Partly due to the fact that we were booking it so late at night and partly due to the fact that Shanghai is loads more expensive than anywhere else we've been, we blew the budget here! We booked ourselves into a dead posh old hotel near The Bund.

After rejuvenating ourselves with a little afternoon nap we met Katharine (Clarke - yes, bizarre we know! The fact we met in Shanghai we mean, not Katharine herself!) and a friend of her's and Lianne's, the rather quick talking Barbara! They whisked us off for a meal in the Black Cafe - one of the one's where it's completely pitch black and the waiter's are blind - it makes for an interesting eating experience!
Then Barbara and her friends took us on a bit of a mystery tour - we were a bit concerned by the dark alley, but we popped out in a gorgeous tiny street of shops and bars converted from old 1920s (ish) storehouses - some local knowledge was definitely required to find them! And then . . . Joy of joys! Free champagne cocktails and wine! Yummy! We were there to help someone celebrate their 21st birthday . . . And her mum, well . . . we can tell you for sure that the real Patsy from Ab Fab truly does exist! Complete with cigarette and glass of bubbly! A very bizarre few hours but great to catch up with Katharine. We then (obviously not realising what the time was otherwise Gemma would have been safely tucked up in bed!) moved onto Karaoke and rolled in at 5am a little worse for wear!
So worse for wear in fact that Gemma remained in bed the entire rest of the next day, eating pizza and watching crappy films on HBO - a typical Sunday! (But then we did have to make the most of the nice hotel!)

We headed off early the next day to make the most of our last day in Shanghai. We wandered into the old part of town and were severely unimpressed with the park that was "one of the highlights of Shanghai" . . . And headed out onto the Huangpu River. We cruised up to the mouth of the Yangtze where, after the bright lights of The Bund and Pudong waterfront we were surprised by the masses of shipping and industry that's still around.
Our meal that evening was . . . Well . . . Mostly chilli's! (check out the picture!) Probably the hottest meal we've had in China - there was definitely more chilli than beef!

Early the next morning, on the last day of our visa (cutting it a bit fine, we know!), we set off for the airport. People on the Shanghai metro at rush hour weren't terribly impressed with us and our backpacks but we squeezed ourselves on and made it to the Maglev for our 8 minute trip to the airport!
For those who haven't heard of the Maglev it's a train powered by repelling magnets and goes up to 432km/h. We were quite excited . . . Then disappointed that it only got up to 301km/h! We reckon those pesky Health & Safety people got hold of it . . . !! It was still quite cool to be going that fast with Shanghai whizzing past beneath us.

Overall, although we weren't there very long, we found Shanghai to be very westernized. We thought that it would probably be a good place to live and work, but not much to offer your typical budget backpacker! It didn't seem very Chinese and for some reason we found the beggars and street sellers more annoying and persistent than anywhere we've been previously! It had great nightlife though - we had fun!