communism here we come CHINA

China was in my sights. our 1st stop over was Lhasa and even though we where getting straight back on the same plane we where searched throoly. They even checked every page of a time magazine i had i8n my bag. I guess they where looking to see if the dahli lama popped up. The baron terrane was like a lunar landscape from the plane, what a shame i couldnt get here.
Our 2nd stop over was in Chengdu very briefly and as we entered the next plane by some stroke of luck we had been upgraded to 1st class. This ment that i slept for a large part of that flight.

We arrived in Shanghai at night and u could almost smell the underlying communism on the air, or was that just the smell of burnt airline fuel. We took a cab to our hostel and where greeted by tv's in the headreasts advertising all manner of things in manderin. When we arrived at the hostel we walked into what looked like a 4 star hotel in the center of the Bund area in Shanghai. Soft beds clean toilet and a bar upstairs with a stunning view.
The next morning we ventured out into the bustling metropolis of 16million ppl that is Shanghai. The walls of the buildings rise high into the sky from the streets and the weather was icy, 3 or 4 degrees. We walked around expecting to find bargin price electronics and clothing but the pounds d0ownward spiral has caused it to become much the same price as England.
For some reason i expected the ppl of China to be more reserved and less fri8endly than the 2 countries i had been to previously visited. But they r very welcoming maybe the women more than the men and maybe because they want to improve there english but none the less they r still very friendly.
We met a girl and a guy on the 4th day in Shanghai who invited us to a tea ceramony. Knowing nothing of this Tea ceramony we joined them in 1 of Shanghais many tea houses. A Tea ceramony is what empories where treated to by there mistresses in the times of the dynasties. Boiling the water 3 times at an exact tempurature befour pouring fromn a great hight. Watching a small organic looking ball plunged into 1 of teas and unravel in the haet into a flower with a string of what looked like fish eggs coming out of it was rather interesting and the tea its self tasted unbelivable. It is a fine art to say the least and im glad i got the chance to experience it even tho it was ludicrusly expensive.
Afetr finishing the ceramony we went onto a chinese resturant they gererally call a hot pot. Where the a big metal bowl is that is split into 2 halves is placed on a heater in the middle of the table. 1 side is filled with some really spicey stoke and the other is filled with something mild like veg or chicken stoke. U then proceed to to order rare veg meat and fish which u have to cook urself in the bubbling couldron in front of u and as the meal goes on the stoke becomes more and more flavoursome. 1 of the strangest dinning experiences ive had and u sit thee for maybe 2 hours before ur done which makes it quite social.
Shanghai's night life only took us until the weekend to track down but when u r paying 5 quid for a Carlsberg and 8 quid for a Guinnes u have to chose wisely. If u want a cheap night out u have to find an open bar normally charging 10 quid. The clubs r state of the art multi-million dollar affairs with fancy decor and an untold number of VIP areas. Most clubs charge u 60 quid if u want a table for the evening. Its crazy. So u spend most of the time u r not dancing purched on the bar. And when u do lapse in drunken concentrationand sit back in a chair 1 of the 30 or 40 waiters will pull u up and demand u pay if u want that table. This is another thing with china, u can tell to many ppl live here because every workplace is over staffed and all it takes is a short look in the wrong direction and the end of ur beer, or the last of ur food is snatched from under ur nose and desposed of. Its intense but it does normally mean u dont have to wait long for a new drink or some waiter service.
The games arcades and internet cafes r mad places. The arcades take up intire floors

"why wont this dame guy leave me alone, rubbing my leg trying to get money off me because he cant walk properly. Cant he see im trying to write while waiting for a bus!!!"

of shopping malls packed with all the latest games. Then in 1 corner u will come across an old gem like Ferrari F355 challenge. The internet cafes r swarmed by chinese, apparently because it is more social but it dosent stop them sitting there in silence playing games and surfing the world wide web on the 300+ PCs that r in these cafes.
After entering Shanghai my partner in crime started to spend at a silly rate, being a city mouse and haveing no control over himself. And the fact that Shanghai is just like any other city in the world there is very little close to the real china i was looking for here. So Hangzhou and the West Lake is what i set my sights on and maybe China herself.

