Life Update || Travelling Again in Two Weeks

Time to freak out slightly.

- Semester 1 ends in a weeks time.
- I start travelling again in 2 weeks time.
- Still yet to book one more flight.
- Have to start thinking about packing.
- Need to get my life together.

Experiencing my First Chinese Massage

A few weeks ago me and my friend decided to get a massage to get rid of some of those tight muscles and relax for a bit before our work load gets more and more! Tilly had already been to one before so she had a good idea of what it would be like, little did I know, it would be slightly painful. By slightly painful, I mean agony!

Christmas in Shanghai

Shanghai Christmas will never compare to Christmas back home. However, a few friends and I have made the most of keeping ourselves in the Christmas spirit by travelling around Shanghai to find Christmas markets, shops, events, parties and more. Even though it isn't England, and we aren't with our families, we are not being grumpy and sad about it, we are trying to keep it as Christmassy and happy as any other Christmas. I think this is actually the first Christmas I have spent away from my parents. When I say that, it actually makes me feel very homesick, which I have been feeling a bit of lately, but I am travelling down to Hong Kong to spend it with my friends family so at least I am taking a break from Shanghai and have a sense of home from them.

Exploring All of Shanghai

Thought I would create a post mainly showing photos that I have taken from my adventures around Shanghai so far. I will keep updating it as the year goes on.
There are some famous and well known places and some unknowns which aren't usually shown across the media.

Zhujiajiao - The Venice of Shanghai

This post will mainly be photographs as I wanted to show off a bit of my photography. I have been taking my camera out a lot more lately and I am loving some of the moments I capture. 

Zhujiajiao is known as one of the few famous water towns on the suburbs of Shanghai. I have been wanting to go here for a good month now and thought it was a good time to get out of the dorms and city after our mid-terms. 

With 2 people down, the 3 of us had an early start so we could try and find the bus station in time. Little did we know, it took a few wrong turns to eventually find it. It doesn't help that People's Square station has about 16 exits, makes it so confusing. A good hour later and 3 numb bums (the seats on the bus were not comfortable), we arrived to the beautiful town of Zhujiajiao. 

The plan was to get a ticket to all the hot spots in the town and a boat ride across the canal. The tickets were about £8 each for all of this, still can't get over how cheap places like these are. 

Immediately after buying the tickets, we started to browse all the cute little town shops and make our way towards the entrance. The architecture in this town was something else. You could definitely tell it was an old town, with the bridges being built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 

 Stairs leading up to the famous Fangsheng Bridge

Before making our way up to the bridge, we walked to the side of the bridge to get some photos and got approached by these woman who were selling fish which you would then release into the river. I thought this was a lovely gesture but also felt sorry for the little fish stuck in those plastic bags for that length of time before someone would buy them.

The beautiful olden boats which would take you from one side of the town to the other. These men would do this all day until 4pm.

A very picturesque garden situated in the centre of the town. I couldn't help but take many photos of this garden, and then get some idiotic ones of us of course.

After a long walk around the garden, we hopped on for our boat ride. We had the whole boat for just us 3 as they do not have more than 1 group on.
It was a peaceful journey with stunning perspectives of the town.

We arrived at this shop which sold jewellery but also he made shapes out of toffee which you would then eat. You could either pick one which was already made and displayed or choose your own animal, character or whatever you wanted which he was able to make. I wanted the character 西 Xi (pronounced as She) as that is my last name. I am glad I only got a small one because it was very sickly. Aneta got a dragon, and Tilly got the chinese characters of Zhujiajiao 朱家角.

We ended up back to where we started the day with a gorgeous, colourful sunset setting in the distance behind the town. After quite a few restaurant look-ins, we sat down to have a small dinner before getting the bus back. We had dinner in one of the restaurants right on the water front but sadly were not sat outside as it was very busy during that time.

 The journey back was nothing but uncomfortable. We did not get a seat and, as it was an hours journey back, ended up sitting on the floor. It was very disgusting but there was no way I was going to be standing for that whole journey. It was worth it though to have been able to see that beautiful town.

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