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Having spent a lot of time on the Internet and meeting a few travelers who had traveled with laptops, I asked reception where the best place in Shanghai would be for electronics. They recommended visiting the technology market in Xu Jia Hui,so off we went to see if any bargains could be made. This so called 'Market' turned out to be a 7 story building with computers and gadgets galore, had Steve not been there, I could have easily spent my entire budget! We enter the doors and several employees 'gleefully rubbing their hands at the sight of 2 Westerners) approach us, eager to tell us what they have on offer. We settled with a guy called William and told him we were interested in the small 'eee' PC's by ASUS He showed us to the ASUS stall and they had the laptop my heart desired but with a significantly higher price tag than my brain was prepared to pay. As always in China, we bargained hard and he dropped the price considerably.
Although happy with the price, something came over me and I decided that I needed reassurance from the family that this was money well spent..Que my global sim phone deciding to pack up on me! Eager to add another gadget to my list, we dashed back to the hostel and I frantically called dad to get his opinion. Not surprisingly, he agreed with my initial assessment and gave me the green light to buy. I didn't wait around and we made our way back to the tech market and gladly purchased an Eee Pc each along with a few freebies. Like impatient kids at Christmas time, we couldn't wait to unwrap our new gifts and started playing with them on the underground. (Foolish, I know)
Once on the train, we were then approached by a local, who having just finished an English lesson, was eager to talk to us. Thinking that we had MUG written on our foreheads, I was extremely skeptical and wary of the fact that he knew we both had laptops. It didn't put my mind at ease when he informed us that he was getting off at our stop. Now although I've never been in a proper fight, I'm a bit of a karate kid (twice finishing 2nd in English championships...for the record, I should have won on both occasions) BUT for a Chinese guy, he was of reasonable size and looked like he could handle his self. Luckily for us, he turned out to be genuine and we said our goodbyes once we reached our hostel, although I don't think I've held anything has tight to me as my Eee PC that night.
After showing off our new toys, we decided to hit the town to celebrate Tom's 23rd birthday with Holly and Kate (2 Girl's from Yorkshire) Peter and Mark (2 brothers, coming to the end of their trip,,Mark by his own admission had thee smelliest feet in the world...ever) ) and Ana (a Portuguese student studying in Japan). We started the night in a lively Karaoke bar with a live band who certainly knew how to get the crowd going. Now I don't mind dancing in front of everyone (Tom and I even unashamedly showed everyone the McDonald's, Kentucky fried chicken & Pizza Hut dance) but Karaoke is definitely not my thing, so every time the lead singer came over to get us involved, I turned my attention to football in the other room. Tom and Mark on the other hand were in their element and treated us to an interesting version Hotel California. I then rallied the troops up, eager in hope to find a bar showing the Ipswich v Crystal Palace (It was live on Sky, so you never know) Needles to say, it was a futile effort and having just gone 1am, everyone bar Steve, Tom and myself decided to call it a night.
After a few beers, we made our way to Sasha's, the only bar with a decent number of people and a dance floor. With the music was exactly to our liking, we headed straight to the dance floor, eager to put our skills on show. We stopped for a drink, only for the DJ to announce it was Tequila night, meaning the barmaids were pouring free tequila down people's necks. Not wanting to miss out on what was obviously another Chinese cultural experience, we headed over for a few cheeky tequila's. The next 2 hours, pretty much consisted of non-stop dancing and we even had time to make a little music video when the DJ played Will Smith's 'Miami'
The club shut around 4:00am, but the party seemed to continue in the taxi ride home with 3 slightly inebriated English lads being a bit rowdy and getting our taxi driver 'Shaun' to race car's at every red light we stopped at.
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