We arrived in Shanghai early on 5th November with nowhere to stay. We found an internet cafe & found a really cheap place just off of The Bund (big sightseeing place) it was on the 19th floor of a really posh hotel & they had converted the whole of that floor into apartments & it looked out over The Pudong where the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is. The comments sounded really good but after the boat cruise we didn't really trust it. However when we got there it was amazing the foyer to the hotel was really posh & the actual apartment was clean & really big & had a fab view across Shanghai. There was also a TV, dvd player, fridge, washing machine & little cooker pot thing & the shower actually had its own cubicle & didn't spray all over the toilet & floor!

We had a nice chill out time in Shanghai as we had a whole apartment to ourselves. We dedcided to go on a night out & got in a few beers & some fire water, a local drink in china. We couldn't drink the fire water straight so we mixed it with coke. It was really awful, it literally burns your mouth off! After that we took a taxi over to the TV Tower for some cocktails, we were told it was free to get in but you had to spend a minimum of 150Y on drinks. We thought that was a good bargin, however, when we got over there we had to pay to get in & after going up in the lift & having a look round discovered there was no cocktail bar! So we took another taxi to "bar street". We found a couple of bars & went in one that looked ok, it was pitch black in there & there were western men drinking with very drunk chinese girls. We had a few cocktails in there & went down to the Jazz club down the road, it seemed pretty popular with the older generation but it was cool all the same. We discovered the real bar street the next day & there were hundreds of pubs there, we decided we weren't really up for another night out so soon so settled for a meal at TGI Fridays instead.

We also went to Yu Gardens, which isn't particularly old but it was really pretty. It's a tea house & gardens in the middle & built round it are shops & markets in the traditional chinese designed buildings. We stopped off in Starbucks after shopping in the market. I think there is a picture of it somewhere but its the weirdest looking Starbucks ever.

We went to try & find The New World Emporium which is supposed to be full of crazy old fairground stuff like hall of mirrors etc. Whilst trying to find it we bumped into 3 chinese students, they didn't seems to be selling anything so we chatted to them for a while & they went for some traditional chinese tea in a tea house. It was really expensive so we only tried a few teas but they were really nice & all homemade. At the end of the session, the chinese students bought some tea & were trying to get us to buy some too. We had little money left as it was one of our last days & had already spent a fortune on the tasting. We had a feeling that they worked for the tea house but nonetheless it was a pretty good experience & we did get out of buying some tea! Eventually we got into the New World Emporium but it was a sega games centre, which was cool but not really what we were expecting!

Charlie had 2 tailored suits made up. We thought they were a bit of a bargin but have just found out customs caught us sending them back & have to pay an extra 145 pounds for them! oops. They are lovely tho & he still wouldn't have got them as cheap in England.

Shanghai is divided up into consessions, one day we went to the French Consession where it actually feels like you are in France. We stopped off for a cider & crepes and noticed a couple having there wedding photographs taken (we have seen this all over china). This time they were having them taken outside the crepe place which was a bit weird & I'm sure some of them me & charlie are in the background stuffing our faces with crepes!

I'm sure I've missed out bits & bobs - hopefully the photos will show more!

Miss you guys. Xxxxxxxxxxxx