This is our last full day in China, and the 3rd time I have tried to write this blog. The internet at our hostel has been pretty terrible, but apart from that it has been great and we'd recommend it to anyone staying in Shanghai. Tomorrow we fly to Bangkok to start the second part of our trip - South East Asia.

After a month in China we've become accustomed to the bizarre sights that make up a Chinese persons daily life. Grown men and women wearing pyjama's during the day (Shanghai only), hocking and public urination, couples wearing the exact same clothing and the erratic driving. I don't think we've mentioned the roads yet, but they are absolute chaos. Traffic lights and road lanes mean nothing, horns are honked and bells are rung for no reason, and you're not safe on the pavement. The scooters are out to get you!

China has been a great experience, and so has Shanghai in particular. It's a bizarre city with modern buildings rising out of slums, food stalls at every corner, washing lines attached to anything possible and the tired 1930's architecture looking bizarrely out of place. National week was hectic and far too busy. It seemed like China's tourists descended on Shanghai for the week and a city with a 16 million population didn't have enough room for them. We didn't get up to much as the tourist sights were too busy, but nonetheless we celebrated my birthday in style. A gin was sunk in the Marriott hotel bar, 40 floors up with great views of a nighttime Shanghai. The prices were just as steep as the views so we made one drink last an hour, headed back to the hostel for food and Tsingtao's then went to Hengshan Road in the French Concession. It was there we introduced to the sound we would hear for the next week - 'Huanying Guanling' or welcome! This ubiqitous high pitched squeal has followed us around Shanghai more than the people trying to sell us long kites or the 'Hello sir, you want watch bag DVD? Very cheap. Hello!' people. Still, that's better than the 'Hey handsome boy' shouts I got in Hangzhou!

China has been great and we've seen some great sights, both historic and modern. We're both really looking forward to Thailand and South East Asia - the food, sun, beaches, jungles and temples. Hopefully the more quiet areas will be a nice change of pace, but we're expecting Bangkok to be madness as with the cities in Vietnam where we've been told the roads are even worse than China. It feels like we've been here a long time, and although we've both enjoyed it we're more than ready for Thailand. Lets hope the weather, and the anti-government protests, hold off while we're there. I'll tell Catherine to leave her 'Thaksin is innocent' T-shirt in China.