Hello one and all sorry it's a bit late with the next blog, I've been quite the busy man, plus the internet is a bit and the poor side anyway... enjoy!


22nd June
Today was our departure from Bejing to Shanghai, and too be honest a week in Beijing was about enough for me, I don't think my eyes could take anymore pollution and dabree. I had a really cool time in Beijing and met some amazing people, but I was in the mood for someplace new.

The length of travel from Beijing to Shanghai is about 13 hours by train so we booked a sleeper train. You can either get a soft sleeper(fancy) or a hard sleeper (not too bad.. cheap). We obviously went for the hard sleeper but found there were none available so we went for the soft sleeper. Which is basically a cabin with four beds in, like bunk beds. Myself and phil both slept on the top bunks.
The previous night we got no sleep from one man who snored loader then anything possible, I wouldn't be surprised if you lot heard it back home, so... we were in the mood for some good kip.
Which I am very happy to say we did.

I must make a point to say that all Chinese train stations are rubbish. I'm not kidding there are the most miss managed over crowded places on earth. There bound to be over crowded but because Chinese people have no knowledge of the wonderful invention known as Queuing, they push and shove like there life depends on it then when they get out of the hustle and bustle they stop and do nothing for half an hour.

Rant over... lets carry on

23rd June
We arrive in Shanghai at 7.44 in the morning!!
As my dad said to me and I fully agree with him, Shanghai is a modern city and apon surfacing from the subway any westerner going to this place suddenly feels more at home in this skyscraper clad city.

Our hostel is near the bund and is a welcome rest for two people who sweat profusely and are carrying heavy heavy bags. Shanghai feels more palatable then Beijing.
That night we walked down to the Bund which from our hostel is about 10-15minutes. One thing that is a massive pain and confuses me even now is that there is only one HSBC and its miles and milles in the centre of Shanghai, and for the Hong Kong Shanghai bank its completely stupid.

Like in Beijing if you have a western face be prepared to get hassled like a mad man down Nanjing Road. There all trying to sell you a copy watch or bag, and some if your walking around shanghai at night will ask you if you want a 'Lady Hotel'. One person shouted out "Coffee!!" to me, then on realisation that this statement had not got my attention said his real question... "ladies!" I'm not sure how that works... Coffee... Ladies. its quite a jump from a beverage to lets face it, prostitution.
Anyway it can annoy you but it can also make you laugh with the ridiculous things they think you will believe.
We Also went around the French Concession part of Shanghai which is really cool. Old french style buildings and fountains can be found huddled in the middle of skyscrapers and it is here that you apparently find the crem del la crem of Shanghai'ians. Everything is lit up and there certainly is a buzz about the place. However if you want a drink expect to pay big!

24th June
We went to the Zoo today, which was recommended by my book as a great fun place too go... They we wrong... very very wrong. The place although had a lot of greenery none of it was for the animals. The place was grubby the animals were depressed and to top it off the other zoo patrons were unbelievable. They basically treated the animals with no respect, more like toys to play with. Al the way through the zoo they would bang and shout at the animals, through crisps at animals. There was one turtle enclosure that was treated like a wishing well, with turtle swimming around in coin filth, with no effort at all to clean it or any part of the zoo. It looked like they never cleaned up, even the pandas, an animal revered by the Chinese looks dirty and depressed.

Bascially dont go to any zoo in China. What I would say is that I did see some animal sthat I had never seen before which was really cool.

At night we met a girl called Bowany from Sydney who was traveling on her own so we invited her to the Shanghai museum which we were going to tomorrow.

25th June

We met up with Bowany and went to the Museum... it was shut so we went to the Art Museum insted which is located in Remin park in the centre of Shanghai.
We went for another chinese strange meal called The Hot Pot. They give you a boiling soup thing, some meat and veg and then you cook it yourself in the soup thing they provide. an interesting meal time , but far, far too much work.
Walk around, went back to the hostel for drinks, then bed.

26th June
today we (me and Phil) went to try our luck in the shanghai museum. It was open and it was quite interesting but to say it was Shanghai main musuem it wasn't anything speacial. It was interesting to see old Hong Kong and shanghai notes when we occupied them.

on the night we wanted to try a Jazz bar, after finding out that the peace hotel is now closed (sorry dad) we went to the french concession to try The Cotton Club. Which was the best thing we saw in Shangahi by far. The place was great, the music was fantastic and better still they brought a singer out to sing some blues. She was everything you wanted in a blues singer, she was oldish, african american, had a crokey voice from smoking too much and her name was Suger Mamma. She was amazing and it was a dream to sit there enjoy the music and sip some cocktails.