Shanghai

Noodles @ 3:00am

Shanghai is a huge city in which every corner holds little wonders that you couldn't imagine. The small part of the city that we got to see was intriguing so I'm sure that the rest of it is even more fascinating. We arrived at the airport around midnight or 1:00am.  The line at passport control at the airport was pretty long, though it moved along fairly smoothly. It took us at least an hour to make it to the front of the line. Seeing as though we didn't have a Chinese visa, we were prepared for questioning and paperwork once-overs.

The guy at our booth scanned out passports, asked a few questions, then called his supervisor over. Soon afterwards we were directed to some bench seats a little further away and told to wait. And wait, and wait. In a little while, the supervisor told Orlando that he was waiting for flight confirmation from Sri Lankan airlines. They wanted to make sure that we would be out of China no later than 48 hours from then. There was also the issue of our hotel. We had only booked one room online, planning to secure another room when we arrived. Apparently they were a little wary of this, but they let it slide anyway. After what seemed like forever, we were finally given our 48 hour pass and released from passport control. 

It turns out that our baggage had been removed from the 'merry go round' and had been stacked neatly on a luggage cart for us. Not having to go on a mad hunt for our luggage, piece by piece, was a welcome surprise. One of the first of many to come. 

Asari and the Pagoda

We arrived at the hotel and it appeared to be a fair amount of staff still on duty. Someone showed us to our room upstairs, and then we were on the hunt for some food. Orlando and I go down to the receptionist to ask if she knows where a restaurant is where we could eat. The hotel restaurant is closed, but she directs us to this section on the other side of the lobby where there are bags of snacks and all different kinds of ramen noodles. This just wouldn't do. After a few days of mediocre to horrible food, we wanted some real sustenance. So we tried to get her to understand that we wanted to go out. She insisted that no, no we shouldn't go alone because everything was closed. Finally, she understood that we meant serious business and called one of the staff on the phone to take us out. The streets were pitch black, but there were still people mingling about, and there was a little convenience store that was open too. But we walked on past that. Whoa this guy was walking fast! Orlando was keeping up but I was having a hard time doing so, luckily where we were going wasn't far. We ended up at a street full of food carts. One sold skewers with different mushrooms, onions, and other veggies on them to be grilled, along with soups. Two others sold stir fried noodles. We got six orders altogether and the total was 30 yuan which comes about to about 5 dollars. What a bargain!  They tasted amazing, the best food we'd had in a long, long time. The guy that took us to this gem of a place refused to take a tip or food from us. How awesome. We slept like babies until 2pm the next day.

We did a little shopping the next day, bought some excellent Taiwanese oolong at a reasonable price. The people we came across all looked as we passed by. And I mean they looked, as in stared. But they were very friendly and courteous so I had no complaints.

The next day, the hotel called us two taxies and we made our way safely back to the airport. As we borded the airplane I thought to myself that we would surely have to make it back here for a longer stay.

Vienna Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai

Carrefour Shanghai

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Shanghai Pudong Airport

Hungarian Surprise

Budapest, Hungary is nothing like I expected it to be. Having some of the old imagery and stereotypes in my mind about Eastern Europe, and the old Soviet bloc countries; I was expecting a run down, desolate, inefficient airport. I expected the countryside to be much of the same. It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised. The airport was very modern and clean, and the people helpful and friendly. It was quite late when we arrived, but finding a taxi was no problem, as they have a system set up where you can go to a little booth and order one. You receive a ticket with the taxi number on it, so you know which one is yours when they arrive. Even at that hour of the night, it only took less than 10 minutes for the driver to get there. We arrived at the hotel, which was only a short drive from the airport, and the desk clerk was waiting for us. The inn was very clean and comfortable, with a very reasonable mini bar as well which included mineral water, soft drinks, beer, nuts and chocolate bars. The next morning we explored the grounds of the inn. The surroundings were very green, with fruit trees and evergreens all around. There was a little play area for the children, along with picnic tables for outdoor dining. All in all, we had a very comfortable stay and look forward to visiting Budapest again, for a longer visit next time.