There are 21 floors at the
Tian He Hotel and I'm sharing with Berry on the 18
th. The first thought on waking was to fill our stomachs so after spending eternity in the hotel lift we made our way to breakfast which was just as unusual as I had imagined. It seems that breakfast, is lunch, is dinner. So it didn't take long to predict that soup, rice and fried chicken were always on the menu! The following being the alternative..
We were blessed with milk, despite it being hot. We were blessed with bread, despite it being sweet. Finally we were blessed with juice, despite it tasting like weak cordial. To lift our spirits we ventured down the street for some shopping therapy!.. at the supermarket. I spent less than $6AU on bottled water, coke, muffins, skittles and Kit
Kat. Not bad hey? What we did notice was the potential for some cheap buys later in the day. After building our bikes we made our way out of the storage basement heading toward our first experience on the roads of
Chongming. Excitement quickly turned to nerves, which were then followed by laughter as we dodged the few cars that existed and the many cyclists. It seems that red lights and pedestrian crossings are just for show! Rickshaws seem to have right of way and a tooting horn simply means 'caution'. Organised chaos if you wish to call it so..
Lunch seemed to be leftovers from breakfast and later that day we were presented with what we didn't eat for dinner. While many occurrences during our first shopping stint that afternoon were memorable, the little boy standing with his pants down in the middle of the path would be the highlight. Only because Kate thought him to be cute before realising she was standing in the result of his doings!