Our departure from Japan for our flight to Shanghai was marked by a challenging airport check-in. We barely evaded having to pay a $230 cdn surcharge for our bicycle box as it was deemed 3kg overweight. We managed to fix the situation by quickly redistributing some of our bicycle parts into our duffel bags.
In Shanghai, we made the wise decision of opening a local Chinese bank account with the help of family members. In order to fully embrace China’s cash-less society, we purchased local SIM cards providing us with local Chinese phone numbers. Armed with our Chinese data service, we were able to register with the Alipay payment platform. Jenny linked her Alipay mobile app to her local bank account while I linked mine to a credit card from Canada. Jenny quickly got familiar with various essential Chinese mobile apps – from payment platforms, to hailing a car ride, to hotel reservation app, etc. Our visit to Shanghai included several long-awaited gatherings/reunions by Jenny: extended family (11 persons), elementary schoolmates (10 persons), old neighbors (16 persons) and next neighborhood good friend . Needless to say that with all the restaurant feasts we had, we probably gained all the weight we had lost during our cycling.
The temperature in Shanghai was slightly better than in Tokyo but we still struggled with any outdoor activities. All in all, we were impressed by the changes we noticed in Shanghai since our last visit in 2018. Surprisingly, Shanghai has become one of the greenest city we have encountered. The city planners have done an amazing job at overseeing the planting of shrubs, trees and flower beds everywhere. Furthermore, the crazy driving habits we had experienced in 2018 appeared to be a thing of the past as folks were now actually using their turn signals consistently and driving more cautiously. Even more surprisingly, we estimated that 50-60% of the cars on the road appeared to be new energy vehicles while the scooters were 100% electric. Hence, the roads were surprisingly quiet. New elevated highways were in construction everywhere as more and more cars were showing up on the road. On the downside, the China’s Great firewall frustrated us on a daily basis. As foreigners, our common English application tool set for navigation, hotel bookings and social media were blocked, hence we had to revert to use a VPN or eSIM to access them. Jenny greatly facilitated our interactions everywhere given her native language.
As we wrapped up this trip, it is without hesitation that we can say we truly enjoyed our cycling in South Korea and Japan – even though at times we struggled with language barriers at restaurants or when dealing with Japanese hotel reservation websites. Probably the least enjoyable part of our trip was the sightseeing activities in large cities across South Korea, Japan, Italy and China. We often felt drained by these visits as we were constantly confronted to an exceptionally large number of visitors. Finally, the high temperature and humidity levels encountered in the latter part of our trip (Tokyo and Shanghai visits) were especially taxing on us.
Although we both did not miss our home per se we did look forward to a more sedentary life style – at least for a while. Our intense travel desire which emerged after the Covid-19 period has clearly dissipated. We also hope the air fare prices and luggage limitations will eventually re-adjust themselves closer to those that existed prior to the Covid era. In the meantime, we plan to follow-up on some house maintenance projects which we had put on the back burner for travel purpose. Strangely, on return home, part of our luggage and bicycle box failed to follow us to Ottawa as they got held up during our Montreal airport connection.
Some trip statistics:
| Topic | Value |
|---|---|
| # of trip days: | 123 |
| # of tandem flat tires: | 1 |
| # of tandem mechanical issues: | 0 |
| South Korea | Japan | Italy (Rome) | China (Shanghai) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of total days | 28 | 72 | 9 | 13 |
| # of cycling days | 20 | 43 | – | – |
| # of rest days | 8 | 29 | – | – |
| # kms covered | 936 | 1773 | – | – |
| South Korea | Japan | Italy (Rome) | China (Shanghai) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg accommodation cost | $94.84 (28 nights in hotels) | $105.42 (71 nights in hotels) | $320.81 5 of 8 nights in hotels) | $88.34 (11 of 12 nights in hotels) |
| Flight cost ($9,565.60) | $2,978.74 (Ottawa -> Seoul) | $1,054.46 (Tokyo -> Shanghai) | $2,372.40 (Osaka/Rome -return) | $3,160.00 (Shanghai -> Ottawa) |
2024.07.23 – [CN] Narita ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
After our last hotel breakfast in Japan, we retrieved our bicycle box from the hotel reception and boarded the 10am airport shuttle bus. As we made our way to the Terminal 1 international departure, we started to be concerned as we could not see our flight schedule on the airport’s display. After our inquiries, we learned that our flight was departing from the North wing of Terminal 1 – not the South wing. We were pleased to see the China Southern Airline’s check-in counter was already open. We queued behind other guests until we showed up at the counter. We were told that they were not checking in passengers for Shanghai until 1 hour later – hence we moved to a different waiting queue. We were glad when the check-in counter finally opened at 11:50am. We had the misfortune of checking in with a trainee agent being supervised. To our surprise, the supervising agent took out their measuring tape and measured all the sides of our