Wandering around Shanghai

Holidays are always lots of the same - wander around, see stuff, ohh and ahh a bit and plan your next adventure. It's great. Shanghai finally stopped raining on our last full day there we took to the streets and caught a few sights. We tried to go and see an art exhibition (found the gallery but the exhibition had just closed) and then it was too late for two impatient people to wait in line for the endless queue for the museum. So, we walked and ate instead.

To date, we've been really lucky with The Peanut Issue. I don't take kindly to them, and prior to us leaving some friends wrote down (on the now worn piece of paper just above the food in this photo) 'Please do not add peanuts or peanut oil to my food' or something like that. To date, it has worked a charm (thanks Felix and Alex, you rock!). We had lunch yesterday, ritually gave the waitress the note at which she nodded and said OK....and promptly brought us this huge plate of peanut laced chicken. Big thumbs down, lady!

In several cities now we have seen whopping ads for Cartier's Panther series of rings, and have been making gag that it's the only wedding ring that will do for me. We walked past the Cartier on the Bund, and saw loads of Chinese people taking snaps of something. On closer inspection we realised it was a his-n-hers version of our dream jewels so we can both have them. Grrrr.

More construction of Shanghai expo - quick quick quick, less than two weeks to go!

Due to the failure of peanut-ville lunch, I was hungry and we stopped in at a cafe for a snack. We ordered what we thought would be calamari. More like squid fairy floss. Uber weird. And gross. Was still hungry when leaving.

We walked the opposite way along the Bund. Again, it was quite nice, but the pollution really shrouded the afternoon.

All along the Bund are photographers that offer to take your photo in a range of poses - thoughtfully looking out over the river, standing like a guard at the people's monument, and like this. I think Tim should use it as an album cover. Perhaps when he does a cover of the TLC album he loves so much.

At the Bund, they have a thing called the 'Bund Sightseeing Tour'. We're tourists, we were at the Bund and we dig sights. So we wanted in.

We walked down a bunch of stairs to a tunnel that has been made underneath the river, crossing to the other side.

It is officially the weirdest thing I have ever been through.

Ever.

It starts with a little glass tram on tracks and you can see ahead of you a whole bunch of coloured lights.

'Welcome to the centre of the earth'! booms a voice.

'Glittering stars' booms another and the sightseeing commences. You move (very slowly) through the tunnel. The lights change colour and a voice yells what it means.

'Paradise and hell' (pretty flower lights / red angry lights and evil laughter).

'Magma' (lots of red and orange).

Half way through there are three blow up people balloons - you know, the tall thin crazy ones that advertise used car sales stores. There were three of these in the middle of the road and the booming voice said something however it was in Chinese.

There were many lame colour changes, at one point they said 'media shower' and then you ended with fake bubbles on a screen as if you were resurfacing and the voice said 'salt blue water'.

Weeeeiiiiirrrrd.

But, as it happens, the centre of the earth makes for some cool snaps.