Cloud 9 baby....

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Shanghai is a LOT more westernised and dare I say it civilised than Beijing. The journey down was a great start. After getting Paddy on his first train journey in over a year (how the other half live!) it certainly lived up to its reputation as the nicest train in China. In fact it was nicer than most aeroplanes I have been on (even in first class). A western toilet AND a toilet seat cover....have we mistakenly arrived in Japan early?? We were, however, given little rest from the curiosity of the Chinese fellows in the carriage....although this time it was our chinaman friend who caused the stir. Fascinated by Paddy and his amazing Beijing accent we were pumped for information by all in sundry who wanted to practice their English or just find out at last how much round eyes earn, weigh, pay for houses at home, etc. Really quite personal questions to ask a total stranger but they don't care about that.

Shanghai was a necessary stop-over before darting to Japan. The main attraction of Shanghai is the colonial river front, The Bund, with its Victorian buildings and views across the river to the skyline of Pudong, which includes the Oriental Pearl Tower. The shopping street, Nanjing Lu, was like many others....lots of designer shops and a McDonalds every 20 metres. They also love a Haagen Daz. Lara could not resist an ice cream fondu for lunch. The only shopping we were interested in was some pirated DVDs - they cost about 90p each. When Lara was approached by a man in the street she agreed to let him lead us to his house to show us his DVD selection. On the way he spoke with Paddy in Chinese and Paddy started laughing. We asked whet was funny and he relayed the conversation to us;
Paddy: "Where are you leading us to?"
Bloke: "Oh, you speak Chinese!"
Paddy: "That's right."
Bloke: "So all three of you speak Chinese?"
Paddy: "No, just me."
Bloke: "But the blonde woman just spoke in Chinese to me."
Paddy: "Really? What did she say?"
Bloke: "DVD."

Idiot.

We also went to a fantastic ornamental garden called Yu Yuan with amazing pools, walkways, bridges and rockeries. This was the perfect time of year to see this because the trees in all sorts of colours. Loads of photos.

Our last night in China was spent sipping a drink in Cloud 9, on 87th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Pudong. Pricey but worth it for the amazing views of the city from its tallest building. The next morning we bid far well to Paddy and to China and made for the airport in a taxi. China bid far well to us with one last kick in the balls. The cabby was clearly a dangerous nutter who drove at 140 km/h to the terminal, locked the doors and would not let us out until we paid twice the going rate of the ride. Robbing bastard! That used up the last of the cash that we could not have changed anyway, but it's the principle that matters here.

In summation, China had its highs and its lows but the highs (Yangshuo, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, the Terracotta Warriores, the Great Wall) were really high and the lows (Tree Gorges Cruise, toilets, spitting locals, food, rip offs) were pretty low. We have both enjoyed China immensly but that does not mean we are not pleased to be moving on.

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