Shanghai

If your reading this it means I found some magical way of getting through from China. It might just frighten you a bit that im typing in English but I promised both Zimbabweans and Chinese this so ill stay true to my word. I’m going to keep this simple as there are so many other things I would rather like to spend my time doing.

China at last

                                                           

After three nights of very little sleep, 2 x 8-hour flights and some horrible or not existing meals, we finally landed in China the 08^th of June ready for a new adventure. Or, ready might not exactly describe neither our physical or mental state as we barely managed to stand upright at the baggage pickup and fell into a deep sleep as the taxi drove us into Shanghai.    

Keeeeeero at the nr #1 backpacker in Shanghai

                                              

The first night we slept 18-hours, yet again putting a point to my previous comment of being pretty messed up. We both awoke at three in the evening and decided that sushi was the only reasonable thing to acquire. So, following the expert advice of Anne Sofie, we headed to the beautiful market on Taikan Lu and sushi was consumed with great pleasure and a big smile. Finally we where in China!

Mmmmmmmmmmm Sushi................

                                                           

After spending some days in town we took the bullet train, going 300-400km per hour, to the “little town” of Hangzhou where we spent a day as tourist trying to understand this new culture from both a Norwegian and Zimbabwean point of view.

Buddah and me

                                                                 

Karoline, or Kaloline as she goes by in this country, is a superb travelling partner and gladly indulges my rather touristy crave for dressing up and posing in front of several astonished and laughing Chinese and their cameras. There was indeed a crowd and they where all truly wide-eyed (hehehe, that works on so many levels).

Crunching Roenne and Hidden Kvalvik

                                                          

The first cultural behaviour that hit us in China was the constant hawking and spitting that occurs EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME.  And then there was this strange way for men to lift their shirt in order to release the belly and rub it in plain sight that amazed us!

Yupp, im bringing this style back to Norway for shure

                                              

Our last day in Shanghai was spent in the great company of our new friends Steven and David, who where introduced to us by owner of FitnessRoom and my colleague in Norway Knut Georg. They made our last 24 hours amazing!! First Steven and his colleague took us for a guided tour around the city, filled with exciting Chinese cuisine, temple visits and pampered us with taxi rides everywhere.

Two new friends in Shanghai

                                                        

David gave us a free pass to try out his amazing gym: One Wellness, and we didn’t decline. From one year of being starved on workout possibilities and weights, One Wellness was almost too much with its posh design, beautiful weights (Ziva off course) and friendly staff. After some good two hours of sweat and reuniting with the feeling of a true weighted workout, we where invited to join David and his friends for a unbelievable sushi dinner before ending the night with to much sake in his top floor apartment across the street from both the restaurant and the gym.

One Wellness, your numero uno gym in Shanghai

Three sleep-deprived hours later we where rushing to the Chinese-time bullet train in our standard African-time way. Luckily we made it by 2 (!!!) minutes, and hopefully ill be able to post something about Beijing as well before we head for Mongolia.  

Shanghai by night

Beijing coming up asap if the country provides it....