We set the alarm to wake up at 5.45am. We checked out our hostel then caught the metro at 6.30am to get to the Shanghai Railway Station. We boarded the train at 7.10am, the train left on time at 7.19am. The journey was smooth and comfortable. For standard class there was so much leg room. We ate our pre- bought pot noodles for both breakfast and dinner using the free hot water available on the train. The scenery through most of the journey was beautiful with moun...

Helen woke up an hour before Jay. We had a shower and made our way to 'Tian Zi Fang' located on Taikang Road, this is an old street dotted with local style Shikumen Houses, which is one symbol of Shanghai folk culture. It is full of artists and local designers that have set up boutiques and cafes.There were many art studios and galleries. On the way there we stopped off for breakfast at a bakery called 'Croissant de France'. Jay had a BBQ pork pastry and a bacon ...

We spent the whole morning looking for the NBA store so that Helen could buy her brother, Michael a basketball top but unfortunately it was closed down and replaced by an EXPO shop, which was annoying! We later had brunch, we ate at the 'New World City' mall. We both had pork ribs in sauce with rice. It was tasty. We shopped around and came across a shop called 'Lu Shanghai', this was a small unique shop selling limited edition/original designed T-shirts. We b...

We woke up at 8.30am. We took the Metro to 'Peoples Square' (a large public square opposite to Nanjing Road). We then made our way to Nanjing Road, this is the main shopping street of Shanghai and is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. We loved the hustle and bustle of this street. We browsed around the shopping plaza. Helen wanted to find a 'Hello Kitty' store but we could not find it, instead we found a small stand selling a few Hello Kitty items. ...

Our plane landed 6.30am local time at Shanghai. (China is 8 hours ahead of GMT) The weather was much cooler than Vietnam, it was still relatively warm (22 C) though. After we got our baggage, we went to the ATM machine to get some local currency, Helen managed to withdraw some but Jay had problems with his card. He purchased a phone card to ring his bank but he could not get through. We decided to leave it as Helen had enough money for the time being. We had bre...