522. Day 8 | China Pavilion, Tianzifang, Xintiandi

I can't believe it has now been 1 week since we came to Shanghai!! The time went by so fast, yet it seems like we've been here for way longer than a week already. I'm already starting to dread going home. Even though we still have quite a bit of time left on our trip and 3 more places to visit. There has been typhoons going on in Hong Kong this past week and another one today I think. Shanghai is affected by it as well so it has been raining here nonstop the past few days (literally nonstop!! Today we got caught in a torrential downpour). Really unfortunate but I'm glad the days when we had our tour was nicer weather, since we did a lot of walking outdoors for those and I'm most happy we had good weather going up to Huangshan that day. Hong Kong is actually our next stop, so I hope the typhoon today will be the last.

Today my aunt went with my mom and I to the China Pavilion (now an art museum), Tianzifeng and Xintaidi. I mentioned this in a previous post that I was excited to visit a certain place since 2010. I was referring to the China Pavilion from the World Expo 2010. Back then I had made a (now deleted) blog post of all my favourite pavilions from the Expo. Unfortunately all have now been taken down except the China one, which is in the photo above. It is now an art gallery. We didn't have a lot of time to spend here but we went to see the most famous painting called "Along the River during the Qingming Festival". It's a digital painting in the gallery, spread across the entire wall with moving animations. It was very beautiful. Every few minutes, the entire scene changes from day to night.



Afterwards, we went to an area called Tianzifang then an area called Xintiandi. Both very popular. Tianzifang is more historic and with a lot of little shops while Xintiandi is more modern and luxurious. I really enjoyed them both but really wish it wasn't raining the whole time. I would like to return to Shanghai someday to properly explore..in better weather.

The first cat cafe I ever saw! They were so adorable. At first I didn't even see that tiny white one in the corner.





FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'

521. Day 7 | The Bund

We are currently at my aunt and uncle's house in Shanghai. We're staying here with them for a few more days then we head to Hong Kong! We're having a great time so far, despite the rain. It rained for the past day and a half non-stop..and the forecast for the next few days (until after we leave) is rain as well every day. There's a second typhoon coming in Hong Kong so when we get there it will be rainy as well...:( Today we had more of a relaxing day (compared to the days on our tour). We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant then settled in at their place, then went for a walk around The Bund and Nanjing Road. Shanghai has a lot of beautiful and colourful buildings. I really love it!!



At the Fairmont Peace Hotel


The salad from the Japanese restaurant was amazing!! Everything was so fresh and delicious. The restaurant was authentic Japanese style. We weren't allowed to wear shoes in.


Like yesterday, I will end this on an update on the toilet situation. Today at the Japanese restaurant and even at the house we have those advanced Japanese toilets. Quite a nice change. Makes me want to get one for my place now. 

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'

520. Day 6 | Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai

Today was the final day of our tour (that we joined..not of the whole Asia trip!). It went by really fast. We drove all the way from Huangshan back to Shanghai, which took about 6 hours. By the time we got to Shanghai, it was already early evening. Luckily my mom and I are staying in Shanghai for a few more days as we have some relatives here and they will be taking us around. I think the most famous landmark of Shanghai is the Oriental Pearl Tower. We saw it from a distance today..it's really beautiful and colourful. It constantly changes colours and sparkles. I can't wait to explore more of the city and The Bund! Also there is one place I've wanted to visit in Shanghai since 2010. That should be a clue for what it is lol..I actually posted about it on my secondary blog back then (now deleted). Hopefully we'll get a chance to visit.

Today in Shanghai we went around this place called Yuyuan (or Yu) Garden. I loved it there. Lots of street food and "xiaolongbao". I loved the old style of buildings and streets there.





On a side note - the worst thing about China is the toilet situation. Most of them you have to squat. & most of them are really dirty with no toilet paper. I encountered two of the worst today. It was raining the whole day (in Huangshan and Shanghai). The first one we were at this museum and I had to go...the washroom was kind of in a small separate building on its own, at the back. Not even a building. Maybe just a small shed. So I walked out in the rain and when I got there I see it just opened into one stall. There were no lights inside and it was just a hole in the ground. I had no choice but to use it lol..just the worst scenario I thought, in the dark and all wet from the rain. No sink to wash my hands either. But that wasn't the worst. The second one..we made a pit stop for lunch along the highway. The building we went into was this food court, half under construction. It turns out the washrooms were not built yet so they had porta pottys. It was still raining at this time. Porta pottys are the worst, even if they are actual sitting toilets. But these were squatting porta pottys, with the most horrible smell inside. Nowhere to wash our hands there either.

Sorry to end this post in this way lol. On a more positive note, since our tour has now ended..we get to sleep in a bit later tomorrow morning! Well, waking up at 7am (in 5 hours) instead of 5am wake ups like we did the past several days.

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'