bicycle box, we were a bit concerned about our box dimension as each airline seemed to have different limit of bicycle box size. As our boarding passes and luggage stickers had been printed, we thought that we were in the clear until the supervisor agent presented us with a surcharge fee of $230cdn for a 3kg overweight bicycle box. We argued the surcharge briefly – especially that our three other checked-in luggage were all well under the 23kg limit. We finally told the supervisor that we would move a couple of bicycle parts from the box into our duffel bags. We quickly moved aside and opened the bicycle box and relocated a couple of saddle posts and handlebars. We re-tapped the box and finally managed to check-in all of our 4 pieces of luggage including the bicycle box without incurring any extra fees. This latest event reminded us how inflexible Japanese workers were in regards to rules and regulations. We wasted so much of our time and that of the check-in agents while holding back other passengers in the queue. We felt relieved only once we made it through the security screening – where our tiny (less than 1 cm) tape cutter was confiscated. We spent our remaining Japanese currency ($170 cdn) on snacks from one of the duty free stores. Thankfully the rest of our flight to Shanghai was uneventful. Once our plane landed at the Shanghai’s Pudong airport, it parked on the tarmac and the passengers were loaded on buses for a short ride to the terminal building. The immigration procedures were quite efficient. We were pleased that all of our luggage including our bicycle box had made it to Shanghai. Given our short stay in town (12 days), we had decided not to bother transporting our bicycle box to Jenny’s brother’s place. Instead we opted to leave the box at the airport’s luggage storage facility. Thankfully Jenny had bought an eSIM for China, hence she was able to use her Alipay app for the luggage storage deposit. Later, we looked into purchasing a local SIM at the airport but we gave up on it after finding the available service plans fairly expensive. As our phones were not quite setup to use the car sharing app, we took the offer of a lady at the airport offering cheap car rides. After a bit of negotiations with a few drivers, we got on the road to Jingyu’s (Jenny’s brother) place – a good hour away – for $50cdn. Upon our arrival at our destination, we were warmly welcomed by everyone. After a good home cooked meal and a tour of their new flat, we were setup for the night.
2024.07.24 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
Jenny did not sleep well in her shared room. Hence, she had looked up during the night for an alternate accommodation nearby. After breakfast, we set out with our nephew’s wife to visit a bank in order to open a local bank account. Based on our last visit to China in 2018, we were determined that opening a local bank account was a “must” in order to survive in China’s cash-less society. Although the bank we visited was a good distance away, it was worth it as our nephew’s friend worked there and she had promised to help us open an account. We realized that the process of opening a local bank account was quite involved. Hence a lot of bank offices would simply tell foreigners that they didn’t deal with such things. Although Jenny’s bank account was created, we were confronted to another problem when attempting to link a phone number to the account in order to pay/purchase things or services with AliPay – one of the two main payment platforms in China. Although our nephew had provided us with local SIM the previous night, those were no longer appropriate for linking to a bank account as they were registered under his name. The nephew’s wife guided us to a nearby China Unicom store where we purchased our own individual SIMs. Again the process of purchasing these SIMs was also quite involved. Later we returned to the bank to finally link Jenny’s bank account and local phone number together. Although the overall setup process was frustrating at time, it was essential to have this payment method properly setup in order to make our stay more manageable. Next, we took a taxi to visit a new hotel near Jingyu’s place. Jenny and I both liked the place, hence we booked a room facing a river for 3 nights at the “Country Inn and Suite – by Radisson” for $75 cdn/night. Jenny started to practice her use of the very popular Didi car hailing application. Later we visited a hair salon where I got a precision hair cut. While Jenny was waiting for me, the nephew’s wife brought my mobile phone for a screen (both the LCD display and screen protector film) replacement at a nearby friend’s phone repair shop. Back at Jingyu’s place, we gathered part of our luggage and hailed a car ride back to our 2:00pm hotel check-in. In the evening, we returned to Jingyu’s place for dinner and met another nephew.
2024.07.25 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
Although our hotel did not feature a large number of rooms, it still managed to offer a very good complementary breakfast. We returned to Jingyu’s place to meet the nephew’s wife again for a visit to a shopping mall for some clothes shopping. Both Jenny and I managed to purchase some items. Later, we joined our nephew’s wife for a long Didi car ride to the downtown area to pick-up her brother’s car. On our way back, we stopped for lunch and some additional shopping at another shopping mall. Back at the hotel, we rested until early evening. We met up for dinner with Jenny’s extended family in a private room at a nice restaurant near her brother’s place.
