FRIENDS to STAY in SHANGHAI

I have had visitors staying with me for the last two weeks and as usual when they leave the place seems so quiet. With my husband being out of town it's even quieter. It was a wonderful two weeks and I really enjoyed not only showing them around Shanghai, but also going along on their trip to Beijing. It's amazing how showing people around opens up your eyes again to the city. I guess having been here for over five years now the sights and sounds which were all so exciting in the beginning have become normal to me. I'd forgotten how scary it is crossing the roads with traffic coming in all directions, and of course now the weird and wonderful stuff on sale in the supermarkets don't even register with me any more. But with friends seeing it for the first time it brought those early days all back.

A trip to the supermarket opened their eyes. Not everyday you see snakes, turtles and frogs, all alive, on sale. Something tells me they don't particularly want to see it again.

Having the second tallest building in the world right outside the window took their breath away and they were soon loving wandering through "my Shanghai",  getting a glimpse of my life.

Strolling along the river on what was a beautiful sunny day soon I was feeling as if I was on holiday too. Shanghai is a really amazing city to visit, and to have been fortunate enough to have been able to live here is quite unbelievable. I have been so lucky and so happy to have been able to share it with family and friends who have visited. It always good to see people from home.

The food of course is a huge part of life here and after initial fears about using chopsticks (kuaizi) they soon got the hang of it and tried all that was on offer. We ate all kinds of foods, not only Chinese and they enjoyed it all I'm glad to say.

Empty plates testifying to the fact that the Chinese cuisine was embraced.

Our trip to Beijing started off at a very busy and mesmerising train station. We were catching the Bullet train which would whisk us all the way to Beijing in five hours at speeds of 310km per hour!. It left on time and arrived on time. Soon we were enjoying all Beijing had to offer. The Great Wall was first on the agenda. It's about 3 hours outside of the city but well worth the trip. It didn't fail to impress. A cablecar ride up and down made it not quite a strenuous as it might have been. I cannot in my wildest imagination think about how they built it.

Of course The Forbidden City and Tian'anmen are other attractions you can't miss when in Beijing and we were certainly not going to miss them.

A trip to the night market and a search for a Peking Duck restaurant was next on our agenda. Turned out it was just around the corner from the hotel! We wandered along the market and decided against eating anything that looked remotely like an insect, and certainly nothing that was still wriggling around. We enjoyed all the sights and smells of this bustling street.

Finally we arrived at the restaurant and were able tho enjoy delicious duck, carved at the table, and managed it all with chopsticks. 

It was a great trip and I was so happy to have gone along.

I think I can say that my friends enjoyed their China trip and they certainly embraced all that was on offer. I certainly enjoyed sharing a little part of my life with them. 

However started to think they were getting a bit too comfortable and feeling to much at home LOL!

My time in Shanghai is now beginning to run out. I'll be home next year, so in the months I have left I must make the best of it. It is a wonderful life here, although most certainly not a normal life. I  always knew it was temporary but that only made me embrace it even more. I'm sure there more fun and strange adventures still to come. I wait with baited breath.