Settling into Shanghai

After a nomadic summer, Jerel and I have been enjoying staying put in Shanghai for the last few weeks. Labour Day weekend was especially fun, as we celebrated Jerel's birthday with a busy weekend including: a trip to the Grand Theatre where we were amazed by Swan Lake; an evening at Cloud 9, one of the highest restaurants in the city (87th floor!); and an extravagant champagne brunch at our hotel (which was more of a 'brunchinner" given how much we ate)! We also had an entertaining walk along the famous Nanjing Lu and invented a game - guess how many times you will be approached in the next block by someone trying to sell you something.

The following weekends, we continued to explore this seemingly endless city. We spent an afternoon strolling the tree-lined streets of the French Concession, checking out its many quaint boutiques and cafes. I'm pleased to report that I came away with two treasures: a remarkably hard-to-find cutlery organizer and cool lamp. This past weekend, we were both reaching concrete saturation so made up a walking tour of several local parks. Our favourite was Fuxing Park, where a few locals went to great lengths to fly kites that looked a lot like large birds -perhaps to make up for the lack of real birds!

This past Sunday (September 14) China celebrated the 'Mid-Autumn Festival' when, as the hotel staff told me "the greatest joy is to share mooncakes with your friends and family and look at the moon". Well, neither of us was too taken by mooncakes (typical flavours are 'lotusroot' and 'red bean', often with an egg yolk center), and the moon was rather hard to make out, and but it was still fun to share in the excitement around this holiday. The locals really get into their mooncakes - in fact, things can get a bit out of hand, with perpetual long lines at the best bakeries, and scalpers getting busted for selling mooncake coupons (see article in the Shanghai Daily: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=373210).

Boracay Beach Vacation

The third and final leg of my August extravaganza was a week in the Philippines with Jerel. We had been planning to visit Sanya, China's version of Hawaii, but the lure of scuba and our desire to communicate in English prompted us to reconsider at the 11th hour (almost literally!). The journey to Boracay island was eventful, involving a jet, a prop plane, a small boat and a 'tricycle' (like a Thai 'tuk-tuk').

Boracay is a popular Asian tourist destination, known for its gorgeous, fine, white sand (great for sandcastles!) and offering a wide menu of water and windsports. Boracay also has a great culture - we found the locals to be very warm, hospitable and generally relaxed, positive people, and appreciated their refraining from relentless tourist hounding.

One good example of Filipino hospitality is the help I received when we were stuck at the airport in Manila on standby for the next flight (long story). In typical Chana style, I had my heart set on a particular breakfast and the limited offerings in the waiting area (doughnuts and mysterious fried foods) just didn't cut it. A little birdie had told me that there was a Starbuck's past the security check in the boarding area, and I became determined to get there for some baked goods, despite my lack of boarding pass. After much discussion with various security staff, it was determined that a private escort to the staff cafeteria was the way to go. When we were thwarted at the cafeteria security check, the staff consulted again and I received a private escort through the boarding gate security. There was no Starbucks on the other side, but fortunately there was a cafe that served delicious croissants :)

Our typical day consisted of strolling down the beach to the scuba shop, then heading out on the boat for a morning dive with our fellow scuba regulars, taking a leisurely lunch back at the hotel poolside (stopping for a banana-peanut-vanilla smoothie at Jonah's on the way home), then spending the afternoon in some combination of scuba diving, walking along the beach, and poking around the many tourist shops with local goods. One day, Jerel and I tried our hand at kite-boarding, and quickly understood why it takes 2-3 days to move from kiting to kite-boarding. Unfortunately, lack of wind prevented Jerel from continuing beyond day one (while I wasn't so disappointed).

We spent our evenings pleasantly wiped out from the day, dining at one of the many beachside restaurants (where Jerel took advantage of the fresh seafood!) or in some cases eating at 'home' with the hotel rooftop to ourselves. We didn't venture into the many nightclubs besides to stick our noses in them and see that the very loud music appeared to be a failed attempt to attract customers (we were there at low season) though we did involuntarily 'enjoy' the music of nearby clubs from our hotel room.

I left the Philippines convinced that it is one of the best kept secrets in beach vacation destinations and I'd highly recommend it to anyone seeking a little fun in the sun and relaxation!

Barcelona Baby!

The next leg of my extended vacation was a four day trip to Barcelona with Sarah. The two of us have always made our own fun through endless conversations, and the fact that we were in Barcelona made this time together extra fabulous. We fully embraced the Spanish lifestyle, spending our short daytime hours soaking up the sun at the bustling beach, shopping, and admiring the city's unique architecture, and wiling away our late nights sipping sangria and savouring tapas at Plaza Real. Sarah can’t pass up a chance to get down, so we also checked out one of the local dance clubs and had a great time - despite some moments of feeling a little over the hill! The only damper was that Sarah fell victim to a wily professional thief and had her purse stolen.