Hello everyone,

We are now in Shanghai. Its been a rollercoaster of events here since we arrived. Shanghai is a lovely place but the people are so rude. We arrived on Wednesday evening and couldn't book into our hostel due to it being full. How can it be though as its the middle of winter the low season and they have over 400 rooms. We were given directions to find a new hotel which once we found it was nice and warm, very much like our Travel Lodges. That was after walking into another hotel which turned out to be a 1200pounds a night appartment. We thought about it for half a second and then walked out. After we unpacked we went to The Bund which is a great walk of the citys skyline all lite up. Some parts look very much like London with a copy of Big Ben. We found a really nice delicacy which is an egg tart. Its like scrambled egg inside puff pastry and tastes amazing. Its warm as well. We thought Shanghai was going to be nice from here.

Thursday we walked in the rain for 3 hours trying to find an internet cafe. Lonely Planet named all these cafes but none were where they said they were. We worked out that the trouble with Lonely Planet is that by the time its published, it can be almost 2years out of date. Which in a country like China where its always updating and improving is a problem. We eventually found one and wrote about Hong Kong. When we went to pay they said we didnt have too. We didn't understand and was all very confusing, we kept trying to give them the money but they wouldn't take it. It felt very wrong but was good that we got away without paying for 2 hours of internet time. It hasnt stopped raining since we got here. We then went into some shopping centres to keep dry and warm. Most chinese people are very rude. Everyone seems to spit everywhere all the time and its discusting. Thats just them though.

Friday we managed to book our next bus journey to Beijing without anyones help. We were very proud of ourselves. Its hard over here with the language barrier but we are getting by. Old people start talking to you in chinese and you kind of understand what they are saying. Weve had a few conservations like that. We went to the Shanghai museum today which was ok although a bit boring.

We are also now aware of all the scams here. Alot of people are walking around asking if your english and want to talk to you. After a few minutes of asking where your from, your names and other things they then say we have got an art exibit and would you like to come along. Only for two minutes though. We fell for the 1st one as the people were really nice. We went to the art exibit and it was great but we were conned into buying a piece of art. Its a great painting but kept saying we cant transport home due to our backpacks but they wouldnt have any of it. We were in there for about half an hour. We now know just to say no and walk away. We got an underground cable car to the other side of The Bund. It was very strange but cool as there were alot of lights and laser's in time with music. Once across the other side there was an aquarium (if you can call it that), it had a few fish in tanks that had nothing in them what so ever. Poor fish. Next there was a sound exibit which was stupid. We sat there and put headphones on and listened to noises in the dark. We didnt understand what it was about at all. The best bit was the cable car through the tunnel.

Saturday we went to the Shanghai French Consession area. We thought it was going to be little streets like in a french town but it was nothing like that. It was just a huge street with alot of posh shops. Alot of people were hawkers. They are trying to sell you everything, all fake goods. We counted 12 in a space of about 3metres. It had stopped raining now and was sunny. We had to go back to the hotel and get our bags to get the bus to Beijing. Shanghi has got alot of great buidlings but thats about it. We had an ok thime here but will not come back. We hope Beijing will be more exciting.

We are still trying to uplaod the photos but are still having major problems as the computers wont see the camera for some resaon. Hopefully soon we will be able to as they are mounting up. We still have photos of South Africa to put on. On the plus side we are sleeping and eating well. We havent had any arguments and are getting along just fine. Touch wood we dont curse it now :o)

Lots of love Gemma and Darren xxx