Follow the Red Flag

It was good to get a cold out of the way early in the season and it was inevitable as covering one's mouth or nose when sneezing or coughing is a rare display of manners amongst the public here. Subsequently, I was sick for the golden week and wasn't able to utilise the week long holiday during October. I was however able to venture out on the weekend and decided to travel to all the tourist spots that have eluded me so far. When working in a city for an extended period you tend to push back the 'touristy' sites as you feel you've got plenty of time to visit them, however with around a month and half to go, I felt I need to make better use of my time here.

So, over a two day period, I ticked off Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, Yu Garden, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai History Museum and the Shanghai Aquarium. Solid without being spectacular, I've found it seems to be one of the aspects of the city that hasn't developed at breakneck speed. The scores of people at Yu Garden during the day make it a nightmare to walk through, while I'm sure my head has popped into a number of photos as I navigated my way through the crowd. While at the pearl tower, the mandatory skyline view of the city provides a perspective of how large and dispersed the city really is. Finally at the aquarium an excellent display of marine wildlife is on show, with the highlight being the longest underground walkway, providing a spectacular experience as a variety of creatures swim around you.
 

Last week I headed off to Suzhou, yesterday Hangzhou and later I'll make a short visit to Taiwan. Coupled with about 5 days of drinking this week am I hearing the feint sounds of trying to cram everything in before I live to regret it?