It reached 27 degrees today!

Wow, Spring is certainly in the air. It reached a whopping 27 degrees C today (that's 81 degrees F for you crazy Americans ;))

What did I do to take advantage of this beautiful sunny, warm weather? I stayed inside feeling sorry for myself coughing up yellow crap and nursing my poor painful dizzy head, drinking homemade garlic and honey tea ... ahhh woe is me.

17 degrees!

What the heck? It's 17 degreees today. Doesn't feel like it though since it's quite windy, still feels cold to me but still.. much warmer than before!

6 degrees... it's a heatwave!

It's 6 degrees - positively a heat wave! ;)

The snow is steadily melting and soon it will all be gone. I must admit I feel a tinge of sadness seeing it gone because it is such a special and rare occurence to me. When I first came back from Taiwan there was still quite a lot of it around but now it only exists on rooftops and even then not much is left. I can see a lot of 'wet patches' left on roofs where there used to be big slabs of snow.

Actually, there are still chunks, clumps and slabs about the place, basically in places that are constantly in shade and never get any sun. But most of those are dirty grey chunks, not that beautiful pristine white you associate with snow...

One good thing about Shanghai's weather is that it is almost always sunny. I know it rained heaps while I was in Taiwan (likewise it also rained heaps in Taipei - no doubt caused by the same high/low pressure system in the area) but generally speaking you don't get that horrible constant grey drizzly weather you get in some places (not mentioning any names Melbourne and Europe ;) ) I sometimes wonder if I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - that kind of weather really, really affects me and my dad said it affects him too. We used to live in Melbourne before Sydney and he told me he couldn't stand it, hated it in fact, which was one of the reasons we moved.

Weather and climatic changes are a funny yet scary thing... I keep having thoughts about that movie "The Day after Tomorrow" and something I read about the Three Gorges Damn (due for completion in 2009) being blamed for causing catastrophic weather patterns in Southern China recently. It's one of the few man-made structures visible from space (it is that big).

The thoughts that if that dam really did cause such huge changes in weather patterns.. well it's just mindboggling and damn scary.

Read more about the dam here and here.

COLD WEATHER

I'm not going to let anyone tell me I'm exaggerating anymore. It is damn cold. This morning when I got up and looked at weather.yahoo.com it said it was -2 and felt like -2. Then, half an hour later it said it was 0 but felt like -4. What the-?

It is mentioned in the news too

http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/313974/cs/1/

Below-zero temperatures failed to deter Shanghai residents from welcoming in the New Year. Hundreds of thousands filled temples for traditional bell-ringing, or attended parties, and fireworks displays, mirroring activities in cities and towns across China.

http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/metro/userobject1ai3322383.html

Shanghai welcomes 2008 with fireworks, parties, temple-bell striking and a sudden blast of cold weather as temperatures dropped below zero, Shanghai Daily reported.

One of the coldest New Year's Eves in recent years and a freezing blustery wind were not enough to stop thousands of revelers celebrating, from Xintiandi's count-down party to the Longhua Temple's bell striking.

I don't know what they are talking about but I certainly didn't feel a 'freezing blustery wind' no matter how cold I was!

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200801/20080102/article_343604.htm

Warmer days ahead
By Steffie Lu
2008-1-2

TEMPERATURES will begin to rise gradually beginning tomorrow, but not before Shanghai faces the coldest day this winter today, weathermen said yesterday.

The low temperature will drop to minus two degrees Celsius downtown today. It will be even colder in the suburbs at minus three to minus five degrees.

According to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau it will be sunny and warm up to six degrees during the day.

From tomorrow, the mercury will slowly rise to 10 degrees by Friday, but the lows will still dip close to zero at night. Sunny skies are expected for the rest of the week, said the bureau.

Yesterday, most parts of the city felt temperatures below zero, with Fengxian District recording the lowest at minus 2.3 degrees.

The average humidity in the city was about 30 percent yesterday, the bureau said.

The dry weather is expected to continue for several days, and the bureau reminded people to drink more water and eat more fruit.

Weather reports are available on the bureau's information Website: www.soweather.com/pubweb/Indexeng.aspx

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

What I've done lately...