2024.07.26 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
Overnight, we heard some rain and strong winds – remnants/effects of the Gaemi cyclone. After our relaxing hotel breakfast, we took a Didi car ride to a rich neighborhood of Shanghai – the Xuhui district. We had hoped to walk leisurely in the neighborhood but the light rain deterred us. We opted to visit a shopping mall. We did not realize that our target shopping mall consisted of high end brands. Nonetheless we were thrilled to use the luxury washroom which, to Jenny’s delight, included bidet toilets. We visited a nearby Starbucks for a cold/hot lattes. We spent over 1 hour relaxing there. As we had noticed a famous hot pot restaurant in another shopping mall across the street, we opted to have an early dinner there. We both enjoyed the food and service. I tried unsuccessfully to pay with my credit card, we had to revert to Jenny’s Alipay mobile app. To-date, I have only been able to use my credit card to pay for our hotel room. After dinner, we took a Didi ride to the number 1 tourist destination in Shanghai: the pedestrian section of Nanjing Road. We joined the flow of visitors for a walk along the road. As the crowd grew larger, we opted to stop before reaching the Bund. We left the area and took a Didi ride back to Jingyu’s place to pick-up our washed clothes and secure a couple of gifts for classmate friends who were scheduled to pick us up at our hotel tomorrow afternoon.
2024.07.27 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
We had another relaxing hotel breakfast. We waited for Jenny’s classmate friends to pick us at the hotel at around 12:30pm. We left some luggage with the hotel reception as we planned to return the next day. After a 40 minutes drive, we arrived at our destination hotel “Aurora by Sunning” where we were greeted by other classmate friends. After everyone had checked into their rooms, the group (strictly limited to 12 peoples) promptly met in the dinning area for some afternoon snacks and lively chat. At 4:00pm, the group slowly walked 1.5km over to a restaurant for a 2.5 hours dinner in a private room. After our dinner feast, the group walked through the streets and bridges of a restored (and very commercial) water town neighborhood. Back at the hotel, some classmates pursued their socializing with card games. Jenny and I were pretty tired from the day and retired to our room early.
2024.07.28 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
The classmates had started eating breakfast in the early morning. We joined them at 8:30am in the breakfast room. Later, many of the classmates continued with card games in a meeting room while Jenny and I relaxed in our room. By 11:30am, we met the group for an early lunch before checking out of our room. Later, the classmates bid farewell to each other knowing that they would likely meet again in few months but without us present. One of the classmates drove us to Jenny’s good friend who organized yet another special event for dinner – an old-neighbor gathering. We were dropped off at Jenny’s friend’s place where we chatted with her husband, a classmate and herself. Jenny had been especially looking forward to this neighbor gathering as this group held so much childhood memories from their lives in their shared 4 family hutong. The group of 16 persons met in a private restaurant room and engaged in lively childhood memories over a 2.5 hour dinner. After bidding farewell to everyone, we took a Didi ride and returned to our neighborhood with Jingyu and his wife. We were pleased to check back into our hotel for another 3 nights.
2024.07.29 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
We had breakfast a bit earlier this morning as we had a lunch appointment with one of Jenny’s old nearby neighbor. We took a Didi ride and picked up Jingyu along the way to the Pudong district. Upon our arrival at Jenny’s friend, we were greeted warmly. After 30 mins of chatting and mutually gift exchange, we made our way to a nearby restaurant located in a shopping mall. We spent over 2 hours eating and chatting over some great food and wine. We parted ways outside the shopping mall while the 3 of us took a Didi ride back to our neighborhood. After dropping Jingyu, we returned for a rest at our hotel room for the remainder of the afternoon. We had planned to join Jingyu’s family for dinner at their place but we declined given that we had such a substantial lunch.
2024.07.30 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
We had yet another early breakfast as we needed to meet up with Jinyu for a long drive to the town of Suzhou. The primary purpose was to visit briefly Jenny’s parents cemetery but we also hoped to do some sightseeing while in the town. After our cemetery visit, our driver brought us to the Lion’s Cave garden site. As we tried to make our way into the garden, we simply turned around as the flow of visitors was overwhelming. The scorching temperature further justified our decision. Hence, we drove 1.5 hour back to Shanghai. Upon arriving to Jingyu’s place, we had a brief rest while savoring a popsicle. Later, we returned to our hotel room for an afternoon rest. We were invited by Jingyu’s family to an extended family gathering at a restaurant near their previous flat location – some 18 kms away.
2024.07.31 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
We woke up at 4:30am and collected our hotel’s packed breakfast before picking up Jingyu and his wife for a 3.5 hour bus ride to a mountain “farm resort”. The bus dropped us at an intersection near the foot of a mountain where we were collected by the owner after a short wait. Jenny and I were somewhat disappointing with the basic accommodation. After our modest resort lunch, we rested a couple of hours in our room. We finally braved the heat and went out to explore the old peasant village and take a few pictures. Although, the village visit was interesting in itself, the heat made it less enjoyable. After a few hours of rest and dinner, we ventured out again for a walk in the village streets. We could see a lot more visitors doing the same as us – visiting as the sun came down.
