I'm back.

The trip was a whole new experience. Something I truely enjoyed and for one, will never forget. I'll be posting what I wrote thru the days in Shanghai, along with any add comments. So stay tuned. Also my previous 2 posts, the former having completed while the latter still gotta work on.
First, there's homework to settle.

FROM THERE & BACK AGAIN



Well, my time to log in my shanghai adventure right here. 'Fasten your seat belts baby, cos Kansas is going bye bye'

30/09/2006 IT'S STILL A CRAZY IDEA

No one stopped me, or could. A few wished me luck as well. Well, here I am. Alone, one person in SHanghai. Ok, almost. I had a friend here too. It was a day of many titles. But I'll try to list it out and elaborate. Got to sleep soon to. So i'll be in point form.

Eve - The night b4 I was cramming info like tmr's the exam like that. And packing too. Slept at 3am in the end.

Day 1 - Dutchlady. Trip to the airport was ok.
- Customs confiscated my nailcutter, cos never check in. Brush wif the law, hehe.
-Sat next to chio bu. She's Dutch Chinese. Damn cute, 25, bday 01/08/1981. Saw it when was filling up the form. Spent 2wks HK, was in Shanghai, going back Shanghai. Helped her with the luggage, was the last we saw. Till fate permits.
Followed Huiyu's directions. Very helpful. Would have died by now if not for her. The bus was super squeezy. Cost 16RMB.
Super long trip. Talked to the guy next to me. He had invitational paddock tix!! Faintz... Took his name card. Mentioned something about setting an F1 school or something.
Alighted at Ren Ming Guang Chang. Traffic was horrendous. Horning, flashing...every ruleis broken here.
Reached hotel round 6pm.
Shocked by size, felt cheated but bopian. Met Huiyu at 7.30, had dinner near her hostel. Food not bad. Spicy got standard. Went Bund. Amazing...
Went Nanjing Road, gotta return.
Missed fireworks, maybe try tmr.
Did more homework for tmr. Blog.
Sleep.
SOMETHING NICE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN
(the word SHANGHAI can be found in it)

01/10/2006 "I Have A Dream...."
Awoke. 1/2 hour later than expected. Was kinda tired, or slightly pessimistic about the F1. I had 2 choices, either take a public tansport n buy the tickets there, or try my luck hopping on the free shuttle.
Took the free shuttle instead. When I reached the stadium, there were ppl selling tix there. Black market style. I bought the $780RMB one, as planned, from one guy. Didn't even bother to bargain. Just grab and joined the queue. There were hawkers everywhere, selling tix n merchandise. Pirated ones of course, but still able to pull off. Got myself a few caps when I reached the track. The trip from city to track is about an hour's ride. Seeing the circuit at first sight was like "I've made it". Now just make sure the tix weren't fake. It looked genuine. Wanted area E but got C (hairpin) instead. I had to walk 1/2 the track around to get there. Tried the BBQ goat's meat. $2 per stick. Some were half cooked. Oh well, spit out n throw loh.
The flags n shirts were tempting but no budget. Main aim was to get here. So bought caps only. By the time I found my seat, the cars just left the pit to go to the grid. The atmosphere is amazing. The chinese are true blue Ferrari fans. (pun intended) Only a few Kimi's and Alonso's. So I just went trigger happy onwards. There's a big screen at the hairpin along with a position board. Not easy keeping track of everything with the cars coming to your corner as well taking photos n video. Before you know it, it's over. Shumi won. Dream to see Shumi n to see him win.
After the race, walked to main stands to see how it feels, the grass patches, and the carnival at the main entrance. Really didn't feel like leaving, but sun was setting so grabbed any bus to city. Took one to Pudong. Took cab next to Bund but they closed the whole road. Had a plate of 'shui jiao' for $2RMB. Just enuf for a meal. Then a piece of fruit at $1RMB. Everyone was in the street. And hawking everywhere. Took photos, get into holiday mood. Walked to Nanjing Road, but so many people until no mood to check out anything. Just take pictures of the lights n streets. Take until outta batt. Grabbed a milkshake at Macs n rested b4 heading out to catch a cab back. Almost walked back I guessed, until an empty cab came along. So planned next day, blog n ready to rest for another long day.
I FELL IN LOVE.....WITH SHANGHAI.

