Shanghai, our final stop in China before heading down to warmer territories!

Shanghai turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Neither of us particularly like big cities but the enormous, unique and very abstract collection of skyscrapers towering above the Huangpu river were a sight to see. A two kilometre section of concreted riverbank nicknamed 'the Bund' provides a perfect platform for viewing the beasts on the opposite side of the river. An equally amazing view is the city skyline, particularly at night. Shanghai's electricity bill must be obscene!

To prepare ourselves for some solid city wandering, we decided to treat ourselves to a traditional foot and body massage. After a good fragrant foot bath, and a knot-busting body massage, we were feeling higher than life.

With new sets of feet, we started towards the old town district and stumbled across some real, off the tourist map, parts of Shanghai. The juxtaposition of the low lying buildings and much simpler lifestyle brought us back to reality. So much for communism! Nevertheless, the people seemed happy and the food was, as it usually is in these kind of parts, fantastic!

After walking down a few more blocks we ran into the official Old Town area. Here we were suddenly immersed in an ocean of tourists and shop upon shop of cheap plastic crap. There really is no other description. We swum our way through the mass crowds and eager hustlers to visit the famous Yu Yuan Gardens. Built in the early 16th century, this peaceful oasis was full of interesting rock formations, beautifully placed streams, stone statues and the usual Chinese style architecture. It seems ironic that the plastic merchants hovering outside had originally set-up to lure crowds visiting the gardens.

On a separate trip to visit the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, we were greeted by the weirdest and funniest Chinese man so far! At first we thought he was just part of a typical scam.. and perhaps he was. He claimed to be a university lecturer in Shanghai, teaching English and music. After realising we were Aussies, he started humming 'Click Go the Sheers Boys'. It got worse when he started to hum Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga to show how hip he was! Although we had a good laugh, we managed to shake him off before the Exhibition Hall closed.

The Exhibition Hall was worth the visit. It had a really cool 1:500 scale model of the entire city which took up an entire room, and gave an idea of city development plans for the next few years. For anyone about to visit Shanghai using the Lonely Planet, a bit of warning... Shanghai is an ever-changing city! In the few years between our book being published and now, at least 10 extra metro lines had been built!

For our final night in China, we decided to dine out at a good Sichuan restaurant, reputed for their delicious food and extra spicy peppers. Aidan in particular felt the need to restore our egos after our appalling effort in Chongqing. The food was really delicious but, although very hot, still had nothing on the Chongqing peppers! We're not sure if our opinions on this were influenced by the bamboo wine that we shotted in between mouthfulls...

We completed our final meal with a mouth-watering dark chocolate and chilli mouse cake! Although Jess had so far resisted buying herself one of the delicate and beautiful looking sweets from the Chinese bakeries, our self-restraint could not overlook this particular dessert. It proved to be well worth the wait! It is worth going to China just for the desserts!!!

The only downer in the end was that Jess was saving a KTV Karaoke session for Shanghai. However, the hostel we picked lacked the typical drunken Western tourists, and we were unable to gather up a keen crowd. We may have to settle for a night out in Sydney when we get home, so everyone start practicing that high note!