To me, today is like the first day of spring 2009. Yea, I know it seems late, but it seems like the winter has been stretching and stretching from Feb to March, then March to April, then April at last! The weather is good!

A little background where I got the time to bike…

My friend convinced me to wake up early and go to church at 9am. (I go to church at Shanghai Community Fellowship that normally holds services 2PM and 4PM. Recently, the church has a new branch in HongQiao, and it has service at 9am and 11am) I was hesitant at first but since she tried to go to the Hengshan service at my request, I agreed to try the 9am service even if that means I have to wake up extremely early… 7am. During workdays, I wake up at 8:30am and because I live just near the office, I can be there by 9:30am. So, 7am for my body clock is extremely EARLY. Anyway, I did it for 2 weeks already and it is working perfectly for me.

So today, I went to the 9am service again for the second time and then finished the service at 10:30am. Walked to the nearby restaurant alley (….by China standards, might be around a kilometer or two walk from church). There is this burger restaurant named Blue Frog. Although a bit pricey for me, I think the meat, and French fries is worth it. I love the burger!  Well, I love meat… haha!

Where did I get the idea of going around on 2 wheels?

It is from the City Weekend magazine titled Road Warrior (Your Guide to Exploring Shanghai on two wheels). Well, I’ve tried to bike from my house to the office and then maybe the furthest is to Hengshan SCF, but this time, we tried to cross the Huang Pu River to go to Pudong. This river divides Shanghai into 2 parts – Puxi and Pudong. Pudong is where the cool beautiful, modern, international airport is, the famous Shanghai Pearl Tower, the two big towers of Shanghai – World Financial Center, and Jin Mao Tower. Well, anyway, I live in Puxi area, near the Chang Feng Park and the East China University. That’s on the opposite side of Pudong.

I haven’t counted the mileage but because of our stroll speed, the stops we made to look at the BBQ street food in WuJiang Snack road, the stops to refresh at convenience stores, crowded places (yeah, this is Shanghai, China, expect this everywhere), no bike lane streets, and getting lost, we spent almost 7 hours. That also includes almost an hour in the Super Brand Mall. (This mall is just across the river, so we stopped there for a break before going back.)

Anyway, we had to bike a long way, and People Square is quite difficult to get past because we don’t know how to navigate around it. We had to carry the bike on top a pedestrian crossing just to cross the street. Whew, at least we made it. Well, I almost gave up, but Dennis insisted. After getting through People’s Square Park, we had to find the Ferry that allows bikes to get in so we can go to the Pudong, the other side of Shanghai.

That’s me! With “Bike” waiting for the ferry to dock.

Then, we finally reach LuJiaZui, the first area in Pudong from the HuangPu River. It’s closest to the river.

This is when we reached the other side,

Pudong finally!!!

Anyway! We saw some people selling kebabs on the street. That’s normal, but what’s weird is that their charcoal and their BBQ are installed on a bike, a real mobile BBQing store. Dennis bought 10RMB worth of beef kebabs, he ate a stick, I barely ate half of it. It doesn’t taste good. :( So that’s a waste of money, and we just threw it away.  Again, what' a waste!

Anyway, we continued going to Super Brand Mall to feel the airconditioned mall and relax a bit. Visit Toys R’ Us and then took a photo with my friend… Ultraman!

and finally, the ever so famous, Oriental Pearl Tower.

Whew, what a day! so tired… time to crash!