4 Days 3Nights 上海之游, 7 – 11 September 2011

My work brings me the opportunity to travel and Shanghai is one of the places I visit often. In August, my Director asked if it was ok for me to make a trip to shanghai for a forum on 8 September. After some discussion with Adrian, we decided to make it a work cum family holiday as this week is the school holiday week. Anthea and Anders were thrilled to know that they are going to Shanghai and also flying on an aeroplane with TV..haha.

Day 1: Wednesday, 07 September.

Singapore → Shanghai (SQ 830) Dep: 1010 / Arr 1510

As usual Althea and Anders enjoyed the in-flight entertainment and their special children meal. The 5 hours flights seem to pass fast when they were having a good time.

Once we arrived and clear immigration, we went to the Maglev station. I had taken the speed train from airport to the main city centre. So I wanted Adrian and the children to have a try at it. Also this is one of the tourist main attractions.

At the main city station, we took a taxi to our hotel – Renaissance Yu Garden Hotel. We had booked 2 connecting rooms and enjoyed the luxury spacious accommodation.

Upon checked in, the children headed to the indoor swimming pool and Adrian went for his gym workout. Dinner was local fare around Yu Garden as I introduced them to my 2nd home.

Day 2: Thursday, 8 September

I had a full day conference and thus Adrian brought the children around on their own via the Metro services. Right in front of our hotel, there is a Metro station known as Yuyuan Station on Line 10.

The places that they visited were Century Park and Science Technology Museum. From the photos and their description, I could tell they had a great time.

Day 3: Friday, 9 September

I had another client meeting in the morning at 10am. Adrian brought them to the Insectariums and they had the chance to feed animal foods.

We met up around 12noon and I started my Tourist mode from here onward. We visited the renounced Confucius Temple and had a good time looking at all the wonderful architecture of the place.

After the temple, we had a quick lunch at a local lunch place and then headed to XinTianDi. Another famous tourist attraction for its food outlet and nightlife. We had a simple tea break of Hagan Daz ice cream before going back to the hotel.

In the evening, we decided to do the Bund Cruise but due to rain, we decided to postpone it to the next evening. We had a sumptuous dinner of Roast duck at the famous Lao Beijing restaurant.

Day 4: Saturday, 10 September

Adrian did some research before the tour and there are few children attractions. One of them is 锦江乐园, so we decided to bring the children to this park for an experienced. No regrets as they really enjoyed all the different rides in the park. We had about 2 hours of fun before leaving the park as the rain started to drizzle.

We had our lunch at a Macdonald outlet and Anthea claimed that the Fillet O fish tasted better than home…haha. After a good lunch, we decided to do some shopping. We headed to Nanjing Xi Road and shopped around the area. As I had some discount voucher from my client, I managed to get myself a pair of running shoes. Hopefully to prepare myself for the next run.

In the evening, we headed to the Bund for our pre-booked cruise. It was quite an adventure as we had a hard time finding the ticketing office to get the cruise ticket. Luckily we finally found it and managed to board the cruise ship in nick of time.

The cruise was very enjoyable and we had a good view of both the PuDong and PuXi of Shanghai.After the cruise, we took another slow walk back to our hotel.

Day 5: Sunday, 11 September
Shanghai → Singapore (SQ 827) 0810/1325

As it was a very early morning flight, we took a taxi from the hotel to the airport. On the way, both Anthea and Anders told me “mommy, I am going to miss Shanghai”.

Yes, for the last few days, we had so much fun exploring the city of Shanghai. I must said the children had really “walk a mile” during this trip. Every day, we were commuting to places via the local Metro services. Every point to point was walking and I am really proud that they did not complaint too much.

A first trip to our 祖国 – China, Shanghai and it had been a great experienced for the family and I believe this has open the door to more China Trips.