2024.08.01 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
We woke up at 6:30am for an early breakfast as we had planned to visit an old historic town before it got too hot. As the town was some 10 kms away, we tried to request a Didi ride but given our remoteness, there were no drivers servicing the area. As we were not overly interested in waiting for a local driver to drive us there we quickly started to think about cutting short our “farm resort” stay. Jenny was quite eager to return back to our Shanghai hotel. Hence, we promptly made arrangement to take the bus back to Shanghai after lunch. Except for Jingyu, the other three of us were pleased with the decision to shorten our stay there. After lunch, the owner drove us to the road intersection at the bottom of the mountain where our bus had been waiting for us for 30 mins. After a 3.5 hours ride back to Shanghai, we were dropped off where we had embarked on the bus some 33 hours previously. The heat in town was oppressing. We took a Didi ride back to our hotel – a day ahead of schedule – after dropping Jingyu and his wife to their place. We were very pleased to be back into our comfortable hotel room for a good rest. We skipped dinner but later we took advantage of our hotel’s complementary late night (9pm-11pm) food offering.
2024.08.02 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
After our hotel breakfast, we relaxed in our room until mid-afternoon. I convinced Jenny to try the subway at least once during our stay in Shanghai. I suggested we try to visit a large camera store in downtown area. Hence, after installing yet another app on our mobile phones to pay for the subway entrance, we took a Didi ride to the nearest subway station some 3kms away. Although the subway ride took slightly more than 1hr and 22 stops, it was quite enjoyable. In fact, it took us about the same amount of time as a Didi ride – but cost only $2cdn as opposed to $20-25cdn with a Didi car hail. We spent about 45 mins visiting various camera boutiques across two buildings. Later, we walked over to a Pizza Hut restaurant for a sit-down dinner. After our meal, we took a Didi ride to Jingyu’s place. Jingyu insisted on giving us a brief visit of a nearby old water town area. Even after 8:00pm, we could still feel the heat from the streets. Jenny and I were both soaked in sweat by the time we returned to Jingyu’s place. After a popsicle and a beer at their place, we took another ride back to our hotel.
2024.08.03 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
After spending the morning at our hotel, we took a Didi ride to Jingyu’s place where we chatted for a couple of hours. Later, we joined the extended family at a Japanese BBQ restaurant for one of our last group gathering. The food was great and plentiful. After dinner, we bid farewell to family members as we would not see them again before our departure.
2024.08.04 – [CN] Shanghai ==> Shanghai (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
After our hotel breakfast, we took a Didi ride to meet up with our nephew at a China Unicom office in order to return/close-off our SIM service – a very unusual process. Back at our hotel, we relaxed in our room until early afternoon. We returned to Jingyu’s place to chat with the family and re-organize our luggage for our next day flight out of the country. Our nephew spent a considerable amount of time helping Jenny with her Alipay app on her phone to allow its continued use even though we had returned our SIMs. We had a nice home cooked dinner with the family in the same way we had on our first evening in Shanghai. After dinner, we promptly bid farewell to everyone and took a Didi ride to a hotel near the Pudong Airport as our next morning flight was at 10:00am.
2024.08.05 – [CA] Shanghai ==> Ottawa (0 kms | Total: 2709 kms)
Although our hotel’s breakfast officially started only at 7:00am, the staff accommodated us at 6:15am. We took the hotel’s free airport shuttle at 7:00am for a 15 minutes ride to terminal 2. Upon our arrival, we promptly retrieved our bicycle box from the luggage storage services and successfully paid by using Alipay. The check-in at the Air China counter was very smooth and efficient – unlike our experience leaving the Narita Airport in Japan. As expected, we paid $100 cdn for one extra luggage – our bicycle box – given Air Canada airfare only allowed one checked luggage per passenger. The 2.5 hour flight from Shanghai back to Tokyo was uneventful. The connection at the Narita Airport was unsurprisingly chaotic as the processing of passengers with international connections was disorganized and highly inefficient. Nonetheless, we boarded our flight on-time but sadly the plane was full to capacity. We took advantage of the airline’s free luggage check-in offer to get rid of our carry-on full of snacks. Our 12.5 hours flight from Tokyo to Montreal was also uneventful. Upon our arrival in Montreal, we promptly made our way to the gate for our flight to Ottawa. As we walked on the tarmac to board our small airplane, we noticed some of our luggage being loaded onto the plane – hence we thought all of our luggage had made it to the plane even though the connection time was only 1 hour. In Ottawa, we realized that some of our luggage, including our bicycle box, had not actually made it on the plane with us. Thankfully, the Air Canada reassured us that the missing luggage were in Montreal and they would be shipped to our home as soon as possible. Our good friend Peter, who had dropped us off at the airport in April, had kindly agreed to pick us up at the airport although his spacious Toyota Sienna was overkill for our limited luggage.
