30 March 2009
Boat race day in Putney - 29th of March 2009
An estimated 250,000 people watch the annual boat race live on the Thames between Oxford and Cambridge universities, and in 2009, we were two of them. We walked down to Putney Bridge, the start line, and stood in a nearby park right on the river with a few friends and a few ciders, before hitting a nearby pub for some more drinks and some dinner. Gotto love Sundays in the pub!
09 March 2009
Shanghai - 3rd to 8th of March 2009
As a convenient stopover on the way back from NZ, we spent five days in Shanghai staying with Warren's mate Dave. We arrived Tuesday morning after a pretty rough 12 hour overnight flight, so had a lazy day having a snooze and only a very short wander around. Dave's place is on the 19th floor of one of the millions of very tall buildings:
Wednesday we navigated the underground metro into the centre of town, to the Peoples square. Basically a large park in the middle of all the skyscrapers. 
We stopped in quickly at the Shanghai museum. We aren't really Museum people but had a bit of a nosy at some Chinese pottery, calligraphy and art.
More walking around a few other parts of town, this is Xin Tiandi, one of the tourist traps, and a pic of "real" Shanghai.
Thursday we again went back to the centre of town for a walk down the main pedestrian shopping street, Nanjing East road, and out to the bund, a riverside promenade that looks across the river to the relatively new financial district of Pudong.
After a genuine chinese lunch of dumplings with Dave (and some of his workmates, aka interpreters) and an afternoon shopping up a storm at the fake market, we went out Thursday night with Dave and his fiance Rachel to a western bar (as in served hamburgers and chips, not as in cowboys and indians), our first real glimpse of the city at night.
Friday we went back for another stroll along the bund in the morning. The weather was slighty better (i.e. could actually see most of the buildings in Pudong).
We then walked through Yu Yuan Chinese water gardens and the next door bizaar. The gardens history dates back to the Ming Dinasty in the mid 16th century, but was largely rebuilt in the 1960's thanks to damage suffered during WWII.
Friday night Dave and Rach took us out for dinner at a great Chinese restaurant and then for drinks at a very cool bar on the bund looking across to Pudong. Great views:
Saturday was a pretty lazy day, we went to a little market in another part of town in the morning and then had a cheap hour-long massage in the afternoon. An early night too, as we had to be up at 5am on Sunday for the flight back to London. Sunday was our first wedding anniversary, which due to the time difference was 30 hours long. Not the most fun way to spend it either, 12 cramped hours together in cattle class, but we still managed a bottle of bubbly and some takeaway pizza for dinner back at our place in Putney.
Wednesday we navigated the underground metro into the centre of town, to the Peoples square. Basically a large park in the middle of all the skyscrapers. We stopped in quickly at the Shanghai museum. We aren't really Museum people but had a bit of a nosy at some Chinese pottery, calligraphy and art.More walking around a few other parts of town, this is Xin Tiandi, one of the tourist traps, and a pic of "real" Shanghai.Thursday we again went back to the centre of town for a walk down the main pedestrian shopping street, Nanjing East road, and out to the bund, a riverside promenade that looks across the river to the relatively new financial district of Pudong. After a genuine chinese lunch of dumplings with Dave (and some of his workmates, aka interpreters) and an afternoon shopping up a storm at the fake market, we went out Thursday night with Dave and his fiance Rachel to a western bar (as in served hamburgers and chips, not as in cowboys and indians), our first real glimpse of the city at night.Friday we went back for another stroll along the bund in the morning. The weather was slighty better (i.e. could actually see most of the buildings in Pudong).We then walked through Yu Yuan Chinese water gardens and the next door bizaar. The gardens history dates back to the Ming Dinasty in the mid 16th century, but was largely rebuilt in the 1960's thanks to damage suffered during WWII.Friday night Dave and Rach took us out for dinner at a great Chinese restaurant and then for drinks at a very cool bar on the bund looking across to Pudong. Great views:Saturday was a pretty lazy day, we went to a little market in another part of town in the morning and then had a cheap hour-long massage in the afternoon. An early night too, as we had to be up at 5am on Sunday for the flight back to London. Sunday was our first wedding anniversary, which due to the time difference was 30 hours long. Not the most fun way to spend it either, 12 cramped hours together in cattle class, but we still managed a bottle of bubbly and some takeaway pizza for dinner back at our place in Putney.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)