Day 2 - Shanghai

Our second day in Shanghai saw us waking up at 8am - unheard of for us, but well rested and recovered from the jet lag.

After a quick hotel breakfast we headed to the Silk Museum. Whilst this had the feel of the ‘5 minutes of museum, 55 minutes of shop’, it was however very interesting to learn about the life cycle of the silkworm, machinery used and the various types of silk used to make so many different types of garments, bedding, scarves etc. Catherine did buy a lovely pink scarf whilst Phil tapped his feet, so all was not lost.

Next, we headed to Fuxing Park (had to double check that one), a very nice garden in the French Concession (concession = quarter). Lots of tiktokers and suchlike in the ‘rain corridor’, also more traditional dress - some ladies very kindly allowed us to take our photo with them.

We went to lunch at another dim sum restaurant. Neither of us are big on lunch, and were still semi full from the hotel breakfast, but too polite to disappoint our guide Lucy. However the tofu in hairy crab sauce defeated Phil (although the dim sum was very good). Catherine’s chewy cod was also not her favourite dish. Phil’s green bean juice actually had sprouting beans in, so as well as tasting good was, we presume, very healthy.

On to Shanghai Tianzifang, very much a Chinese Camden Market on steroids, with a maze of alleyways filled with food stalls, souvenir shops and all manner of services; it still retained an authentic charm, and the light rain, flowers and bustling atmosphere made for an enjoyable finish to the afternoon - we even bought a picture which we will enjoy lugging around for the rest of the trip!

After returning to the hotel for some respite (the Shanghai traffic had been very bad all day - we would probably try the subway next time), we headed out to dinner at Lost Heaven, a restaurant specialising in food from China’s Yunnan province - the atmosphere was warm and vibrant, and the service was excellent - not even an “everything ok”? after 2 mouthfuls of food! 😂

Afterwards we walked back to the waterfront for one final look at the Shanghai skyline before heading back to our hotel, for another much needed good nights sleep 😴

Shanghai you were amazing - Beijing here we come….Read more