Appartments in Shanghai

I mentioned in an earlier post that the apartments we stayed at in Shanghai featured Gerberas. This photo is of just one of the flowers. Each table in the restaurant had a fresh Gerbera - such as this one in a delightful vase, with some glass marbles at the bottom of the vase.

The New Harbour Service Apartments are at number 88 Yongshou Road, Shanghai. It was great to stay in a place where we had a little space. Our apartment had two bedrooms, a nice bathroom/toilet, a very pleasant lounge and dining room and a small kitchen. The kitchen was poorly presented - no spoon, (not even to stir in the sugar of our coffee). There were two cups and saucers, and some glasses. If you wanted to cook up something you'd have to hire the cultery, the plates etc and anything you need to use. Here in Australia we've stayed in apartments where all these items are provided. And you pay if they are not all there when you depart!!!

From our window we could see Old Chinatown and parts of the the Huangpu River, as well as many of the high rise buildings. It was a short walk from Peoples Square and the Shanghai Museum, and a bit further to Nanjing Road.

Even if you need to catch a taxi - it is not far, so there's no high expensive cab charge.

Would I stay there again? In a heartbeat. I hope to do so one day soon.

Business closed

Well, after five years of growing Gerbera's we have sold the business. Not as a going concern, but we've sold off various parts of the business including the plants. In part it was because the property is up for sale. We knew when we went into business with our daughter and son in law, that as it was on their property we might have to face the fact that they might want to move on.

And so it is - that their property has been up for sale for some months now. The real estate market is rather interesting at the moment - there are far more properties on the market right now as the high interest rates and the challenges within the finance industry hurt many potential home buiyers.

In any case, we've come to enjoy the late mornings sleep ins - in the past we were always up early. At least three or four days a week we'd be up around 5 am to pick flowers and do other work on the farm. Now we don't need to!

But it does mean that we will be looking for alternative income sources - after a break.

My love affair with the beautiful colourful flowers is not over. But I will not have to worry about farming them any more. I still peer into the flowers in the florists to gauge the quality of the flowers - we still see diseased flowers about. Some of them would never have been sent out from Gough Hill Farm - but others seem to find a place for them in their product for market.

I do miss not having my flowers in the house - although having been in China for nearly five months, and going back again, I'll have to find another way to enjoy fresh flowers in my loungeroom.

Who knows what the future holds???