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On the way to Shanghai we had decided to all meet up at our friends Ella and Nicole's massive house in Jiujiang, a couple of hours north of Chongren. When we arrived we were met by our friends from Gansu, bang in the middle of China, who had been traveling for about 4 weeks longer than we had. We had a lovely welcome from them when we arrived as we had not seen them in person since October! We sat down that night over drinks and chatted about all the stuff we had got up to in our travels - they had some crazy stories. Then we slept in the next morning, thinking that our train was at 7. We trekked down to Wal-Mart to buy peanut butter and popcorn and then headed back for a nap. Ella had booked an earlier train that left at 4 so she started getting ready while we lazed around. Naomi thought to double check her tickets and I thought why not I might as well too, just to be safe. The shouts when we both figured out that we were also on the 4 o'clock train and it was three o'clock now were panic ridden! We ran about packing - half of our stuff was in the wash! Finally we got to the station with time to spare after a very tense half an hour and got on the train thinking what a close shave it would have been. Since it is Spring Festival there would have been no chance of there being any unsold train tickets, especially to Shanghai.
When we arrived it was very early and we walked about in a daze, finding a McDonalds and walking blocks and blocks to find the hostel. We had a nice room between the four of us, meeting up with Hannah as she arrived later! When we arrived we went for a ladies shop, of course, finding a Forever 21 nearby (my new favourite shop of all time) and had a nice catch up with the other ladies. That night not many of us wanted to go out on the town but 5 of us set off in two taxis to find the French Concession. Henry and I were in one and after telling our taxi driver to follow the others we proceeded to crack out a bottle of 50p spirit and do shots in the back of the car. It was a while before we realised that we were not, in fact, following our friends but by a lovely twist of fate we managed to end up on the same street and hangout SoHo which was doing a £10 entry and free drinks all night! Let's just leave it Henry and I getting very drunk.
The next day was a bit of an exploring day down the bund and along into about the only really Chinese bit of Shanghai! Shanghai does have a modern but also colonial aspect to it, especially in the architecture around the centre and the bund. We found ourselves in a market looking for a small temple and then headed back in the afternoon for a nap, napping being essential to the travel experience. That night was the night of Chinese New Year and we had planned for it to be our biggest night out. The girls were all getting ready for hours! Doing each other's hair and makeup, trying on each other's clothes and swapping stories as we sipped on pre drinks! Then, all of a sudden, someone burst in at half 9 and told us that we better hurry over to the Bund as the fireworks were about to go off. So, we all rushed out into the sub-zero temperatures outside wearing our party dresses clad in huge winter coats and up onto the boardwalk where the crowds were gathering. We ended up waiting for hours, the crowds, mainly of foreigners, getting bigger and bigger in the cold of the evening. We sipped on vodka and wine, lost each other, found each other, found other people and then waited and waited and waited some more all the while being told a later and later time. Finally when 12 rolled we waited anxiously for…. NOTHING. We learned later that because of the growing pollution in Chinese cities the government had commanded that no fireworks be let off! Then followed confusion. We decided to find a club but in the confusion half of us were bundled into a car and the other half remained on the Bund waiting around. About half an hour later, upon failing to find a taxi, we found a MUSE on the 5th floor tucked a couple of streets away. Some dancing and sneaky baijiu later we tumbled out and having met party Jesus we felt our evening was complete and headed home. The next day we headed out onto the Bund again to find that it was 人山人海 ren shang ren hai or people mountain people sea (really really crowded) after wandering about, trying to get on the metro and then finally catching a taxi, the ladies headed over to the French Concession for a little explore. There we found expensive cars, shops and bars. In a western supermarket, I prioritised and bought some olives over doritos! Finally we headed back home to get ready for another night out. While in the supermarket we had seen an advert for a club called G plus so we gathered the gang for some pre drinks. Chinese clubs are good because they give you free drinks. Basically, Chinese people don't dance; so if you bring some atmosphere and fill up the dance floor you find yourself with a private table and some liqueur on tap! That kept us going for the night and the next night although Beth got a little over excited and on the way over ended up back at home! There is not really too much else to Shanghai except and ill-fated visit to a fakes market. In terms of partying, food and shopping Shanghai is a wonderful city but as a tourist I found it a bit lacking in history for my liking, good think I was too tired by the end to care! I spent half a day feeling the worst I had ever felt napping on the couches in the hostel after having been kicked out of our rooms at 12. I felt like hell!- comments