So, we didn't make it to the water town again and now I'm not so sure we will. Now that it's getting to the end of our trip we are getting pretty tired and especially because we haven't stopped at any smaller places, just all big cities.
Instead we were out the door by 10am and tried to organise some things in the hostel lobby. Firstly we needed to book train tickets to get to Hangzhou. But the lady said there are trains leaving every 15mins so we should be able to just arrive and buy tickets. Secondly we wanted to get tickets to go to Shanghai Circus World. She made a call and then asked us to wait until another guy came who would call for tickets.
A guy named Dexter arrived in a few minutes and after we spoke to him he made a call and said there were seats for tonight. We got the second least expensive tickets for ¥220. He said he would take us there if we meet him at the lobby at 6:30pm. He also recommended some street food nearby that is a Chinese style burrito filled with grated potato.
We walked around the corner and found the stall and bought two for ¥5 (that's like $1.60!) and munched away. They were awfully delicious and we were very impressed with our first attempt at Shanghai street food.
Following that we walked across to Raffle City and I had another cheese tea whilst Shannon had a lemon tea. Both very delicious, although I preferred the Oreo one I had the other day.
We walked back across to the museum after we finished our drinks and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon finishing off the exhibits. Today we saw some seals, ceramics, bronze ware and paintings. A very good museum for the price (free!).
We went back to Raffle City to have some lunch and we choose a restaurant called The Dining Room. We ordered some steamed soup buns, spicy noodle soup, fried chicken, spicy green beans and scallion pancakes. The customer service in China is really quite appalling and we have no idea how to ask for water or get any body's attention so it was a bit difficult to place our order. Once the food came out though we were suitably impressed. I think this soup could've actually been one of my favourites of the trip. It had a light herby broth and good firm noodles.
After lunch we were both feeling a bit sore and tired so we agreed to go back to the hostel and just relax until it was time for the circus.
At around 6pm we went up to the hostel bar and Shannon had a highball and I had a coffee and then we went down to meet Dexter at the reception at 6:30pm. He greeted us there soon after and said there were five more people coming with us. When they arrived we all introduced ourselves and then headed to the metro. Dexter guided us to the circus, collected our tickets and then made sure we were all seated before taking off. Unfortunately we weren't seated near our companions so we didn't have a good chance to chat or anything.
The show was really fantastic. It was mostly acrobats doing crazy shunts. My favourites segments were nine girls on bikes doing tricks and then all hopping onto one bike at the end. And then there was a couple doing ribbon work which was so scary but good. And then the finale of motorbikes in a metal globe. All very cool. It was definitely worth the money, especially when you compare it to the Pearl which was the same price.
We headed out into the street and hung around a bit to see if we would meet up with the other people but didn't see them so we took off and made our way back to the hostel. Out the front we saw Dexter who we told we enjoyed the show and also asked where we could get some street food snacks. He pointed us in the direction of some fried pork. We walked down and ordered a piece which they cooked fresh in front of us. It was delicious! So we ordered another and also some fried dumplings. They were also tasty and we were very satisfied with our second street food encounter. Not incredibly healthy, but hey, we are on holidays.
Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow but we'll figure something out. It's our last day in Shanghai tomorrow. Which means only two more places left before we head home to see the kits. I have to admit Shanghai is growing on me. Not sure if I'd live here but it is a lot better than I initially thought.