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| Instagram! |
Yup, my first statement pretty much summed up where I just came from. China! :) (no facebook) Because of this, we got hooked up instead with a relatively new social media app called Instagram - where every catch of a wifi signal would have us uploading our photos via this app.
This was my very very first trip to China! We got a really good deal with a Cebu Pacific sale, and another GREAT deal with ENSOGO because of the resourcefulness of one of my friends on this trip. He really has this knack of finding great deals online. Believe if or not, we actually paid for Php 3,500.00 for 4 days and 3 nights in a 3 star hotel (inclusive of breakfast), airport shuttling services, and a tour with lunch on the very first day of the trip.
We took our flight via Manila, where we met up with the rest of our little tour group. Our flight to Shanghai wasn't until late night of that day, so we took the chance to buy last minute travel needs, have a quick lunch, and just relax at my friends' condo to wait for our flight.
Touchdown Shanghai (DAY ONE) was homayyygoood cold! We trudged over to our waiting shuttle and slept right away in our respective bunks, too tired to be tourists that evening.
DAY TWO IN SHANGHAI as I had mentioned was pretty guided. The tour guides took us to these scenic places and some places to see in Shanghai, and to touristy places such as Shanghai dimsum places, crowded places of worship, silk manufacturers and jade sellers.
Not wanting to allow the cold weather to stop us from exploring Shanghai, we left the tour during the late afternoon, trying to venture off on our own. We got ourselves lost and tried hard to spill all the Chinese we knew trying to get directions in order for us to get a ferry ride along the Bund.
Exhausted from always ending up lost, we ended Day One with comfort food - Pizza Hut! :D
Somehow already getting used to the temperature, we found DAY TWO comfortably cool as we toured Shanghai's shopping districts, MORE dimsum and milk tea establishments (my favorite, and my companions being very good friends, were probably just indulging me)
And not a day goes by without us getting lost. This time, due to a failed iPhone App. tsk, tsk, tsk. :D
The most important meal of my day is breakfast! I want a heavy breakfast with brewed coffee, especially when travelling. If we have to be someplace early, I wouldn't ind waking up an extra hour or two hours earlier, just so I could enjoy my breakfast.
DAY THREE started off really well with a huge breakfast at this cute artsy resto in one of the back streets of Shanghai. Though they were a bit expensive, we had a grand breakfast with these cool waiters in hip cropped white shirts going around taking orders in their iPads. The place was teeming with foreign students and families having early Sunday breakfast.
The back street that the restaurant was located in was apparently a branch of a myriad of smaller roads that made me exclaim was "truly Shanghai". Peddlers and small shops, trinkets and other shops... I can't even begin to explain in words how I felt while walking around.
To top the day off, we ran to catch a late Chinese acrobatic show. We always see traveling Chinese acrobats whenever they come over to do shows in the Philippines, but seeing a real AUTHENTIC one here sent chills to our bones. And the tricks and stunts they pulled were no little feats. At the end of the heart-stopping show, we could not help but give them all a standing ovation.
As we were waiting to cross the street (Shanghai has wiiideee roads!), we sat by the sidewalk to rest our feet and started talking about the places we've been to and the things we've seen and realized how not everybody had this opportunity. It was a moment when we all realized how lucky we were and how blessed we were to have each other's friendship and share the same interests that bring us to adventures such as these :)
DAY FOUR was full of touristy activities. Buying souvenirs for the officemates, friends and family back home, climbing the Lupon Bridge, milk tea (teehee), more subway rides and finishing the night with an authentic Chinese dinner.
It was to the airport, back to Manila, and finally Cebu after that. Can't wait for the next travel :)
