We arrive din Shanghai after a 6 hour train ride. Our first experience of a chinese train didnt seem too bad? Although this was the new superfast train so everything was new and clean! Once we were off the train we got down the subway to get to our hostel. The subway is Shanghai is simlair to the one in Beijing but its a little more expensive - 5 yuan instead of 2! You pay for the dist5ance you travel instead of per ride like in Beijing! Still its only 50p!! Ou station was East Najing Road, only a couple of stops away from the main train station! In the subways they have security bag checkers like in airports so that canbe a bit of a pain taking our bug backpacks on and off and evry line change! But we've gotten into a bit of a routine now!

When we stepped out of the subway it was like walking into the middle of New York. Completely different from Beijing ultra modern, clean and alot more westerners. We didnt realise but East Nanjing Road is the central shopping street in the hub of Shanghai. It was quite late and dark so all the buildings where lit up and loads of people were still shopping! We followed the directions to our hostel but we had trouble finding it. We looked like proper tourists by now with our huge backpacks and our map out turning it round and round trying to figure out which way we were standing. We give up and decided to scan the streets for someone western to help us. We bumped into and english family and told them we were looking for a hostel on 'Tianjin Rd',they pointed us in the right direction of the road and eventually we found it. Its only a 5 minute walk from the station - when you know where your going! We went to check in but realised we hadnt withdrawn andy money out since Beijing so we didnt have enough. The receptionist kept hold our passports while we dumped our bags in our room until we went to the atm. Our room was soo nice! Really clean and big - it was more like a hotel than a hostel! I went to check out the shower when i heard the girliest scream coming from the bedroom "what the f***K is that?!?!?" I ran in and Matty had drew the curtains when a huge cockroach came scurrying out. We chased it round the room trying to catch it (well matty did - i stood on the bed screaming!) Next minute, Splat!!! Matty 1 - Cockroach 0.

After the cockroach drama we headed out to find a cash machine. There was one just up the road, they are really safe, you let yourself in ( a bit like a phonebox) and lock the door behind you while you get your moeny out! We took our money out and headed back - it was late and we'd been travelling most of the day so we grabbed a few beers and noodles, paid up at the front desk and went back to our room to chill. As we walked in the family who had helped us find our hostel were sat outside having a beer - weird? did he not realise we were looking for the same hostel they were staying in? Seen as though its the only one on this road!

The next day after along lie in (9am these days!) We were up showered and ready to explore Shanghai. We knew we were close to 'The Bund' so we walked straight down East Nanjing Road towards the river. We past a load of posh shops that slowly turned into huge market shops selling "monkey hats and tat" - as alan partridge would say haha. At the end of the road we came to The Bund - its a long famous viewing area, which used to be the citys Wall Street were trading in Shanghai used to take placed. Its now full of exclusive restaurants, bars and boutiques. It stretches across a large part of the waterfront. Its mainly a viewing area for the skyline on the other side of the river.

The skyline looked amazing from here. We took loads of pictures and we got a few taken with us too! It was really humid and rainly slightly - that fine rain that soaks you through! Beijing was really hot and dry so it was quite nice to be in the rain. We got some good pictures despite the weather not being too good. We thought we'd walk along and see what was around and we noticed a ferry had just come in and people were paying for tickets we wernt sure where it went but we though we'll just get on and see where it takes us. 2 yuan (20p) bargain! It took us across the river to the other side the 'Pudong'. We walked amoungst the skyscrapers and found a cool shop at the bottom of a massive sky scraper. It was like a small supermarket and deli which sold chinese and western foods from all over the world. They had a sanwich area with freshly cooked bread, meats, cheeses, salads - like a posh subway - so we got 2 sandwiches for our lunch. We sat outside in the small eating area watching all the business men and women go by. The Pudong is the financial centre of the city. After our lunch I was dying for the loo and we walked towards the waterfront. There was a bar cafe type of place called Paulander, so we went in an oredered a drink while I was going to go the loo. 40 yuan for a small coke!! No way - I found a lovely public loo instead! We walked along the waterfront and took some pictures of the other side of the river were we were earlier. The sun had come out and it was so hot! We headed back on the boat around 4ish.

Later on that night we'd been to a local restaurant for our tea were the translations on the menu were so funny!