02/10/2006 "Getting Down N Dirty"
Woke up slightly earlier today, Had a bit of a tight schedule, tht's if I can't walk fast enough.
Had breakfast at the KFC nearby to kick things off. Then took the morning walk to 'Wen Miao', the confucious temple. Walked thru the old Shanghai Streets. Small, narrow with low level buildings. Maple trees lined the street. But when I got to the temple, realise I had to pay. Since it wasn't in the budget, and I was kinda slightly off schedule, I hopped on a taxi to "Yu Yuan". Stopped at Fu You market. The whole place had the Old China look, very nice. Felt like in some 'Wu Xia Pian', but everyone in modern clothes. So I found the Temple of Gods first. Quite cool, very well maintained and all yellow gold. Intermittently there was rain, so used the umbrella, but got tired and used my jacket hood, cos it's just a drizzle.
After that, headed to the gardens. It's an amazing place, makes the gardens I visited in HK look small and simple. Explored the whole place, but when I wanted to get out, I got lost instead. Almost walked another round b4 I could find the right gate to reach "Jiu Qu Qiao". Well, it's real for one and walked the whole thing. It's freaking crowded. Almost gave up on finding the 'Xiao Long Bao' but a quick ask and it's like just there. Queued up for about 45 mins b4 I made my order. No crab meat though, for that got to go up the restaurant to eat, which is even more crowded. So just settled for 16 pieces (1 'long'). They really burst in your mouth. Skin is soft and smooth. After my 'lunch' standing up, I explored the whole place with the crowd. It was so crowded I didn't bother to shop. Although I wanted to get one of the handicrafts, but the person not around. So I walked and walked and walked towards the river to get a cab. Next stop, Jinmao Tower.
88 floors in 9 sec. Amazing. The view that greets you, just takes your breath away. Snapped photos like a machine gun. Wanted to post a letter but the prices are 'touristy'. So I snapped like crazy and it was raining. Waited for the rain to stop. Dozed off a bit. I think some people caught me cos they gave me the look. So then, bought a souvenir (had to, it was kinda formality). Went down and took more photos.
Headed to "Qi Pu Road", "He Nan Road". It was almost closing, Caught a few shops still open. But then found a complex with lots of stores selling clothes. Walked a bit b4 heading to the street again. Ended up at "Wu Cheng Road". Lots of street food(literally) both roadside and stalls. But it was also wet (due to rain) and dirty. Like Shenzhen.
After that, walk back to Bund to find the bookstore mentioned by Frommers. Only managed to find the Foreign Lang Bookstore but it closed. So walked passed the highway to get cab. By now my legs were dying.
Headed
back to hotel, checked out the supermarket next door b4 slacking in my room and consolidating stuff and planning tmr. Long day tmr and it's back to Earth.
'CAN YOU HELP ME TAKE A PHOTO' ( ENGLISH/CHINESE)

03/10/2006 "Sunrise at the Bund"
Woke up at like 5.30am to catch a cab to the Bund to catch the morning sunrise over there. The scenary was lovely. If you thought the night scenary was nice, the day was on par on that. You know those classic shots of the Bund at sunrise with the old folks doing their morning exercise? I saw it and more. There's were ppl flying kites and folk dancing. Really relaxing to just see them spend their time away this way. It's really called retirement. Took more photos as usual, paused to catch a breather after all the past few days and to take one final look at Shanghai before I leave. Had a quick breakfast along the way, and headed back to the hotel to prepare to check out. I had decided to have lunch at the airport and took my time to hop on the flight back. Wanted to take the Maglev to the airport but cost-wise it wasn't so gd. So settled for a cab all the way to the airport. Felt it was kinda ex, but bopian lah, use up the money anyway.
When I reached the airport, I realised there wasn't even Macdonald's. So I had no choice but to settle for those weird restaurants which charge normal food at high prices. Well, their airport certainly has to have improvement. I also almost couldn't find my gate too, but I had time to walk up and down all the gates to finally find it. So, the rest of the flight was uneventful. Reached HK soil at the evening. Went to Festival Walk KFC to have a meal b4 heading back hall. Unpacked a bit, report home that I'm safe back in HK and prepare for the next school day.
FROM THERE AND BACK AGAIN.

There you have it, taken from my logs I wrote every night when I was in Shanghai. That's y some parts were written in short phrases.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE