Some visitors

I’m sure you remember me saying that I developed a silly grin on my face every time I walked through Red Square in Moscow – well, it’s back! On Wednesday night I decided walk up to Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road is THE famous road in Shanghai. If you read the guide books they’ll say that the best shopping area is now Huai Hai Road. That’s true, but lots of the fancy sky-scrapers are around People’s Square, next to Nanjing Road. It was the fancy sky-scrapers all lit up for the evening that caused the grin. What a sight. I tried to take a photo or two, but they didn’t come out very well.

Last Saturday morning, I found the best way to not spend any money in the antique market – don’t take any money with you when you go!! I didn’t mean to go to the market – I was just going for a wander, and turned right instead of left when I left the hotel. The market is in the next street over, so there I was. It’s called an antique market, but only because everything is made to look antique. On my wee wander, I had planned on going to the bank as I had less than £5 in my purse – but I ended up at the market before the bank. While having my LOOK around the market, I decided that I’m going to have to start collecting dragons – they have some amazing ones there. I’ll need to go back when I have some money in my purse!

The biggest excitement for this week was that Denise & Thierry were in Shanghai. We met up for a couple of drinks on Saturday night, and then spent all Sunday exploring. It was so great to see them again – it’s been a year! Apart from a weekend in Paris last September, I hadn’t seen them since we were in China last year!! Who knew??? The highlights of the day were: watching all the boats on the river from the Bund, and being on one of the boats ourselves in the evening, admiring all the lights; going to a Chinese acrobat’s show; trying to eat crab from the shell with chopsticks and, of course, spending time chatting with my mates. Laurence, another pal from Paris, joined us later in the day. We had a great time, although at one point I had to admit to not been able to speak in French any more. It was a temporary glitch, as I managed for most of the rest of the time. . As the local ‘expert’, it’s difficult to realise that I’ve only been here for 2 months.

Quick weather report – it’s cooling down here. Most people are wearing light summer jackets or thin jumpers. I’m being a tough Scot and am just wearing my shirt-sleeves. OK, OK, it’s not even as low as 20 degrees, so I’m not that tough. Apparently, the first snow has arrived in Davydovo!