Saturday night in Blarney Stone Irish pub, Shanghai

We spent saturday night in a traditional Irish pub, or atleast something reasonably near to it, and had a very amusing time. I managed to get a decent pint of Guinness in The Blarney Stone Irish Pub, 5 Dongping Lu. There was also the proper sing-a-long that one expects from such places, and there was a nice cosy feel to the place.

The atmostphere stepped up a notch upon the arrival of a group of foreigners clad head to foot in kilts. After closer inspection we decided they were Dutch, or something similar, and to see them singing traditional Irish songs was certainly bizarre, but quite entertaining. See the video below… You will be able to hear Ruby in the background who found it particularly funny and was clapping along with enthusiastic encouragement, despite not understanding a word that they were singing. For her to go somewhere with virtually no Chinese people was a little unusual but she enjoyed herself, and has taken a liking to Baileys now. We had a chat to an Irish expat for an hour or two and i got some advice from him on living in Shanghai. It seems his wife has long since given up accompanying him to such pubs and prefers to stay at home and laugh at him in the morning instead, once he has rolled in, in the early hours. His wife was actually from Chongching, but he was visiting Ningbo soon, so Ruby and I gave a little advice on where he could explore there.

I expect that we will return to the Blarney Stone again but maybe not so often as each pint of Guiness set me back over £4 which makes even London look cheap. Generally pints of lager here are about £2 in bars. For atmosphere alone it was a good decision to visit this pub. I hope the video gets across the fun that we were having.

Earlier that evening we visited Fuxing Lu, part of French Concession for some shopping and then relaxed in a bar called Shining, in Sinan Road. This bar was unfortunately very quiet at the time we went in so we left and headed for Dongping lu. It was early evening at the time, so perhaps this bar gets busier later. It had a nice feel to it with plenty of random pub type things in every free space. Perhaps it will be worth a visit again sometime. Close by we also saw a random funny dog, see pic, which i had to take a photo of. If anyone knows what type of dog this is, please let me know, as i would now love one myself!

I have finally got a mobile phone here and will temporarily post the number on this blog incase anyone wants to text. But obviously the Internet is fall of crazy people, so i wont keep it posted for too long.

On saturday morning Ruby and I finally found a reasonable swimming pool close to the flat. It was a little crowded with kids, but there was enough room to do atleast a few laps and get a break from the heat outside which at the moment is incredible. This pool is only about 80p per hour aswell which is great, plus there is a gym upstairs which is only 30p per visit, which is a bargain. These are only public facilities but good enough to consider. I checked out some pools and gyms at local 5-star hotels but they worked out at around £1,000 per year membership, which in comparison, seems ridiculous.

**** By the way, just a quick note to say thanks for every message that has been left on my blog so far. I love to receive them, and it is nice to know people are reading my nonsense!! ****

Next week should involve two nights out with the company plus at the weekend Ruby and I are hoping to try out a Chinese restaurant that was recommended strongly to us, plus perhaps visit Moller Villa and Xujiahui Cathedral. We are now to watch Mr Bean – The Movie, who Ruby believes looks quite like me

~ by tomgurney on July 27, 2008.