Shanghai, former French Concession area Friday 11th May 2018

Woke a bit early, about 4.30am (it was 6am at home). We were down at breakfast at 7am, there was so much variety. Greg had a Chinese breakfast. Congee, dumplings, noodles, fried rice, veggie steamed roll and a baked bun.  I had cereal. Was all very nice.

After getting a map from the concierge and some tips, we headed out for the morning around 9am.  An architect that we are working with at home on the apartment block suggested we go to the former French Concession area.  I had done some research and found a self guided walk of the area.  The doorman called a taxi for us and told the driver where we wanted to go, 20 minutes and $6.00 later we were there.

Was a gorgeous area, lots of lovely little shops, hole in the wall eateries and beautiful flowers and trees along the pavement.  We were looking for a little hole in the wall eatery that made radish cakes (pastries) that were evidently delicious. But try as we did we could not find it, instead enjoying the sites along the way.

Next we headed to Fuxing Park. Was a beautiful garden, there were hundreds of people dancing in several areas to beautiful music. Their happiness and joy was infectious.   We saw an elderly woman stretching, was impressive how flexible she was.  Her friend was sat on the bench near her shelling broad beans. There were people everywhere enjoying the garden.  There was not another white person to be seen.  We were in our element.

From here we headed towards Tianzifang, Plane trees line the streets, beautiful buildings, it is a gorgeous area to walk around.  In Tianzifang there are a maze of tiny alleys crammed with more than 200 boutique shops. Was like an upmarket market. We enjoyed wandering around here.

Then we were both keen for a bowl of Langzhou lamian noodles. We headed towards the corner of Jianguo West and Shaanxi South Rd and were in luck this time, we found the tiny restaurant.  There was a young guy inside making perfectly pulled noodles, then passing them out the window where they were boiled in a broth of beef, herbs and spring onions (similar to pho) it was such a simple dish, but it was perfect. We ordered a bowl it was 10RMB (about $2.00), it fed us both. We sat inside with about 20 others sharing little tables. They were doing good business.  So glad we found it, the flavour was outstanding.

Langzhou lamian noodles

We wandered a bit further, then hailed a taxi in the street, gave the driver the card from the hotel.  He pulled out his magnifying glass to read the card, then nodded consent to take us back to our hotel.

We spent a few hours relaxing, I fitted in a Nanna nap, (still trying to catch up on sleep) while Greg walked to a shop 10 minutes away to get us a Chinese SIM card for our phones.

About 2pm we went downstairs and had a delicious High Tea was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours chatting and relaxing while drinking tea.

Around 5.30pm we went downstairs and met Greg’s friend Glenys from school days. She is  living in Shanghai currently with her husband.  They both work her and hope to stay for a few years.   Was lovely meeting Glenyce.   She took us to The House of Roosevelt sky bar on the Bund for drinks.  The view was amazing, very impressive.   I really enjoyed soaking up the view and chatting to Glenys.

View from the House of Roosevelt sky bar

Love Shanghai, looking forward to discovering more tomorrow.

We got back to our hotel around 9.30pm.  Pam, who we met last night was there with her friend who had just left her purse in a taxi, along with all of her money and passport.  How to ruin a perfectly good day!  Hope she manages to get it back.