Wednesday 28 th December
After a quick breakfast we walked our visitors to our local market via the local park to buy some leg warmers followed by a scenic walk through the university to a ticket office to get train tickets to Shanghai and Xian. The ticket line was very long so decided to go via the bakery and buy a cream puff and coffee. Priorities
An hour or so later they were treated to the canteen food for lunch at Uni to see the process of feeding the hoards. Wayne then went to class at 1pm and I took them on the bus to have a look at the West Lake, after footing it for a while we then paid for a ride in an E.car. ( a large golf buggy) for the next hour circling the beautiful West Lake.
Star bucks was next on our list , NO Adams list and decided to catch the crowded bus home in the early evening coldness. For dinner tonight we thought we would give them a cultural experience and take them over the road to our favorite outdoor local BBQ trolley. They were a hit with our local friends everyone one commenting on how pretty Chanelle was , of course I told them she takes after her mumma in my limited Chinese which they thought was very funny.
Back across the road again for Coffee and hot chocolate with our chinese friend Jingli in a civilized cafe after subjecting them to the fresh air. Early nite.
Thursday 29th December. 2011
Walked and had breakfast at a street vendor early, Wayne woke us up because he had a class at 8am then we caught a taxi to the Linjing temple . Not so easy when the guide (me) leaves the Chinese instructions at home. Anyway with ME knowing the way and Adam's praying hands indicating the Temple we arrived easily.
After taking many beautiful photos and taking in the serenity of the temple grounds we were off to the China tea museum by taxi. Luckily it was right next to the restaurant that we were going to for lunch,I had a menu in my bag to show the taxi driver and managed to get the taxi to go a little further past the restaurant to the museum for the tea tasting. The tasting took about 35 min then a short walk to The Green Tea Restauarant where we met Wayne and Rebecca ( who by the way can speak to a taxi drivers in Chinese ) for lunch.
One of the restaurant's signature dishes is Bread Temptation. Hot bread, cold ice cream!!!!!
We caught the bus back to the apartment because 5 people don't fit in a taxi to re - dress for the outdoor evenings event. About 4.30 caught a bus to buy the tickets for the nights performance on the lake then a taxi to a well known market for a few hours. Where Adam and Chanelle bought a cosy winter hat. A taxi back to the night performance on the lake, a star bucks coffee then Chanelle and I got out our Nanna blankets for the outside performance. Spectacular sight "Impressions on West Lake".
Friday 30th December 2011
Wayne went to uni in the morning at 8am so we decided to walk to my school and be entertained by the daily ritual of the very small students doing their exercises to music which lasted about 15 min. We then climbed on a bus for a short ride to Yellow Dragon Cave.
Where we took many more lovely photos after a quick visit to Walmart and Mcdonalds and a short walk back to the apartment. After grabbing our bags and meeting up with Wayne we managed to hail a taxi and set off for the fast train to Shanghai.
Arriving at Shanghai station in the afternoon we then caught the subway to our hotel. The evening was spent just taking in the enormity and the colour of Nanjing road the main shopping road in Shanghai. By the way it is said there could be as many as 1 million visitors on any Saturday or Sunday.
This was proven on New Years Day. Never seen so many people in one place at the same time. The temperature for your info was 5 degrees that evening. There is a huge temperature gauge for all to see in the mall.
Saturday 31st December 2011
We wondered back to the hotel about 4ish and rested before the new years evening. 7pm Walked to our restaurant on the very famous and very busy Bund. Taking In the lights , huge crowds and the atmosphere.
"M" on the Bund our restaurant by the way was booked 6 months ago for the best position on new years eve ,it was amazing on the 7th floor overlooking absolutely everything that was going on AWESOME.Staggered home about 1pm and met Adam and Chanelle The next morning for a late breakfast at Costa coffee where we used wifi to send our New Year Happies.
Sunday 1st January 2012
We decided we had enough time to see the Chinese expo sight and caught the train a few stops to take in more of a taste of China.
The Chinese Pavilion was hosting an art exhibition so most of it was out of bounds so we bought tickets to see the Saudi Arabia exhibition which when the expo was on last year the lines were 4 hours long. No waiting today , straight in once we figured out where and how to buy tickets. Spectacular, it was an IMAX theatre which was set in a sphere (globe shape) you were on a slow moving curved escalator inside the sphere and the image was moving quite fast. Travel sickness hit and My eyes were closed the faster the image on the sphere moved.
Back to Nanjing road on the train and headed for Haagen Daz an ice cream experience. We shared an ice cream fondue YUM. About 7 degrees outside but the weather isn't an issue with ice cream.
We escorted Adam and Chanelle to the main train station about 7pm where we said our goodbyes they then caught the over night train to Xian for 3 day onto Beijing before they headed for a warmer part of the world Vietnam.
What a great time we had showing them around China in the few days we had with them we covered alot of cultural experiences at a relaxing pace. Bon Voy Age and we will see them in a month.
Posted by Chris
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