Shanghai - Day 3

Woke up to a sunny day with an expected temperature of 31. After breakfast we headed out for today's adventure to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. We successfully navigated the  subway and found our destination.

It is one of the largest ocean aquariums in the world and has the world's longest submarine viewing tunnel 155 meters. It has nine zones including China Zone, South America Zone, Australia Zone, Africa Zone, Southeast Asia Zone, Cold Water Zone, Polar Zone, Sea and Shore, Deep Ocean Zone and Special Exhibitions. The exhibits include more than 300 types and 15,000 water creatures and rare fishes, such as poison dart frogs, jellyfishes, moonfish, leafy sea dragons and emperor penguins. It covers the world's five Continents and four Oceans.

Currently, this is the only aquarium in the world to have a China Zone. This zone specialises in exhibiting aquatic organisms and ecology of the Yangtze valley as well as some endangered aquatic species in China. Most creatures in this zone are under national protection such as the Chinese sturgeon, mullet, Yangtze alligator and giant salamander.

It was very busy with lots of noisy kids so we did it all very quickly. Jody and Stephen headed back to the hotel whilst the rest of us took a walk around checking out the promenade then catching the cable car through the tunnel under the Huangpu river for a really great hamburger and cold drink.

Noel went for a swim at our sister hotel next door at the indoor swimming pool and then braved a haircut which isn't too bad seeming they didn't speak English. He didn't get the bowl cut. I was getting a headache, didn't sleep well last night so decided to rest and watch a movie to save my energy for tomorrow.

We all met for dinner and had a really nice meal at a restaurant recommend by our guide Annie. Noel and I seem to have a thing for wonton soup as we tend to order one every meal.  We are getting good at ordering from pictures now and mostly getting what we want. Still having some stuff ups like tonight we thought beef tender was beef tenderloin just translated incorrectly like a lot of stuff but no it was beef tenders. The language barrier can be challenging but good old universal hand signals seem to help with a lot of stuff. Food prices are cheap if you go to the right places so if you order the wrong thing it doesn't really matter.

Went for a stoll along the Nanjing Mall as it is a very pleasant 23 to settle dinner. Found a wine shop that sells Rawsons Retreat wine for about $20 so Donna and I bought a bottle each. We can't seem to get wine at restaurants so we have to have a couple before we go out.

Tour starts tomorrow so back to the hotel for an early night. Fitbit steps today 19,131, 12.72km.