Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai tired and emotionally drained.  We had a 5am wake up call in Athens, 5.30am left for airport, 8.30am left Athens for Heathrow. The flight was 4 hours but with time differences we arrived at Heathrow at 10.30am to be met by Michelle and Nathan B who had come to see us and help us get through a 5 hour stopover before our flight to Shanghai. It was great to see the kids again but hard having to part knowing it would be some time before we would see them again.  However they are all well and happy and having such a great time seeing as much as they can.  Their experiences will last them a lifetime and I am very envious.

We left Heathrow at 3.30pm and after a 11.50  hour flight arrived in Shanghai at 10.00am the next day.  We flew Virgin Atlantic for this section of our travel and they were an excellent air line.  Got the full pack of give aways containing socks, eye mask, toothbrush and paste and a pen whereas Air NZ gave us nothing even on our 24 hour flight from NZ to London.  I did get a toothbrush and some paste when I asked for one but I noticed there was only a couple of brushes to give out.  Food on Virgin was also very tasty, I thought better than our big Air NZ flight but then on our flight from Shanghai to Auckland with Air NZ the food would have been the best we had.

We were met by our guide Maria (a Chinese lady of indeterminate age) who was to be our guide for the next four days and Mr (sounded like shit) who was our driver. First impressions of Shanghai driving in from the airport were that it was a very vast yet clean city. 23 million people live in Shanghai so once again like Istanbul lots of multi story apartment buildings for housing.  Our hotel, The Bund Riverside, was not as the name suggests by the Bund River but certainly not far from it and we could see it from our room on the 16th floor.

Window seat in our Hotel Room

Views from our room.  This is not The Bund River but a subsidary

After being dropped at our hotel around mid day the rest of that day was free time. We were not far from a main shopping street where there were lots of "Western" shops ie Zara, Espirit, Lacoste etc in big shopping malls.  We made our way here through side streets which is where we saw the seedier side of Shanghai. We lunched and had a look around, headed back to the hotel for a rest and then out again for our dinner. We got a couple of Chinese dishes from a restaurant in one of the malls as weren't game to try some of the more "authentic" take aways.  

Our guide arranged to pick us up in the hotel lobby at 9.30am the next morning.  As this was late for us we didn't bother setting an alarm as we were sure we would awaken hours earlier.  However we slept in until 8.45am, unheard of for Pete, so it was a quick scramble for showers and breakfast.  The day started with a tour of Yu Gardens in the Old China part of Shanghai. It is a traditional Chinese garden with many Pavilions linked by corridors and bridges over ponds.

A Pavilion in Yu Gardens

Yu Gardens

Bridge of 9 turns -evil spirits have problems with corners and therefore cannot follow you

After the gardens we were taken to a shop for a traditional tea ceremony.  We tried several teas but of course the real reason we were there was to BUY the tea and cups etc.  We did get some green tea and paid 100 yuan for it, the same amount in the shop in our hotel lobby was 30 yuan! Difference of NZ$20 as opposed to NZ$6.  Next stop was for lunch which was in a very nice restaurant and as lunches for our guided days were all included in the cost of our tour, we were bought out the food and had a choice of drinks. BUT there is always a catch.  This restaurant was right next door to (and obviously part of the business) a Pearl and Jade factory.  We were shown how freshwater and sea water pearls are grown with a couple of oysters being opened in front of us, this was interesting, but then it was onto the selling. Not only do they try to sell you something but also something for the daughters.  I said to Pete once we got out for goodness sake from now on we have no children if we're asked.  Sorry Mich and Al nothing for you. Next we were taken to the Shanghai Museum which is in a modern well set out building.  We were given a couple of hours to wander through this ourselves which was great as we could spend time at things we were interested in.  There special display  for a couple of months was "Maori" with everything on display from the Otago Museum.  By now it was raining and our next stop was a walk beside the Bund River which would have been great in fine weather but was not very pleasant in the pouring rain.  Our guide was not to be deterred though and still prattled on about this building and that building in great depth.  Pete was on the verge of telling her we had had enough when eventually she called for the driver to pick us up.

