October 6, 2006 Osaka

Finally, it’s morning and time to check-in… we ended up checking in as early as possible so we could take advantage of the ANA (Nippon Airways) executive lounge.

Honestly, just a piece of advice to all you travelers… you have to travel exec class and take advantage of the lounges… it’s awesome. Free beer, free drinks, free food, free internet…. Well.. I guess it’s not really ‘free’, but it’s awesome nonetheless. Oh, and the washrooms! Amazing toilets! (and this coming from someone who knows his toilets!) They have these toilets with heated seats, and also buttons on the toilet which allow you to wash your bum! So cool, I want one! You can also select this button which makes a fake flushing sound, so when you’re number 2’ing, no one will know!

Anyhow, we watched the 1st two periods of the season opener of the nucks vs the red wings! We couldn’t finish the game! Oh well, we’ll find out the results in Shanghai. Bye bye Kansai International! Thanks for being our hotel for the night!

Finally, Shanghai!

It’s me again, Lisa.

So we finally land in Shanghai. The airport is quite nice, and big! Oh another nice thing about flying executive class is you get to leave the plane first, which means you get to avoid the line at customs! AND you get your luggage first! THAT is awesome!

Christina came to pick us up from the airport with her cousin's car and a driver. It was great seeing her and not having to figure out how to get around! It’s like we never left home. I think Wes is getting bit of culture shock, mainly from the driving. He was quite impressed with our driver. People don’t seem to have a concept of lanes and cars honk like crazy! HONK HONK HONK

The airport is about 40 min away from our hotel on Nan Jing road. The hotel is quite nice and Nan Jing road is a bustling street full of tourists. Nan Jing is a LONG street, and blocks of it are blocked off to cars. Our hotel (Ramada) is on the section where only pedestrians are allowed, so it’s a great location.

So far Shanghai feels like home. Chinese people everywhere with the occasional white guy here and there. Ha! But the city is amazing. It is so developed and the buildings are quite impressive. The streets are clean considering there are a ton of people. I think Wes was most amazed by the drivers. I don’t think I can even attempt to drive here. Driving seems chaotic, yet it’s not. Cars don’t seem to stop for pedestrians, and vice versa, yet we didn’t’ see one accident.

So after checking into our hotel, we quickly took showers. Wes and I were trying to figure out what to do and finally decided to accompany Christina to see her photographer. We took a cab to the studio. Christina wanted to talk to the manager but she wasn’t there yet, so we walked around first. She took us to a small side street that was bustling with street vendors. Of course Wes and I saw nothing but food! This is what we came here for! STREET FOOD!

People tell us not to eat food from the street but we don’t care. That’s what the meds are for! Christina said her mom wouldn’t be too happy if she knew she was eating that stuff with us but she did anyway. =p First victim to our palettes was pan fried siao long bao. Christina said it was the best around – and it was definitely good.

And cheap too! 8 for $1! Can’t beat that. Next up was the stinky tofu. Debated a while about that but had to have it. It definitely tastes better than it smells. We also had a lamb skewer and fresh mango and papaya juice. YUMMY! So far so good, no stomach ache yet.

We walked back to the studio and Christina was trying to convince Wes and I to get studio pictures done too. I was apprehensive because we didn’t have that much time. We were supposed to meet my parents for dinner. Wes said just do it if I wanted because it’s so cheap! $150 bucks! Can’t even get a massage for that much back home. Wes kept telling me that we should just do it but I knew he didn’t want to.

He was just being nice and doing it for me but once I said yes, I knew he wasn’t too happy. A van came to pick us up and took us to another location to take pictures. It was great getting done up, and getting dressed up. Wes had more fun that he thought he would! I’m glad cause I felt bad putting him through all that on our first day in Shanghai! Not exactly a touristy thing to do. We were there for about 4 hours. 4 hours for $150 bucks AND you get an album! Can’t beat that!

We went to a Chinese place for dinner after with Christina. 740ml of beer was 10RMB. Which is like $1.50! So cheap! And of course, we had more siao long bao. Dinner was pretty good. We walked back to our hotel and I was literally falling asleep while walking.

One thing I did notice is that there are a lot of couples walking around, and the men seem VERY attentive to their women. A lot of them carry their girlfriends’ purses, and they just seem a lot more clingy than usual. My theory is that good women here are scarce because of the old one-child policy, and the men fight to keep their women. Competition must be fierce! Well I could be wrong but that’s my theory. Wes thinks I’m just trying to get him to hold my purse!

Got back to our hotel around 10pm and Wes and I pretty much slept after watching a little bit of TV.

So that was our first day in Shanghai!