Due to the vagaries of my round the world ticket I had to arrive here in Shanghai before heading up to meet my travelling companion, Dave, in Beijing. The flight was long and I managed little sleep but I felt strangely chipper as I headed into Shanghai on the Maglev (a high speed train topping out at 430 km/h) then continued on in the metro. This leg of my journey was made considerably easier by the instructions I'd been sent by Joe, the friend of Dave's that had kindly agreed to put me up/put up wth me for the night. Joe's flat is on the edge of the French concession and lies off a tree lined street which, while not quite looking European, isn't really typically Chinese either. The French concession harks back to Shanghai's days as a port divided up into sections Governed by foreign nations (us Brits were the first, taking the land as a condition of ending the opium wars in 1842). Indeed Shanghai only became fully Chinese again in 1949 when the Communists liberated the city from foreign rule.

I started at Joe's with a chat to get to know him a bit then we headed out to lunch. I am at risk of being spoilt here as Joe edits a lifestyle magazine so has an excellent knowledge of the local restaurants. I happily let him order and was treated to my first truly Chinese meal. It was everything I'd hoped for, tasty, varied and extremely filling, the highlight being a spicy tofu dish which tested my chopstick skills beyond their capabilities. I had to resort to using the rice spoon to rescue the dissolving pieces on more than one occasion! Tofu here is far nicer than the tasteless mush generally available back home. After lunch the jetlag jumped in with a vengeance so I spent the afternoon napping and watching Joe's sattelite TV.

In the evening Joe had a 5 a side game organised so I tagged along in some borrowed trainers. The pitch was an outdoor astroturf arena enclosed by netting on the top floor of a run-down leisure centre. we were challenged to a match by some Japanese lads who were enthusiastically cheered on by a phalanx of beauties. Despite their support and one of their players sporting Ronaldinho-esque dreadlocks we triumphed and Joe and I headed off for dinner. Joe this time took me to a restaurant specialising in Uigher food. The Uigher people are from the far West of China and so the food has similarities to turkish and middle-eastern dishes. We hungrily wolfed down Lamb skewers, lamb and pepper pancakes and finished off with a spicy chicken dish, fantastic. Any worries I had about getting to sleep disappeared as my head hit the pillow and I didn't wake up until after 11 this morning!

Today I'll be heading into the city to purchase a digital camera then I'll do a little sightseeing before I catch the overnight train up to Beijing tonight. My next entry will come from the Capital of this vast naion and the sight of this year's Olympics.

Zaijian for now!