Arrival:
Arrived in Shanghai with minimal fuss and no issues. Steve met me at the airport with a very nice bunch of red roses and we went home, unpacked while drinking champagne (start the way you mean to carry on!!) and then headed out to a local little restaurant which had great atmosphere. Not too far from us and down and an alley - full of expats. All the Westerners you don't see during the day came out to that restaurant for dinner it seems.
Day 1:
The alarm went off at 7am and we were in the gym by 7.15....ugh....but it was good to get into it and much later than when I used to hit the gym at home. :-)
Steve went to work and I went for a walk to find a particular Pilates place I'd read about which has the reformer beds. I knew it was close but couldn't find it - turns out its only a 2 min walk from the apartment. Cool!! Richard showed me around, including letting me watch a class with 3 women in it (max they take is 6 per class). It looked good so I will give it a try - I am booked in for a 1 on 1 class at midday tomorrow. Very exciting.
I came back to the apartment to find our usual maid cleaning the kitchen and another one passed out asleep on our couch - very unexpected and surprising. I'm not sure who was more shocked....me, the lady asleep or the usual maid!! And even more hilariously, she scurried into the kitchen and the two of them were whispering in Mandarin! Whispering!?!?!? PMSL. They could have shouted and it still would have meant nothing to me!! I don't know Mandarin and our usual maid knows this! lol
I met up with Steve for lunch and there must be something with people in the service industry over here - I saw another lady asleep in the cleaners cupboard of the toilets! Strange. Just sitting on an upside down bucket, slumped against the wall, one hand by her side and the other holding onto a mop.
Did some grocery shopping which is so much fun in China!! But this place at least had more recognizable foods than Carrefour which is meant to the big deal foreign shopping chain but its exceptionally confusing. After this I headed off for a manicure and pedicure which is so cheap here!! Not cheap enough to do it all the time but far cheaper than Melbourne for the odd bit of pampering.
Meandered home, relaxed on the balcony in the 39 degree heat and then we headed out to buy a Humidifier as the bedroom is so dry at night with the air conditioner going, which it has to do - so unbelievably hot - its great!! We chose a Greek Restaurant for dinner but their air conditioner was broken so we sat in front of a fan. Wasn't a long meal - too hot to stay for anything longer than an eat and run.
At 9.30pm it was still 35 degrees. It is a bit off putting though….its daylight by 4.30am so it feels like summer but then its getting dark by 6pm so daylight wise it feels like winter.
So that was day 1. Heat, shopping (yes, it was groceries but still out and about), surprises, pampering and nice dinner. Lets see what the rest of the days bring.
