Shanghai Odyssey

Made it to Shanghai China after more than a whole night of travel. Needless to say we arrived jetlagged. Here's an outline of the journey which turned into a bit of a mission.

1. Left for HongKong airport about 7pm. Took doubledecker bus - very scenic trip with a front row seat on the topdeck. Decided to go early to relax at the airport for a while. Arrive there about 8.30 I think. Very impressive airport.

2. Flight took off around midnight - about 3 hours of flying. I managed to squeeze in maybe 30mins sleep. Arrived in Seoul, Korea about 5am local time. Browsed the airport, Em took a nap. Korea seems very up to speed with technology - perhaps on a par with Japan (we shall see in a few weeks!), and the fashion sense is quite interesting.

3. Boarded flight for Shanghai 9am. 2 hour flight time. Arrived in China, checked through passport control and customs pretty quickly, checked out transport options to our hotel. Coach Bus turned out cheapest. We're headed for the city at about lunchtime.

4. Stood on the bus (was full) for maybe an hour. They dropped us off at the wrong place. ..there's tout taxi drivers waiting for us outside and we reckon they are in cahoots with the bus people who know where we want to go but give us no indication of our whereabouts...a note to other travellers, it helps to have a map ready before you arrive at your destination. Ours was buried in one of our backpacks. Not smart.

5. Off the bus, spot an entrance to the subway. No signage in English, no English at the ticket booth. Luckily the touchscreen ticket machines had English option - yay for technology! Worked out the layout and hopped on the train. Or should we say, wrestled our way onto the crowded train with pretty large and heavy backups on. Its a bunfight. Seems to be a pretty good underground here though.

6. Got off at the nearest stop to our hotel, I had to use Em (and bag) as battering ram. Out of the subway. street numbers at our street were at 750, and our hotel is number 37 so we opt for a taxi.

7. Find a taxi stand, fight for a taxi, get our bags in the boot, hop in, show the driver the map and address. She waves her hands and jabbers at us. There seems to be a problem. I point madly at the map, that doesnt work. I wave money, that doesnt work either. We get out 5 mins later and reclaim our bags. We jump in another taxi - same thing happens. We have no idea why they wouldnt take us. So we have to walk.

8. We walk for probably 45mins in what seems close to 40degC heat. Not as humid as Hanoi but hotter. Made all the worse of course by the houses we're carrying on our backs, and the lack of sleep. By this stage I'm really really hoping I have the address right, and that the hotel still exists considering I booked the room before we left NZ. I spot the sign a block away - phew.

9. We make it the hotel about 2.30pm. Much to our relief, the room is very good, very spacious, with comfortable beds. We sleep until 8pm.

The End.

or is it ?.....