goosmurf: I never knew about pandas smoking habits, explains their endangered status
goosmurf: Quite a satisfying little meal. I sat next to a Malaysian woman who could speak English. Score! She told me that Lijiang is amazingly beautiful, that every where you look it's like a postcard.
goosmurf: Continuing the rich people theme -- "Many people look up, Few people have"
goosmurf: Inflight magazine advertising -- "Professionally provide furniture for rich people, stars and politicians"
goosmurf: Farewell Shenzhen. Mum & dad went on to Malaysia whilst I would fly to Shanghai to meet jimmiejams who got the red eye from Sydney (via HK).
goosmurf: Bao'an airport
goosmurf: I've never like boarding from the front side of a jet engine. Those things really suck (hue hue hue)
goosmurf: This leg of the trip marked my first self-directed travel within China. I was concerned about my lack of language skills but my taxi driver turned out to be a Cantonese speaking Hakka. I felt hopeful that maybe language wouldn't be a major issue afterall.
goosmurf: Shenzhen's Bao'an International Airport is by far the most futuristic looking airport I've visited
goosmurf: Nanjing Rd, Shanghai
goosmurf: An entire cafe dedicated to durian?!
goosmurf: False advertising. Looks to be many sticks.
goosmurf: We came to Shanghai to visit m&m's world :D
goosmurf: It was raining outside so yeah, we went inside.
goosmurf: Who doesn't like a rainbow wall of chocolate?
goosmurf: It was frankly quite a miserable introduction to Shanghai. We were tired and a little overwhelmed. Being offered sex 5 times in our first half hour on Nanjing Road didn't help. We had some dinner then retired early.
goosmurf: Mylikes indeed
goosmurf: A good night's rest and great breakfast made all the difference. Highly recommend the Narada Yu Garden Hotel. This would be part of the breakfast area if it weren't drizzling - a little bit of serenity above the constant honking.
goosmurf: It looks so grumpy hehe
goosmurf: There I fixed it
goosmurf: We walked to Shanghai Old Street which turned out to be super touristy but a comfortable intro to China. I was blown away by how many domestic tourists there were too.
goosmurf: May civilization follow you!
goosmurf: The 2 yuan store. This is what I came to Shanghai for!
goosmurf: Tin Tin in China :D
goosmurf: Yeah, so 5 minutes into our tourist walk I buy a 2 yuan cow pen. It writes terribly. 10/10 what I expected.
goosmurf: Old & new - most of the major cities are apartment blocks and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see so it's neat to see pockets of old/low rise buildings.
goosmurf: Pandas, garfield, cats, gardens, communism, boobs, boobs, boobs, Shirley Temple, Michael Jackson, World Famous Bridges, basketball, Despicable Me, Chinese Classics Teaching. I don't even.
goosmurf: Quite the collection
goosmurf: Stick foods seem to be a thing across China. This was probably the first moment when I thought ordering/buying stuff might be an issue with our lack of Mandarin
goosmurf: Official sign of trust-worthiness