We had planned aneasy day today.After breakfast, we packed up to leave Hangzhou and got a cab to the station.It was really easy getting a ticket and we were onto a very smart train to Shanghai.It only took about 90 minutes going at over a 100 mph - the fastest train we have been on all trip since the Eurostar.

We arrived in Shanghai at the south station,miles from anywhere.It needed a long tube ride to get us into the centre and our hotel.After being in the large provincial cities, Shanghai has a far more lively, cosmopolitan feel to it.We had a walk down the Bund at dusk to see the lights come up over the new part ( Pudong) running agauntlet of hawkers and beggars.

We went on to eat in a small street with lots of local eateries.It also had a lot of places offering massage - some genuine and others were staffed by young ladies and looked very dubious.Still the food was good.

The next day we decided to do a quick walking tour of the old part of Shanghai.The first part was round the Bund area and was not so good as this is not a pedestrian friendly city (China is ruled by the car, scooter and bike but Shanghai seems even worse).We ended up trying to get across busy roads and choked on the fumes.We then moved on to the Yuyan gardens which are 400 year old gardens with lots of pools and rocks.They were very peaceful, once you managed to get into them through the bazaar outside. A pleasant few hours away from the bustle.We then went from there to the Nanjing road - Shanghai's answer to Oxford street.Lots of shops and people selling fake goods.