- The potatoe has been boiled and starch for long time - mmmm haha

- The pigs face is fried and rice

- and our personal favourite - Do the boiler bullfrog!! haha

We went for beef in oyster sauce and vegetarian noodles - which came with bits of chicken (we think) in them! - Not so vegetarian! We were sitting outside the hostel making our plans for the day as we were moving hostels to one down the road only a 5 minute walk away. A lad from London came up and asked Matty for a light and started chatting to us. We still cant remember his name but he was exactly like Sean Lock so we called him Sean. He was hilarious and was telling us about what he'd been doing in China. He was with a group tour and they'd all gone to a chinese acrobatic show and he couldnt be arsed, so decided to come to our hostel where someone had told him it was about 8 yuan for a beer. We sat chatting to him for hours, we had a proper laugh with him and his mate came to join us from his trip later on.Aaron - He was Chinese/Australian and had been living in London working for 2 years. He was on his way back home, so his accent was a bit mad! After chatting for a bit we were all a bit drunk and Aaron suggested we went down to the Bund to find a club. He said he "knew a few cool places" so we bought another beer to walk down with and made our way to The Bund. On our way down Sean pulled out a lighter and said "by the way, i had a lighter the whole time I just needed someone to speak to" hahaha!! When we got there he was obviously blagging and dint have a clue where to go. We heard music booming from around the corner so we followed it. Luckily there were people walking out of a club and Aaron asked them if it was free and where it was. It was free and was on the 6th floor of this mega posh building. When we walked in it was amazing! We've never been to a club like it. Nothing like anything in Liverpool - the drinks were so expensive! Well to what were used to paying. Sean Lock ordered us a round of tequila shots thinking he was the big balls and started sifting through 100 yuan notes in his pocket! s*** we'd only brought out about 250 yuan haha! We downed the shots and asked for the drinks menu - they handed us an ipad with their own app - with their drinks menu to flik through! oooo!! We luckily found a shot for 40 yuan each, the cheapest thing on the menu so we ordered 4 - kamakazee, vodka lime and something else, they were so nice! Sean Lock had been the toilet and when he come back he said the toilets were like spiderman! We went over to have a look and there was a corridor leading to the loo's with green lazers all the way down it reminded me of ali g! Obviously you could walk all the way through but i thought it would be a good idea to try and dodge and duck throught them - looking like a complete tit! Matty was stood at the end shaking his head.

Aaron got a couple of beers and Sean Lock decided we needed to show the chinese how to dance and jumped onto the raised dancefloor only to be escorted of by security - no drinks on the dancefloor!! bit embarassing! The club was amazing you could see the Shanghai skyline out the windows of the club and the music was really good. It go to about 3 oclock we were out of money and drunk and Sean Lock could hardly stand up so we decided to head back. In china - when its hot the men lift up their tops letting their belly out - not their whole top just lift up the bottom - like a crop top, t cool down. So on the way home, the three lads were walking back with their tops lifted up to their chest "doing the shanghai thing" I wish i had the camera with me it was hilarious, 3 lads who look completely different all pissed with their bellys out walking in a line. We said goodbye as they were heading to kfc and we went back to our hostel and crashed!

The next day we had to check out and move to the next hostel! I felt so rough but Matty was fine! Luckily it was only up the road. It was on the 6th floor of a huge building about 30 stories high. We checked in but our room wasnt ready so we had a look around they had a bar and a cool outside terrace which was huge and had a nice view. We headed out to get some food until our room was ready and bumped in Sean Lock looking a bit fragile propped up against the entrance of his hotel having a ciggi! We had a quick chat with him - he had a 15 hour train ride to Xi'an that afternoon! Urgh! We said goodbye again, and went to get some food. When we got back we checked into our room - it was really small and a bit claustophobic as there wasnt any windows but it was clean and quite nice. The tv had hbo so we chilled out hungover and watched Lord of the Rings.

That night Sean Lock had told us about a cool bar called Captains Bar which was on the roof of a hostel near the waterfornt which had a happy hour and great views of the skyline - so we headed down there that night to take some cool pictures of the skyline at night. It was quite easy to find and was quite quiet when we got there. It had an inside bar and an outside terrace that was right infront of the skyline so cool! So we got a beer each - they were buy one get one free! And took some pictures as the sun went down. We were really tired and decided to call it a day, grabbed something to eat in a restauarnt opposite the bar and headed back to the hostel.

The next day we headed down the 'French Concession' which is romantic quarter of Shanghai with cool art deco building, funky bars with different types of restaurant from Japanese to Italian. We wandered round, through Fujing Park and down to the French Concession. It was a really cool little place and if we had a bit more moeny it would of been nice to do a bit of shopping here instead of the huge expensive shops along east and west nanjing road. We got back and went to buy our ticket for the next day to GuiLin. The ticket office was quite close to our hostel. We asked for 2 tickets the next day and the chinese lady told us there were only 'hard seats' left. We wanted sleeprs as we knew it was a reaaally long journey. We thought about it for a few minutes outside and we thought oh well lets just do it! We booked tickets. 2 hard seats to GuiLin, 21 hours.

The next day we packed up our bags and went to leave but before we left who did we bump into ... only bloody beef noodle belly from the Beijing hostel!! How weird!! We headed of to the Shanghai south train station, a 21 hour train ride on a hard seat cant be that bad?? BIG MISTAKE!

We boarded the train after a 3 hour delay waiting in the station. We were glad to be on our way. Until we saw were we would be sitting. It was a row of 3 seats each side facing each other with a small table in the corner. We were knee to knee with the people in front. The doors shut and that was it. This was us, for the next 21 hours. Shiiiiiiit!!