Where To Run In Shanghai

I love running along the Suzhou River (Wasong River) when in Shanghai! It is only 1km from the Park Hotel where we stay and once you get there you can run easily in either direction. The south side of the creek has wider paths and sections where cars aren’t allowed. If you turn right when you get to the creek it is only a few kms until you are at The Bund. I love the road leading up to The Bund. You get to see plenty of others out running as well as scooters whizzing along.

The Bund is an interesting place to run. I had forgotten how many people walk backwards along it. You have to keep your wits about you to dodge the other runners as well as the all the people flying the amazing kites. Not sure who gets the right of way, the Kite Flyers or the runners.

The sun comes up early in Summer in Shanghai so you can get out nice and early so that you can avoid the heat. The later you leave it the busier the roads also become. It is great to see the city come to life as you are running. They start early you will see people out welding, or moving dirt around at 6am. You also see the different forms or Thai Chi, including the group that dress in their nice white robes Shanghai People Yingxiong Memorial Tower (start of The Bund). Whilst I don’t normally take my phone with me running, you can’t help doing it when travelling so you can stop and take a few quick snaps.

Of course there is the smog, but I didn’t find it too bad and I’m and asthmatic.

Camping on the Mighty Murray

When to go camping along the Murray River?    

For years we have had our traditional camping holiday over the Christmas break. We head up to Torrumbarry on the Murray River. It is a tradition that my wife’s family has done for around 30 years and even before that they lived up there. Often we would go up just before Christmas and get ‘our spot’. We’ve been lucky and had the same spot for every year for the last 11 years, bar one.

Camping is not a poor person’s holiday as it used to be described. Yes you can do it cheaply but over the years we have seen huge changes in peoples camping habits (even ours). Nowadays the size and expense of the boats has exploded. Our little Sleekline 1800 is now dwarfed by the huge Malibu’s and Wakesetters.  Once you get a few of these on the River it can get chaotic and our boat struggled.

Then there are the caravans, whilst ours is a modest little 1986 Roma van it’s not uncommon to see vans in excess of $80K, and of course you then need a vehicle capable of towing these toys!

This year we went up a little later than in the past. Most of the traffic up on the river is from Boxing Day until just after New Years. Whilst the in-laws headed up before new year we went just after and it was a lot quieter.

This proved to be a great move, there were times we had the river to ourselves and when you have kids trying to ski it is a relief to get empty water to help their confidence. Of course, on the last ski of the trip my wife fell, the ski hit her in the head and she spent a few hours in hospital getting her head glued up and staying under observation. In the end it was all good, although it took a few days to get back to normal.