zhujiajiao.

April 4th through April 5th mark the Chinese Qingming Festival which is also known as the Tomb-sweeping Day. People go out and do stuff like fly kites and just hang out with their families, so we have also had a couple of days off from school. We decided to use this time wisely and head out to Zhujiajiao which is an ancient town in Shanghai's Qingpu district. It took us about three hours or so to get there from Zhoupu - first, we took a bus to Longyang metro station, then the metro to People's Square, and walked to Puanlu bus station and took a bus to Zhujiajiao. We stayed at the Cao Tang Hostel (31 Dongjing St.) which was a bit hard to find, but with some help from a friendly cafe owner we were finally able to find our way there. The hostel is located in an old Qing dynasty house, so it truly has some character and an antique-sy kind of feel to it. And they had some divine almond ginseng tea!

We dined and had breakfast at another hostel, though. The My Way hostel was located on 31 Xihu Street and it was a home to two really big long-haired cats! First time I have ever used a public restroom with a kitty litter box in it! My Way had some fantastic black pepper beef and rice fare and their breakfast was refreshingly European with some toast, egg, bacon, sausage, tomato, cucumber - and really good coffee.