Even after a late dinner I woke up pretty hungry. I just have no idea I have been eating a lot on this trip. My goal was that I would be able to lose weight considering all the walking I would be doing, but it feels like either I am the same weight or must have gained a few pounds. Oh I am sure those will shed away as soon as I do running around my kids, whom I missing a lot since the call last night. My son for the first time said a full sentence and that was pretty amazing. Humera tell’s me Zaina on the other hand has been missing me a lot and has been throwing tantrums at everyone, hopefully I will be able to be back with them soon.
Surprise surprise it was very hot and humid in Shanghai, I don’t think I am going to switch the AC off in my room at all, sorry Shak, probably will rack up the electric bill. I am sure Tanweer can tell you stories about me and my AC :-). Johan was still asleep guess he was still pretty tired from last night. He finally woke up around 1:00 pm. By then I was all showered and ready to head out and we decided to start my day by visiting Shanghai Old Town and the temple there. There was a famous restaurant around the temple known for their Crab dumplings and that would be our stop for lunch. Once we reached old town it was buzzing with tourists and being a Sunday, Johan advised that I wait till Monday to do any shopping as the price drops when there are no tourists around. So after a quick photo shoot around the temple we made our way to the restaurant, which amazingly had 4 floors or levels to eat. Johan’s friend Mary Lou joined us for lunch here. What was so interesting about this place was that person on the ground floor got the same crab dumplings but he paid a surcharge of 8 RMB to stand in line and buy food, where as we sat on the 4th floor in AC and served by waiters the surcharge was 60 RMB per person, so basically they catered at all levels. The food I must say was pretty amazing, from the crab dumplings, to the shrimp patties and the crab ovaries soup (I was hesitant to try it first….) but it was delicious.
One cannot be in Asia and not get some custom suits made, so we headed to Dave’s. This guy apparently had spent time making suits in England and claims to have made some for the royal family, at least on the poster in his shop. I was just thinking what a time to come for sizing after having a great meal. So after a quick sizing, they asked me to come for a try for my suit the next day, within 24 hrs, and that was just for a try, the suit would be mailed to me in US, before I got back. From there we made our way to Xinag Yang market (fake galore). Wow!!! I mean you name it and you get it here, from Bretling & Rolex watches, to Adidas & Nike clothing and all sorts of back packs and you name it…all there. This place is shutting down at the end of the month, so it was CROWDED. Full of tourists and locals shopping to till their hearts were content and pockets empty (literally as well, you got be very careful of pick pocketers…). I decided to have some fun here, the best way to get a unit price of a watch is to ask to buy in bulk. So we started with this guy who was trying to sell us watch on the street, but they don’t actually carry them. The idea is to get your interest and then walk to you a small shop where they hold their watches. Anyway having agreed to walk with them he asked me how many did I need and I told him 20,000 (yeah….lol). His eyes almost popped out….and he was like “you joke me”….and with a serious face I said, no, I want to see one for quality and unit price and then we can do a deal. Well after much negotiation I was able to bring him down to 80 RMB vs. 300 RMB from where he started. Now how do I get out of this….anyway so I asked for a watch and started to muck around on the quality issue and wasable to wiggle myself out of his shop, he came running after me and you can see a picture of him and his partner in the slide show :-).
Well it started to rain (monsoon season…) so Johan and I decided to take a taxi and go to the DVD/CD shop to pick up some movies from there, but that was not before we stopped while walking out to get a gym bag for him and we picked up some Adidas shorts …(these look real..trust me…). Having slept through Divinci Code (saw it the day after moving back from Ireland…) the first time. So I picked up the DVD hoping to watch it in one of the flights. Pretty beat, we decided to make it back to the apartment to chill for a while and made plans for the night to go for dinner to “Thousand and One Nights” and then to end the day with some massage at “Dragon Fly”.
Without any idea on what to expect at the dinner, I was really impressed with whole atmosphere and was also surprised to see “Chinese Belly Dancers’’ yeah you read that correctly. I mean I have seen Belly Dancers at many restaurants around the world, but not had seen a Chinese one, well I guess I have that check marked now. Ah….the food was just delicious nice juicy kebabs and lamp chops…hmmmm and excellent company.
After dinner Ying, Johan and I headed to Dragon Fly, where we all had massages. If you can only come to China and do one thing, then it is to get a massage done everyday. It is cheap and really good. I opted for an Oil massage, but I don’t think I would do it again, as I felt in the hr that I paid for, the lady spent more time taking off the oil then actually applying it.
It was almost midnight when we got back to the apartment and it was time for England vs. Ecuador. I think I crashed on the couch after I saw Beckham score on a beautiful curl on a free kick. I was told later I did not miss much as that was the final score of the match. It had been a long day and I was really looking forward to see what was in store for me on Monday.
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