23 Dec - Went to Xujiahui to take photos of the lovely Christmas lights and trees at night.

24 Dec - Went to a wedding. There were about 250 guests. It was nice and romantic but for us guests nothing really to do. Plus the room was just filled with smoke and making me quite sick. The food was very good though and the band (which was right behind us on a big stage) were awesome.

25 Dec - After a late night didn't feel like doing much. We swapped presents and that's about it.

26 Dec - Went to Novel Place, Xujiahui. First we went to Green Massage at Suite 102, 88 Xingen Lu just off Tianyaoqiao Lu (near Novel Place). We had a 70min all over body massage for 132 RMB each. The place was really nice. It looked like a spa you'd get in a 4-5 star hotel. The lighting was low, and everything seemed tranquil and nicely designed. They gave us silk satin robes to wear (mine was a purpley brown colour, and hubby's was a khaki green colour) and we put our own clothes away into a locker. The way the locker locked is the same at our gym, with a magnetic device.

Then, we were ushered into the massage room with 2 tables inside. They gave us a beautiful wooden Chinese oval shaped box to put our key inside and then this box was put underneath the beds. It was definitely the most thorough massage I think I've ever had and the best butt and leg massage. Afterwards we put back on many layers of clothes, paid, before venturing out into the cold air.

We had dinner at Blue Frog and we think we ordered exactly the same thing as the first time we went to Blue Frog. I ordered nachos (70 RMB). It is fantastic!

Afterwards we did some grocery shopping at City Shop just opposite it.

27 Dec - Stayed at home and bummed around not doing much.





28 Dec - Caught up with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. We tackled the mega huge "Qipu Lu" wholesale stores. I'd read and heard about this place but never been because 1) it's a bit further out of town and 2) I heard how huge it was so I knew I'd need a lot of time, energy and MONEY. I had time but didn't have that much energy or money but still.. I went there with her and it was great fun. We saw some fake label clothes but I had a sneaking suspicion they were the real deal. I know skeptics would say "Sure, how can you tell? Are you sure?" but I really think I can tell. First of all the styling is Western, the sizing is Western, the quality of the fabric and the sewing, but also the tags both sewn on and the cardboard tags. The printing on fake clothing is usually pretty crap and riddled with spelling mistakes etc whereas on real branded items it's not. Sometimes there are even barcodes and prices listed on the tag (in American dollars).

Afterwards we went back to her place for tea and for dinner. We chatted about everything under the sun, watched a bit of tv, it was great fun and I didn't get home till almost 10pm.

29 Dec - Another bumming around at home not doing much day.





30 Dec - Met up with the same friend again and our hubbies met for the first time. We had dinner in a Japanese restaurant and then hubby and I had a massage (foot, since we'd just eaten). It was FREEZING as anything when we came out.

31 Dec - Wasn't quite sure what to do for NYE. Didn't want to go to the Bund as I knew it'd be mega crowded. Ended up having dinner in Itoya on Huaihai Lu. Yep that's 2 Japanese restaurants in a row! (Btw the food at the first place is good but not as good as Itoya. The service at the first place is really good and the service at Itoya was crap). Then we walked down to Xintiandi. It was pretty crowded with people and the roads were blocked off and there were police everywhere. Since Chinese people don't drink alcohol much it was very tame compared to what I'm used to in Sydney with stupid drunken idiots everywhere thinking they are 'funny'.

I recalled the first time we went to Xintiandi in September and how hot and humid it was and now it was freezing and very dry. So dry that hubby and keep on 'charging' each other every time we touch. Same with strangers too. My hair (now waist length) keeps flying everywhere too and sticking to things. Static electricity is kinda erm.... annoying?

Anyway we got there just before 10 and it was still OK. We realised we had 2 hours to kill. We didn't have a plan and just wandered into that small shopping centre at the end of the XTD block. We went up to the top and I saw a manicure place. I suddenly had this idea it would be good to do as I could kill a lot of time with it. So that's what I did and hubby just rested in a chair there.

After about an hour (including 20mins waiting for an available staff member and 10 minutes drying time) it was done. I got a hot pink colour (don't know the name) by OPI. It was pricey but heck we were in XTD! I also got little diamante thingies - one on each hand, but one of them has already fallen off :( It cost 150 RMB in total.





