Shanghai again!

Shanghai train station.

Sometimes it feels so surreal to be able to jump on a train and be in Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in the world, in less than an hour. It's great to be able to escape from 'real' China for a day or two and enjoy some western delights in the big smoke.

Amy and her box of treats from New Zealand. Dinner at Sam's friend's restaurant - yum!

We arrived at our hostel (the usual - why change when you find somewhere cheap and clean with lovely staff and a great atmosphere?!) after a quick detour to pick up Amy's NZ parcel and threw on our more sophisticated 'Shanghai' outfits before heading back into the city for a night out.

Final farewell to Kiki. Mmmmm, dessert!

Sam's friend was hosting us at his new restaurant, Lingo, and we were well looked after with a great selection of really nice wines to choose from and a very scrumptious looking menu. Many of us went for the duck with apple and mashed potato and were definitely not disappointed, yum! But the best was yet to come with the dessert menu - Kiki and I shared a tiramasu and chocolate fondant cake and it was simply SO good.....mmmmm, I love chocolate!

Lunch on the Element Fresh terrace.

It was a great day for a nap outside.

It was the final farewell for Kiki and it was so sad to see her leave. She was feeling a little apprehensive about heading back to Germany, which is only normal. We definitely live a fairly surreal lifestyle here and I can imagine that I would feel a little bit strange moving back to normality. We can only hope that Kiki hurries up and writes her diploma paper and finds a job that will bring her to China regularly! In the mean time, bring on a Europe trip for summer 2010!

And a great day to hang washing outside. Shanghai train station soft seat waiting lounge - why wait with the hordes?!

Because I was still feeling under the weather, I wasn't brave enough to go and meet Ashley for a night out - I definitely wasn't in any state to attempt to keep up with him for the night. So, it was back to the hostel for a relatively early night. My head was thanking me in the morning, as it was a beautiful sunny day outside and I didn't want to miss out on enjoying the warmth while it lasts. Carman's museli - yum!

Beautiful (and cheap!) flower shop near my apartment.

After running a couple of errands, Amy and I settled into our seats on the terrace at Element Fresh where we enjoyed fresh smoothies and a yummy lunch. We then ventured across to City Shop, where we found a farmers market just outside - something I didn't think I'd find in Shanghai at all. They were selling a great range of German breads, wines, cheeses etc. I was so excited to find Carman's museli in City Shop, that I ended up buying nearly all their stock - I simply love it so much, a small Australian (Melbourne I think) company that makes the healthiest and most natural museli out there - go and try it!

Lovely flower shop lady.

My new photo tree filled with photos from home.

It was then time to head home and I got home in time to go for a walk down the street to buy some fresh flowers for my apartment and have an enjoyable evening pottering around my apartment. I also got to chat to mum and dad which was great - I'm getting so excited about mum's visit, even though it is still 3 months away, I'm sure that time will fly!