PHOTOS

Shanghai Shanannagins

Im back dun-nah-nah-na.
Its been awhile so its going to be a mammoth blog effort to make up for it.
It was sooooooooooo exciting to step off the plane and see my best bud and partner in crime at the airport. Shanghai is an amazing place, very exciting kind of like what I imagine New York would be like. Its quite cheap and clean, tidy and structured, not like the rest of asia! Its also very communist, heaps of internet sights are blocked (including blogs!!), so much is screened, all the kids at Sarahs school have to wear a red scarf for communism. Crazy to think about the control over the masses eh!

Our tour guide had a great weekend planned for us. We explored the old part of Shanghai and took a wander down the hutongs, did a river cruise down the bund to see all the amazing buildings, went to the peoples square, which was kind of like khao san road, also the french concession area was cool with fake markets. Went to a Shaolin monk performance, which was amazing kungfu acts.

The night life is fab, heaps of interesting expats and cheap drinks too! Rampaged till 3am on friday night when the police came in and closed all the bars (apparently its just a crackdown at this time) Sarah met one of her chinese boyfs so about 8 of us were drinking whisky and green tea, actually really nice, they shouted everything so very generous.
Sat night tried to go to kiwi bar sounded really good in lonely planet but was lame so went to restaurant and got sloshed then to Sarahs local (where she met congo) called windows which was rad, lots of foreigners cheap drinks she met the algerian-italian very hot btw, the bar closed at 3am but he took us to another secret bar which was packed very exclusive $7 for a glass of water!! haha lots of fun though, got back to hostel at 5am very very pessed, you would of been proud.

Caught the train to Changzhou, where Sarah lives and stayed in her apartment, lots of people stare at us as not common to see westerners. Its very polluted, started coughing and you cant see the blue sky its kind of grey, lots of factorys in the area. We were taken out to a chinese banquet, where they had rabbit, jellyfish etc which I didnt try of course. But it was hilarous, they all want to practice their english with us, and kept doing toast after toast in which you have to down your whole glass of red wine.
We went to a few of Sarahs classes. The kids are adorable but slightly out of control, they have good english skills, we played games like hangman, noughts and crosses.

The overnight train to Beijing was an experience. We opted for the hard sleeper to save money this means, you are in a wee compartment with six bunks. No one could speak english so got out the book and tried out chinese, they couldnt stop laughing at us. Jase managed to get a couple of the men to play cards with him which was hilarous.

Beijing was full of historic sites. The great wall was soooo impressive. We walked for miles along it, just trying to comprehend how something that massive (50,000km) could be built so long ago. Tianemen Square was cool, Mao is buried there, and the Forbidden City architecture is beautiful, so intricate and detailed. We stayed a few nights in Pingyao an ancient walled city, it was like stepping back in history.

Back in Shanghai we met up with Chris (he is over in China on a work contract) ended up staying at his flash apartment as our hostel was full. Friday night Sarah and I went to Shyfx. Was awesome to listen to dnb again, had a great boogy with a huge mix of cultures, Shanghai is truly an international city. Sat night the four of us set out sight seeing to show Chris around. We got a tip off about the Rolling Stones after party (imagine if I had met the real Mc Jager lips!) but was too expensive, so ended up at another club, where we rampaged till 5am, I got to meet Congo and had a dance off with a mexican-philippino breakdancer, Sarah added to the UN, Chris was in fine form buying endless rounds of $2 drinks and getting rowdy with a bunch of ppl he spontaneouly whipped his shirt off, and Jase climbed up on stage and got pool sharked haha. We all got so wasted didnt know how to get home, taxi took us to the wrong hotel and we ended up having to walk home in a rain storm, everyone was too pessed to sleep so sat up rambling for hours and hours. Fucken classic night.

Got to Tokyo a little tired and found our backpacker was a bit of a joke, 40 beds squished into one tiny room, Jase and my bunks were built into a wardrobe and we were too tall for them, ha. Tokyo has an exciting big city feel to it. The Japanese are so polite, got quite a shock, no pushing, shoving, spitting etc like the rest of asia. Had a few sight seeing days, saw the imperial palace and gardens, Tokyo tower (its like the eiffiel tower but painted red and white), Harajuku, and Shibuya which was my fav area where all the alternative stuff is, saw some full on styley ppl which was cool, I felt a little on the shabby side in my regular jacket and pants, would love to go shopping there. Not alot of ppl spoke english, so had fun trying to communicate in the shops. I remembered a few phrases pretty quickly and enjoyed trying to decifer the katakana. They are Pachinko crazy in Japan, its a funny pinball game, and the shops are blaring with lights and loud music, random.

We made it to Toronto and got a bit of culture shock, feel like Im in an american movie eg basketball courts with wire fences round them hehe. Weve found a flat to move into on 1st May with a canadian couple and its close to downtown which is a bonus. Jase is starting work tomorrow, so things are progressing nicely.

Love to all

Olivia