Chilling in Shanghai

So, we have been in Shanghai chillin' in my friends apartment and watching knock off DVD's... in English... for the last few day. It's been such a treat to sit still for a few days and not to think about moving on to the next fantastic place. For all you friends out there who think that travelling is one big holiday, think again, it's hard work to keep moving on and absorbing so many great things.

Shanghai is a great place to take a break, second maybe to a beach somewhere with cocktails and beautiful sunsets... ahhh... Shanghai is a big modern city which is pretty easy for us Westerners, the easiest city that I've come across so far. It's easier to cross the road, get tickets for the underground, get cabs, order food in restaurants... We even had a steak dinner the other night, and Johan tells me that it was very good!

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel
Not much sightseeing though... yesterday we decided to venture out to the infamous Bund of Shanghai . I didn't really know too much about the Bund until I read about it in the guidebook. Apparantly the Bund is the old colonial part of Shanghai which was built up by Europeans who came to settle and do business in Shanghai about 100 years ago - so not that old and it's all down by the river. We went down to the south side of the river to get a good view of the Bund then headed towards the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel to cross the river (click the link to see my review). What a waste of 40 RMB.

Top tip: Take a cab, boat, metro, walk across the river but don't do the tunnel! All it is is a ride in a pod under the river through a really lame lightshow. That's it.

Suzhou
Today we headed out of town to Suzhou, a town about 40 minutes (fast train) out of Shanghai. It was pretty nice, it felt much smaller than most of the other cities that we've been to. We spent some time in a garden called the Humble Administrators Garden. A very odd name for a beautiful garden which is also a Unesco protected site. It was a pretty cool garden with funky rock gardens, lots of water and little pagodas. I liked it.

Afterwards we we caught a little boat and rode through the canals. Our guide realised that he couldn't speak to us and give us the usual speal so he resorted to singing to us. It was a little surreal, but lovely.