I arrived in Hangzhou early in the morning and went straqight to the ticket office. It was heaving. Ques ran for 50 meters outside the building. I lugged my bags (which seemed to have been growing slowly) down the line for 2 hours and ended up chatting to a chinese girl who said she would help me get a ticket to Hong Kong. We got to the counter and she asked the girl behind the counter about my ticket. the girl replyed in chinese and the whole crowed of ppl around me burst into laughter .

"What did she say"
"She said there r no trains going from here to Hong Kong"
"Great!"

She offered to help me some but i couldnt be bothered after that and went in search of the hostel I had seen in the lonely planet.
Hangzhou is split into 2 halves. A sprawling metropolis on with a population bigger than London on 1 side (and i thought i was getting out of the big cities) . Then the otherside is the original West Lake and some of Chinas rolling hills, its a nice contrast. I spent my time here relaxing in the picturesque parks around the lake and cycling around the meny monuments. While sitting in the parks mellow chinese music carresed my ear drums from hidden speakers. some even disguised as rocks. It seems to give me the impression that they want u to think the land is so beautiful it creates the music its self although I guess it is probably all to do with fengshui. Guess some of Chinas paranoia is rubbing off on me.
A few of my evenings here where spent at an irish bar catching up on the Gunners games from the past weeks. Its not easy to track down premiership footie out here its all basket ball and table tennis. Then my last evening was spent at a Jazz concert that conveniantly fell on my birhtday.
I decided to go back to Shanghai to catch a flight to Hong Kong. Because the hassel of getting hold of train ticket at Chinese new year was really getting on my nerves and i didnt want to miss Pete and Hannah arriving. So i got on abus back and as i sat back i waited for the city to end and the chinese countryside toto begin. It never came. I can see where all the Chinese live now the whole 170km stretch from Hongzhou to Shanghai was full of houses and flats not dense enough to be a city but close enough to see ur neighbor standing in there window.
I arrived in Shanghai a little pissed off i had to back track but i only had 4 days to kill and the 1st night was spent with 2 American girls teaching english in China like a lot of the westerns i have met. They invited us back to a plush Shanghai apartment they had borrowed from a friend for a short break. We sat back and savoured his expensive liquor and enjoyed the sprawling view.
The next day Rob showed me his new purchases. A pair of Calvin Klein jeans and a pair of Nike Air Jordans. There was 1 small problem with 1 of his Jordans it had a squeak. Just loud enough to be confussed with a mouse. Rob being Rob couldnt ignore it and we went out looking for a Nike store. After explaining the problem to a sales assistant and walking around the store 4 or 5 times trying to prove the squeak the sales assistant asked if he was serious and i broke down in laughter. Then Rob asked if he could speak to a Nike shoe engineer and i laughed all the harder.
After getting back to the room we realised a bum had set up shop in our dorm. I guess when they make enough money they go to the cheapest place they can find to spend a few nights. He stank of disinffectant so god nows how many sores he had under his clothes. And then as night fell and he drifted into sleep the noise was so load no 1 in our room could sleep. It didnt even sound like snoring. As far as im aware some scientists believe we snore as self defence when we where more primative and lived in the wild. well this guy would of done a good job of scaring off a grizzily bear. So i stuck my headphones in turned my music up and fell asleep.
The last day in Shanghai came and i left rob to go and catch my flight. I took the subway to Longyang rd where the Maglev train awaited. 431kmph (268mph) and the 30 km was done in 6 or 7 minutes, easily the fastest i have ever been on land. No rails to hold it in place just magnets so no friction. It was stupidly fast and as it banks to go through the corner the opposit train going back to shanghai goes past with a bang and i jumped back in my seat.
The flight was delayed by 2 hrs and that ment i didnt get into Shenzhen until midnight. Bit of bad luck with the hostel i wanted to stay in closing down and not finding out till the 25 minute taxi ride to get there was over. Anyway i found a motel for a resonable rate and waited for the mornign and my arrival in Hong Kong.

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