Having a blast in Shanghai

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Another long train ride and more instant noodles and we arrived in Shanghai. It was warm when we arrived but turned rainy and cold the next day so there was only a brief break in the cold weather. Shanghai is much more of a city and reminds us of Hong Kong. You can buy anything anytime in Shanghai including "copy bags, shoes, watches". At least no one’s hocking tailor-made suits anymore.

I've got a bit of a cough/cold but otherwise we've been pretty healthy, despite having a range of food from all types of food vendors! We went to an acrobat show which was very impressive and ended with a “death-ball” stunt that ended up with 5 motorbikes riding around in it. The next night we went to a local restaurant and as we left people were setting off masses of fireworks right on the street. We’ve heard thousands go off since we arrived but this was the first time we’d been right in the action! They don’t mess about when it comes to fireworks around here! After dinner we went to a local club and danced up a storm until the early hours of the morning… my highlight was Laura break dancing (including the “worm”).

We slept off the night before and then took a trip on the Bund Tourist Tunnel under the harbour. This was quite an experience where we got into a space-age underground tram and travelled through was seemed to be one massive modern art installation, complete with random light displays and bizarre English phrases....hmmm. We took a trip up to the top of the Jin Mao tower which is one of the tallest in the world for some great views of Shanghai before preparing for the long-haul journey - 26hrs - we’ve had about enough of instant noodles so packed a pile of food and prepared for some serious card and dice playing.

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Photos

Fireworks
These guys were hard-core... they just started setting off massive fireworks in the middle of an intersection

The Death Ball
All five of these guys were hurtling around this metal cage during the finale.. impressive.

Our cosy train trips
Despite the sardine-like quarters and frequent stares from locals, the train trips were quite bearable... although not the on board squat toilets!

Chicken Feet Shishkebab
Some of the interesting food on offer on the trains... go Laura for actually purchasing this... not much meat to chew off though...