Jasmine Tea

Beautiful Ming Plate

We had a couple of hours to have our dinner and then we were being picked up at 7.30pm to be taken on a night cruise of the Bund River to see all the buildings lit up.  This is obviously "the thing to do" when in Shanghai as there were several boats doing about three trips a night.  We certainly enjoyed the evening. However it was somewhat interrupted as we ourselves experienced a little of what being famous must feel like.  We were the only Europeans on our boat and as our guide later explained a lot of the Chinese on board would be from areas that aren't freely accessible to Europeans and they would not have seen any before.  Hence we kept getting asked to be photographed with them or with their children.  If they didn't actually ask to be photographed with us they would take our photos when we were just standing looking at the sights and you could feel them watching us and talking about us.  Really weird.  

Even the boats are lit up

Shanghai by night

Our last full day in Shanghai started with an hour trip out of town to Zhujiajiao which is an ancient water town with a history of more than 1700 years. It is known as the Venice of Asia.  This was the only place where we had to use squat toilets! To start with we were shown another traditional Chinese garden but on a much smaller scale than Yu Gardens and nowhere near as impressive.  Quite ho hum. We were then taken on a walk around the town and taken to lunch.  I was a bit worried as this area was fairly "uncivilised". The restaurant was one of the better eating establishments and once again we were given a couple of dishes with no choosing by us.  The traditional pork one which was on a lot of stalls we passed was more fat than meat.  We were then let loose to wander around and meet our guide 45 minutes later.  I didn't like this area, felt uncomfortable, with shop holders trying to intice us to buy.  We made our way to the boats and got a ride back to our meeting place.  This was the best  part of the day.

Canal boat

Views of the canals

My only regret of the day was that I did not buy some of these little turtles and let them go

Our boatmen kept insisting he take our photo, he had amazing sign language skills.

The last stop of the day was at a Silk Factory where we were shown the process of harvesting and spinning silk (we had seen this at the carpet factory in Turkey). Then of course, yes you guessed it, the hard sell. The sales lady in this shop was particularly obnoxious so there was no way I was going to buy anything.  I must admit the silk duvet inners were exceptional value at NZ $120.  For our last night we decided to shout ourselves a meal at the hotel to use up the yuan we had left.  We chose the Western restaurant over the Asian one.

Shanghai was certainly somewhere different to visit, although I was more than ready to leave.  Our guide was lovely but she has obviously never been anywhere else and is so proud of Shanghai.  She needs to get out and see the rest of the world.

e.g Behind this netting is what our guide proudly told us was a golf course! More like a very small driving range.

Stunning Santorini

We travelled from Mykonos to Santorini on Friday after waiting for 1 hour in the blazing sun on the wharf.  The ferry was running late due to rough seas.  The trip over was a bit bumpy and rocky which didn't worry Pete and I but a few people were sick or complaining of feeling unwell.  All added to the fun really. 

Santorini is just as you see it in the photos (obviously!).  From our hotel you can see the sea on both sides of the Island.  Coming in on the ferry you see the steep side of the island and the towns are dotted along the top ridge.  Quite an amazing sight.  Our hotel is a five minute walk to the main town of Thira where we caught a bus from yesterday to the sea side town of Kamari.  Written up as having coarse black sand, yeah right, really it was a stoney beach.  This could be a new description for Napier, and the waves were even dumping in like Napier.

Kamari Beach

The swimming beaches at Mykonos were just like Lake Taupo, hardly a ripple on them, and really sandy.   Anyway Kamari still covered in deck chairs and sun umbrellas that of course you could hire for the day.  Even at 10 in morning some people had staked their claim.  Kamari is on the side of the Island that you don't see when coming in by ferry which doesn't have the steep inclines up from the beach. Back in Thira we decided to walk the Caldera a 3 km walk from town centre to the highest point of Thira.  Absolutely amazing views but by this time it was early afternoon so very hot.  Also of course had to walk 3kms back didn't we.  I'm sure normal people would have got a bus.  Then because that wasn't enough hard work, in the evening we walked down to the old port, hundreds and hundreds of steps and then got a donkey ride back up.  Lot of fun but a bit scary when the donkey just starts walking and you have no reins or anything to control it with (and they don't understand English!)  

