts out a lot of driving in the taxi, plus is fun. Then, we just got a taxi into the city from the Maglev stop. Not sure why super fast train is on such a short track.... While we were on the Maglev, out the window I saw farmer men out in the fields and in boats on the streams, in little pointy hats! like from a movie or something! (you know the pointy hats I mean). Then we got into Shanghai city, which is crazy. There are all these overpass roads, and this one crazy twirling one, which comes down to ground level after you cross the river by going in massive spirals. We were in a taxi, and though the driving wasn’t too excessively crazy, I was concerned as there were no seatbelts for us, even though the driver was wearing one! For our first month in Shanghai we are staying in a serviced apartment in the Hong Kong Plaza. They are pretty fancy by my standards, and are in a double sky scraper which has lots of shops down the bottom, including an electrical goods super shop which is Aidans dream. There are lots of big windows along one side of the apartment, and they face out onto the city, and from our bedroom we have a view of the Pearl tower. We also look out over a really nice park too. Once we settled in, we took a quick walk around to get some food. At the bottom of the plaza, is this thing called Mega bite. Which was so cool. It is like this food hall, where you get a debit card and put money on it, and then go around and get whatever you like. And most things have little plastic models made for them so they are easy to pick out. I had this meal which had a huge plate of rice with bbq pork and duck, a side of greens, a bowl of won ton soup, and this weird dessert, which I didn’t try, but aidan said it tasted like watered down scrambled eggs…bleugh. This whole meal cost only like £2, or less than $5 Australian!!! (This is up there with my other favourite cheapest purchase – paracetemol in London – only costs 16p for a whole packet of 16 tablets!!!) Three minutes walk up the road is the Shanghai Times Square building, which is where our office is located for this initial period (until we find a ‘trendier’ location to have a more permanent office). At the bottom of this building is a very fancy shopping centre, where I don’t think I can afford anything. However, there is a western supermarket in the bottom and a western bookshop. But the western supermarket has mostly American, English, German and Japanese food, and the English bookshop is way expensive. On my walk I found a Chinese bookshop which sold English language books as well, and it was less than 10 Aussie dollars per book,s o I know where I will be going now! We have also been for a walk along Nanjing Lu, which is this super busy shopping street, very touristy I think, with all the fluoro lights that you associate with Shanghai/Hong Kong. Despite it being the touristy area though, we only saw maybe two other western looking people. I assumed that Shanghai would be full of western expats, but there are either not many or they are hiding. We have walked in the French Concession too, and didn't see many there either, same as on the Bund I have started working for Aidan's company, and it is pretty interesting, setting up a new company in China, in an industry that as yet hasn't taken off over here.
I have been clothes shopping way too much, and have put an embargo on further purchases until Christmas.
Even though our work is in this super fancy building with shops like Gucci, etc, just two blocks away are the flower/bird/insect markets, which are amazingly interesting/scary. They also sell turtles by the millions...and anyone that comes to visit me, I will have to take you there.
People hang their washing up everywhere and anywhere, including by tying their lines to traffic lights and road signs.
We have an apartment on Beijing Rd which we will be moving into on the 24th of November, itis in a really nice complex called Ladoll - I will be living beyond my means. It has a dish steriliser (?) but no oven. But then, none of the apartments we saw had ovens...
People so far are really nice, but I thought that english would be more widely spoken (don't know why I thought that)...but starting lessons in December, so very excited about that.
The Shanghai skyline at night is some of the most amazing I have ever seeen.
The weather is quite nice, not too cool and blue skies. The smog isn't as bad as I imagined, and have had no trouble with asthma so far.
The McDonalds tastes exactly the same, but, like London, I still can't get good Aussie KFC-style chips
We eat at Happy Chef type places every night, which are super cheap, but communication is very difficult, and sometimes we do not get what we expected...even if we point specifically...one dinner, at what i thought was quite a nice restaurant, all we got was a whole chicken: half hot, half cold and some nuts. too embarrassed to go back there.
There is this place called Xintiandi (Shin-tien-dee), walking distance from our apartment, which I swear is like a Chinese fox studios! so that is also on the Tracy tour for visitors.
There are these wierd things going on in Peoples Square Park on the weekends, with hundreds of people crowding around and making deals over pieces of paper with chinese writing all over it. I don't know what they are buying/selling...Aidan tells me it is people....but I will get to the bottom of it, because maybe I want some!
I love getting the taxi's which are so convenient, and only cost like 11RMB - or less than one pound or $1.50 aussie.
ummmm...so much to say, but I can't right now, as I am busy, but these are the main points and I will edit this and write it nicely later
(if Blogger is available later)....
