It's taken me a while to get over the jet laggy feeling and decide how to present the trip. We were away for four weeks so there is a lot to tell....
Before we went there were two minor disasters to contend with. The first was a lovely, throbbing abcess on one of my teeth! It appeared during the weekend before we were due to fly to China - not good timing! I didn't dare ignore it so on Monday morning I phoned the dentist, luckily I got an emergency appointment and the offending tooth was temporarily drilled and filled. But it was still quite painful and infected so I left the country clutching 7 days of antibiotics - just in case!
The second problem was more mundane and really my own fault. When I started packing I noticed that my old trainers were almost in pieces and in need of replacement. At the last minute I ordered a pair of Keens (which I'd had my eye on for a while anyway!) anticipating that I would need to be able to walk comfortably while we were away. On Monday the parcel arrived - such good service I thought - opened the box and discovered a completely random pair of men's brown shoes! I was straight on the phone to Taunton Leisure - oops! muddled the orders - oops! (again) no more of the ones I had ordered in stock - full refund on its way! So I took the old trainers instead.
The flight was going to be the longest I had ever been on - so I was apprehensive and packed a few items to improve my chances of getting through it comfortably. In a little stuff bag I put spare warm socks, spare undies, some deodorant wipes, ordinary 'wet' wipes, my anti-dry eye drops, a lip salve, and a small bottle of mouthwash (which had to go in its own see-through bag along with some moisturiser). My chosen book (The Ascent of Rum Doodle), my i-pod (with all episodes of Hitchhikers Guide on it) and a Sudoku booklet.
Actually the flight was fine even though we didn't get much sleep. There was no way I could move very much from my 'middle' seat so everything in my rucksack just stayed there for the whole trip! The overhead lockers were so full my things were unreachable. I watched rather a lot of films.
The best part of the whole journey was a tub of ice-cream at what to us was 3 o'clock in the morning. Bizarre but very welcome.......
We were met at the airport by my daughter and little Maree, there were lots of hugs and smiles - and then whisked at an alarming speed into the centre of Shanghai. After a little walk around, a cup of Starbucks coffee, we were finally unpacking our bags in the guest bedroom of Katy and Glen's smart flat on the 46th floor of the huge apartment block where they now live. There couldn't be a greater contrast to their house in the woods in Yorkshire.
{First photo of Shanghai - the walkway beside the Oriental Pearl Tower}
I had planned to blog everyday but it didn't happen, I'm afraid. Internet connections are a little fragile and blogging is disapproved of by the Chinese authorities so I decided to bring it all home instead.
{View from the lounge window over the River}
{View from the dining room at the urban forest of tall towers}
We delivered all the 'goodies' from our baggage, hung up a few clothes, and after a meal in the dining room overlooking all those skyscrapers, we fell into bed. What pleasure there was in being horizontal at last!
[btw - ni hao is Good Morning, or Hello - in Mandarin.]
2 comments:
I was never very good at languages!
I thought you made a good job of it!
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