2018.04.12 – Melbourne (AU) – Shanghai (CN) – As our room was some distance from the hotel reception, the airport shuttle came over at 7am to pick up our luggage and us. The hotel’s courtesy airport shuttle was completely full of guests when it left for the airport. We waited 45mins at China Eastern’s check-in counter as we had arrived a bit early. The check-in was very efficient. We were relieved that we did not encounter any problems checking in our bicycle box as it was not even weighted. After the security check, we had a disappointing breakfast of a fast food chain.
Although, we felt close to China in Australia, we were surprised by the 10 hour flight time between Melbourne and Shanghai. Upon our exit from Shanghai’s international arrival, we were greeted by Jingyu, Jenny’s younger brother. We had a light late night meal at Jingyu’s place and sleep there for our first night in China.
2018.04.13 – Shanghai (CN) – Jingyu guided us to hair stylish studio where both Jenny and I got haircuts. Later we bought SIM cards for our phones. We visited a very remote Bank of Nanjing office in order to withdraw funds at their ATM. We were led to believe that this particular bank was part of our own bank’s Global network of bank. Unfortunately, our bank debit card did not even get accepted at their ATM machine. Later, we struggled a bit to secure a hotel accommodation as we had to visit a few establishments in order to find one that would accept foreigners. We met up with our Australian friends (Ling and Tanya) for an evening meal at Wan Dao Japanese restaurant.
2018.04.14 – Shanghai (CN) – We took the subway to pick-up Jessica at the airport for her 2 pm arrival from London. We took a taxi back to Jingyu’s place. We had our evening meal at Jingyu’s place.
2018.04.15 – Shanghai – Fuzhou – Tongli (CN) – YaYa, Jingyu’s son, picked us up at our hotel with a private car. We drove to Fuzhou to visit the parent’s cemetery. Later, we drove to the old water town of Tongli for a visit. We had a tasty hot pot supper at Haidilao Restaurant.
2018.04.16 – Shanghai (CN) – With Jingyu and Jessica, we took the subway to the city center and walked down Nanjing Road up to the Bond, Shanghai’s waterfront. We took an underground tourist tram under the Huángpǔ river. We walked a few streets in Pudong before taking the ferry back across the river. Later, we visited Yuyuan Garden where we had light lunch at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. In the evening we had a meal with members of the extended family. We visited YYY, Jenny’s older brother. Jessica enjoyed her first night celebrating with her two cousins
2018.04.17/18- – Shanghai – Wuxi – Shanghai (CN) – It was a very challenging early morning wake-up call, especially for Jessica, as we need to take the subway to the city center to join a group for a 2-day bus tour to the town of Wuxi. We visited a few places along the way. Visits and meals all happen quickly. More visits around Wuxi. The tour concluded by a mandatory visit to a bamboo warehouse for a few sales pitch.
2018.04.19 – Shanghai (CN) – We visited the French Concession district. We managed to obtain some funds at a ICBC ATM – but still well under our bank cash withdrawal limit. Jessica enjoyed her second night celebration with YaYan.
2018.04.20 – Shanghai (CN) – Late wake up for Jessica. We visited Yu Garden again in search of some souvenirs. We had pizza for our evening meal at John’s Pizzeria outlet. We had hoped to visit Jenny’s older brother before our departure tomorrow for a 5-day visit to Beijing but due to the late time, we differed our visit to when we returned.
2018.04.21/25 – Shanghai – Beijing – Shanghai (CN) We took a taxi to the Hongqiao airport. Jingyu was excited to experience his first airplane flight. The tour operator picked up us from the airport. We checked-in into 5-star hotel but unfortunately it was a bit isolated district of town. During our tour, we visited the popular tourist sites such as Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Heaven Palace, Great Wall at Badalin, Old Summer Palace; Olympic site, Summer Palace. On our last day, the tour operator drove us from the hotel to the Beijing’s airport. Back in Shanghai, we took a Uber-like ride from the Hongqiao airport to our hotel.