After that we went back out and went to the famed French bakery, Paul. (photo from shanghaiist). It's only a very small bakery (as most bakeries are!) and really really crowded. Nevertheless we were served quickly and we ended up getting a raspberry custard tart, a slice of apple pie, and two croissants for 90 RMB. Pricey - yes, delicious - you betcha!!

Then we went back to the other side of XTD to get ready to watch the countdown on the big screen. By that time it was about 11:40 or so and it was getting more and more crowded by the second. Towards the last 10 minutes it really was like sardines in a can. Stupidheads also thought they wanted to move through the crowd at the last minute and not getting very far. Also I couldn't see a great deal due to tall people, people wearing bunny ears and lit-up devil's horns on their heads, and people holding helium balloons. Still, the good thing about the crowdedness was that it made us all surprisingly warm. My hands (despite wearing thick fleece lined gloves) had gone from frozen to thawed our warmness. Mmm... toasty.

So we watched the countdown, they we saw and heard fireworks. The fireworks were only a block away but behind some buildings so we couldn't see everything but it was OK. Enough excitement for me I thought. :) After that there was a mass exodus of people pushing towards one direction so I guess we just followed everyone.








Hubby thought it would be impossible to find a taxi, I chose to think positively and what do you know. Voila! We got one almost straight away. The traffic wasn't too bad either. We passed Xujiahui on the way home and saw there must've been a big even there too. I was almost kicking myself we didnt go there instead! There was a massive stage outside Grand Gateway and lots of policemen around. They were just starting to pack up the stage when we drove past and I saw 20 policemen standing around.

Eventually, we got home at around 12:45am.

I will say one more thing - I'll never complain about Sydney being cold ever again. This is the girl who thought 15 deg was very cold and 10 deg is downright freezing. After surviving the last couple of days where it has consistenly hovered around the 0 degree mark I will never take for granted Sydney's moderate climate ever again. Also I still find it so hard to understand how a place that gets to 38 degrees in summer can get to -5 in winter!

Also I have been wishing and wishing .. why won't it snow?
I've tried to read up on why and now snow forms but find it all a bit complicated. I think it has to be rainy or cloudy for it to snow? Since it's been sunny the last few days and will also be the following few days, I doubt it'll snow. Boo hoo.

Insane crazy heatwave weather!

Every day I check the temperature on various weather websites. It's become my obsession. It's just crazy. I guess I've been too spoilt for too long living in Sydney, where the climate is so moderate. Where people think it's hot if it's over 28º or cold if it's under 15º (myself included). Well It's been in the mid-30s here for almost a month now. Which may seem OK but it actually feels more like 40+ and I'm not making this stuff up either! Even Yahoo Weather agrees. To me, going outside is like standing in front of one of those hot air handryers in public bathrooms - a huge one, for hours on end.

The poor workers who have to work outdoors...(like construction builders). I really feel for them. Standing or walking outside for just 5 or 10 minutes is hell on earth. How do they manage to work outside in the blistering heat (where the sun is also very strong and shining brightly every day) for hours and hours on end? I heard that if the temp. is over 35º they get paid a little more than usual and if it's 40 or over, they don't have to work.

Thank God the humidity is not that high. It is only about 50% and not more than 60%. However, the sweat factor is definitely there. You just sweat. And sweat. And sweat. And sweat... I have seen people walking or riding a bike with a wet face towel over their head - good idea! The weirdest feeling I get is when I walk into a freezing cold air-conditioned building after being outside and my arms become as cold as ice yet my chest, back and head are still sweating like mad. Such a lovely feeling - not!

Crazy weather!

Well I succeeded in my mission to get a laptop cooler today.

I was determined to get a 'bargain' and only paid 65RMB for it. Oh, btw, it only lowers the temperature by 2-3 degrees. Still, better than nothing! But it's good in that it also stops the laptop from touching my legs and burning them, and the fan also cools my legs - bonus!

I went to Metro City in Xujiahui 徐家汇 and also Best Buy. It was really hot outside but the funny thing was, I got used to it. After a while it didn't even feel *that* hot anymore. And luckily the humidity wasn't that high so it was more of a dry heat (like a sauna), rather than a muggy wet sticky heat (like a steam room). Inside, the air conditioning in buildings and taxis did not seem to be working or coping that well.

