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Ok so after 5 days in Shanghai i thought i had seen everything i was likely to see, so i packed up my things and made my way for Beijing!!
Beijing is about a 12 hour overnight train ride from Shanghai, but the train was pretty cool. I was in with 2 other Chinese dudes who couldn't speak any English (no surprise there!). I arrived at 7am this morning. I stepped out of the station and thought "right i know im staying at a hostel nearby....but where is it!!" that thought was immediately followed up by "Bloody hell its cold"!!! I walked round for about 30 mins then realised the hostel was right in front of me!!! Im staying in a dorm with about 5 other people, but Ryan is coming into Beijing tomorrow so we'll get a twin room. Beijing has so much to see and do, we'll probably be here for like a week to ten days, but for today im so tired ima just chill here and may pop down to Tianamen sq to check that out.
So Shanghai.......
I guess i can only really put Shanghai into proper context much later into my trip. I initially didn't like it as it was so polluted and the street scams started to wear on me. (if i tell u i got approached like 200 times the first day...i would not be lying!) It got to the point that any person that spoke English i did not trust!
Some of the sights in Shanghai really were amazing though. The gardens at Yu Yuen, the trips to the top of the TV and JinMao towers (like 4th highest in the the world), the temples. I saw a lot in the 5 days i was there. I also made it a priority to head down to the old school district to see it before it vanishes (some of it was vanishing before my very eyes). I also made sure i visited the back roads where no tourists ventured so i could see some of the real Shanghai people. I didn't want to take any pictures as i thought that a lil' disrespectful, but i took a lot away from seeing what laid before me. The taxi rides were amazing too i couldn't begin to describe how the Chinese drive i was holding onto the dashboard the whole time!
If anyone was to visit Shanghai and wanted my advice....take a guide with you. Pretty much every white face i saw (and that wasn't many!) had either a paid guide with them, or a wife/girlfirend who was Chinese (some looked alarmingly young!)
All in all it was an amazing experience that i will never forget.
Oh yeah and when i was in my hostel room there was this American girl next to me who kept staring at me, then said she knew me from somewhere and asked if i ever lived in London. "uh oh" i thought....."Your name is Edward right?".....UH OH....turns out i met her in a bar in London and swapped numbers but never called her.....she still had my old number in my phone!.....UH OH TIME TO GO!!!!!!! hahahahah Small world eh?
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