On the Caldera walk

View of the cruise ships at Thira from the Caldera walk

Another view on Caldera walk which shows how high up we were

So many photo opportunities

The donkey ride

Today we have caught another bus to Oia (pronounced e a) which is right on the end of the island and was devasted by an earthquake in 1956.  With the rebuilding power supply went underground so amazing photos with no power lines.   There as lots of artists shops (and souvenirs) as well as lots of photo opportunities.  Also had to have what they called a cup of coffee in a cafe just so we could admire the amazing views.

At the Cafe

Views from Oia

Thira has lots of narrow winding streets with all sorts of shops and many hours could be wasted just wandering among them.  Some places one got to browse freely but in a lot of places as soon as you walked in the door someone was tailing you giving you the sales talk.  Nowhere near as bad as Turkey though.  


A great week of sun, relaxation and stunning views.  We were very sorry to leave these magical islands and head back to Athens to start our homeward journey.  Once again the ferry was running an hour late and lost another hour on the four hour journey to Athens so by the time we got to our hotel it was 6.30pm. Unfortunately no chance for sight seeing as we had a 5.00am wake up call next morning for our flight to Heathrow.

Interestingly, our thoughts had been that maybe we should have seen more of the Greek Islands as we had enjoyed the two we did stay on.  However on the ferry to Athens we met an Australian family, Mother and her adult children, and they had done 4 islands in 10 days but were saying that they felt they would have been better to have done less islands and stayed longer on the ones they did. They said after a while they all seemed the same.

Gorgeous Greece

It is great to be in Mykonos and to be here for 3 nights.  A chance to recharge the batteries. We've been getting up earlier than if we were going to work!!!  6.00am Monday to get to Istanbul airport to fly to Athens, 5.45am today (Tuesday) for our pick up to get us to the ferry to here.  And are we lucky to be here,  CRAZY Turkish and Greek drivers.  Have suffered 2 Greek drivers today on both the port runs.  Mykonos has narrow streets and lots of traffic with young ones on scooters (no helmets) and seemingly  no road rules.  Pete and I have mastered yet another Metro, In Athens yesterday we got ourselves from our hotel to the Acropolis and back on the underground Metro - you would have been proud of us Michelle.  Acropolis was awesome (and damn hot- went through bottles of water) it's one of those landmarks that makes you think "yes I'm here"- like the Eiffel Tower in France, the Leaning Tower of Pisa etc. Unfortunately yesterday was Santa Maria something or rather day so holiday and everything was closed (read SHOPS) but the Acropolis was free for the day - Bonus.  We didn't get to our hotel until around 1.30pm so only got to see Acropolis. Had drinks and tea at rooftop bar of hotel which had a view of Acropolis. Surreal when it was lit up later on.

The Acropolis

Mykonos is beautiful, we are just a little way from town and a short walk to a swimming beach.  We caught the bus to town today which took about 10 minutes.  We're getting very good at this public transport.

Still have to buy water as not drinkable from taps in Greece either.  It would have been an interesting exercise to keep track of the costs of water in and water out!!  Although in this heat not a lot is getting completely through the system if you get my drift!

Above entries were taken from emails sent at the time. We spent our three days wandering the narrow streets through the town centre in search of famous landmarks and walking the coastline to different bays.  It had been our intention to get a boat to Paradise and Super Paradise Beach but when we realised that on our walk the previous morning we had only been one bay away from Paradise Beach we decided to walk to it the next day.  Every night there would be super yachts anchored out in the Bays.

Windmills on Mykonos

This part of Mykonos is known as Little Venice

Looking back at Swimming Beach close to our Hotel

These little churches dotted all over Mykonos