I left just before 10am and didn't get home till 1pm because of my walking back and forth to compare prices, and just general wasting time window shopping. Also went to my fave mall Grand Gateway for another peak and checked out the basement supermarket, Lianhua, 联华 for the first time.

At around 3pm the city plunged into darkness. It was strange, one minute the sun is coming through the window, the next there is no light, as if the sun has gone down, except that it hadn't.

I look outside and it's foggy as anything and pouring rain. I am forced to turn on the lights in our apartment. But after a few minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out and everything was back to normal again. Weird weird weird.

This photo from ShanghaiDaily.com is what it looked like.

Only black clouds can be seen from the 38th floor of the Shanghai Daily's newsroom in downtown Shanghai at about 15:12pm today. The heavy rain which poured down cooled the city which had received its second yellow hot alert of the year in the morning. The temperature was predicted to surpass 35 degrees Celsius after yesterday's high of 36.3 degrees.

PS - See? I told you my Chinese was improving! On Tuesday this new friend and I went to a road called Lianyou Rd 联友路. I only saw and wrote the words once. Last night I was 'studying' my Grand Gateway map booklet and noticed there was some kind of supermarket in the basement. However, I didn't know what it was called (but I could read the world for supermarket). But I thought to myself - What is that word? I have seen it before! And realised it was 'lian'. Then I already knew the word hua 华 too which is so common.

I also only knew the English name for Metro City (the building which looks like a giant dome or sphere) and wanted to tell the taxi driver where to go, so I consulted my Lonely Planet book and found out the Chinese name, Meiluocheng 美罗城 (lit. Beautiful 'net city). Best Buy is called Baishimai 百思买 (Bai-shi (sound for Best) Buy).

PPS - Yay, I have more visitors! Since I installed Clustrmaps the other day I only had visitors from Sydney (home), Shanghai (me probably), and somewhere in south-eastern USA. Now I have visitors from Singapore or Malaysia? and France? Yay! "Zoidberg has friends."

Hello Summer!!

Every single person I had spoken to about Shanghai, every book I had read about Shanghai, mentioned the horrible summer that exists here. So I got scared. I got really really scared. I don't mind the heat but the humidity gives me a rare type of intensely itchy eczema that doesn't go away until it starts to become cooler and and drier pretty much (probably September at least - aaarrghh!).

Anyway, I had been marvelling to myself at how lucky I was that the whole time we had been here (from May 6th) the weather had been really nice. Sure there were some hotter days but overall, it was comfortable and especially in the late afternoons and evenings it was nice and breezy and cool almost - down to the low 20s or high teens. I even had to wear a long sleeve fleecy jacket at night! It was so breezy and cool.

Well I guess all my friends and books were right. Summer just hits you in the face here in Shanghai. One minute it is nice (all of May and around half of June) say the guidebooks, but then it's humidity city.

HOT. HUMID. WET. RAINY. That is what summer is like in Shanghai!

The week started to get hotter and hotter starting from Monday and today was the hottest it had been. Yesterday was pretty hot too but nothing like today. Today was the first day I had to use the air-conditioning since we moved into our flat. I tried to tolerate the heat but it was just unbearable, plus my poor computer couldn't cope either.

Earlier it was reported to be around 34degrees on a site, but I went to Yahoo and it said 32deg, 70% humidity, feels like 40deg. I thought - Wow, I'm not imagining it. Even Yahoo tells me it feels like 40deg!!

At around 7pm there were some massive thunderstorms complete with lightning. Since we are so high up, it felt like the lightning was right outside our window! Incredible (and scary).

Now, at 9pm, according to both Yahoo Weather and Shanghai Daily it is 26deg, 89% humidity, feels like 29deg.

I suppose there is no point hoping and wishing it would cool down. This is Asia afterall, and this is summer!

I suppose I should be thankful, though, I am not in Taiwan, Hong Kong or southern China where it would already be this hot in April or May.

The funny thing is, everyone back home in Sydney had been complaining about how cold it has been there. Down to 6 degrees some nights. Brrr...