Meeting Samuel

Meet Samuel.  The newest addition to the Carters.  A Prince in his own right and a replica of Princess when she was a baby.

Samuel was born earlier this month, during my vacation in China.  It seems that I'm always abroad when the Carters have their kids; I was in the States when Princess was born.

It's just as well, as both Mini Carters were born in the early hours of the morning, when others were asleep.  The time difference working in my favour to share this special moment with Papa Carter, who was too excited to sleep.

Last Night in Shanghai

It's my last night in Shanghai and I'm in the midst of a picture frenzy, as I try to get as many snaps in as possible before I have to leave.

The night is clear, there's no rain, there's no smog hiding the tops of the buildings.  It's perfect weather for getting the perfect night shots of The Bund.

The view is stunning.  The lights from the buildings pop in the black of the night sky and illuminate the water in a multitude of colours.

It's 6.30pm and it's time to go.  Tonight is all about Karaoke.  Apparently you can't come to China without indulging in a bit of Karaoke.

The venue is New World Emporium.  It can only be described as a maze of rooms.  It is really quiet inside, but that is only because the rooms are heavily padded to block out all the noise.

 

You only realise this when a door suddenly opens and the 'dulcet tones' of those getting into the groove to Chinese music flow out into the corridor.

Teacher kicked off the singing with Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.  I eventually got dutch courage after a few drinks with a rendition of a golden oldie; one of Madonna's classics.

A couple of hours later, with throats coarse from all the singing, we moved on to a club to dance the night away.  Teacher bluffed us into a club called Cirque Le Noir.  An interesting place, but surreal.

Trapeze artists, dwarfs, painters, burlesque dancers, they all came out from time to time to entertain the crowds.  There was a cart filled with popcorn, a photo booth, a candy floss machine.  It was like being at the circus all over again.

Shanghai, it's been interesting, entertaining and most importantly, educational.  Zàijiàn (Goodbye).

Last Day In China

The rain has stopped.  The Typhoon is over, leaving behind a smog free, blue sky.  Finally an opportunity to take some decent pictures of Shanghai's famous sky line; it's almost as though someone knew it was my last day here, turned off the taps to the clouds and blew away the haze.

As soon as I got up, I made a bee line to the Bund and to the Pearl Tower; an angular building with 3 red-ish, pink pearls in the middle of its structure.

The tower had 15 levels that you could view the skyline from.  The highest observation deck was at 1148ft and the view from the top was amazing.

On one of the observation decks there was the standard glass floor, a necessity for any high rise building.  A floor that always takes that extra bit of courage to step onto, because there's that chance that the glass will cave in and you will plummet to the ground.

I was still snapping away at the top of the tower at the onset of dusk.  There was something very picturesque about a purple sky hovering over the skyline of Shanghai.  A lovely last day.

Fake Prada to Michelin Star Restaurants

Rain, rain and more rain.  That was the weather forecast of today.  Shanghai was in the thick of the Typhoon, limiting activities to shopping and eating.  Luckily this was right up my street.

Teacher had 2 house mates; Mr California and Naked French Man.  Mr California (above) was awesome.  Naked French Man on the other hand only made an appearance from time to time, naked, bar his boxer shorts and only to answer the door.  A little bit reminiscent of the Ugly Naked Man from Friends, although I think this one fancied himself as some sort of Adonis.

Mr California happened to have the day off today, so we hung out whilst Teacher was at work.  We went to his favourite place to eat, which was a funky little restaurant that served healthy, tasty food for a decent price.

Shopping was at the Fake Market.  When you first walked in, it was a bit overwhelming.  As soon as they saw a western face they were hounding you; "Hey Lady, you want Prada? What colour you want?  I got all colours."

But you soon learned to play it to your advantage; as a ploy to get them to drop their prices.  Soon I was haggling for things that I didn't even want, just because I could.

The day finished with dinner at Mr and Mrs Bund, a fancy restaurant with amazing views of the Bund.  We went for the late menu that started serving at 10.30pm and had amazing food for a fraction of the price.

I started with a Foie Gras crumble; basically Foie Gras with a nut crust, with nice crusty bread.  Then came the steak on a creamy bed of mash potato.  So tasty.

Shanghai Circus World

Pictures courtesy of www.viator.com

We are sat in a dome.  It's dark with a dim spot light focused on the centre stage.  Then the drums start and a voice booms from the speakers to announce the start of the Circus Show.

The show was full of acts where the gymnasts and acrobats demonstrated their flexibility, twisting their bodies into shapes and positions that I didn't know were physically possible.  The strength and control that they had over their bodies was impressive.

There were the boys that jumped through hoops at various heights.  You could hear the intake of breath as they made jump after jump.

And then they took it one step further, by jumping around on what can only be described as a ferris wheel made out of hoops.  This act actually made me feel a little queasy.  There were a couple of times where a fraction of a second would have made a difference as to whether they remained on the wheel or plummeted to the ground.

One of my favourite acts of the night was the aerial silk performance.  It was a romantic act; you could feel the emotion as they flew around the stage, grasping on to each other as though as if their lives depended on it.

The last act of the night were the space motorcycles whizzing around in a spherical cage.  There were a total of 7 in at one time.  How they didn't hit each other was a miracle.  It was a great finale to the show.

Back in Shanghai

It's the onset of the Typhoon; heavy rain in 26 Degree Celsius heat.  Being a Manchester girl, where the saying goes 'if it's not raining then it's about to', a little rain wasn't going to stop me from going out and exploring.

First stop was Qibao (Chi-bao), a nearby water town.  A little village built up around a river with quaint, narrow streets, filled with stalls of people selling all sorts of food, clothing and shoes.  

It had a similar vibe to YangShuo, in terms of the hustle and bustle of trade and others offering leisurely boat rides along the river.

The second stop was Dapuqiao (Dap-ooh-chau), a favourite of mine in Shanghai.  This place was trendy with a capital T.    Little streets and alley ways, lit by sparkling lights and street signs.

Funky restaurants with traditional Chinese to Western cuisine.  Little boutiques selling anything from traditional teas to art to clothing; no haggling allowed here.

The third stop was to Jing'an Temple.  Temples were not common in China, due to the communist government endorsing atheism and not allowing religious freedom.

Considering this, Jing'an Temple was massive and quite ornate.  Golden roofs, gold painted statues and fixtures,  panels with wooden carvings and rooms housing massive Buddhas to pray in front of.

A lot of sightseeing accomplished today considering the torrential rain of the Typhoon.