Wednesday 25th April
Worst nights sleep so far. I say sleep, I don't think I actually slept, as everytime I seemed to drift off, someone would walk in rustling/talking loudly/ looking at other people in the dark with their phone light on! Set of course to the background sound of immense snoring. Lovely. 4:37 came 'ah sod this I'll sit on the decking'. So I did. I got a unque chance to see Shanghai in the early hours. The roads were quiet, the haze hadn't set in yet and a small flock of birds were swooping in between the high risers. Quite serene really. It was a little chilly with the new sun and light breeze so I checked our laundry - nearly dry - and Frank's shorts... success! Well the turmeric stains were now a pale pink (eh?) I rinsed them again. Success!!! I hung them up to dry in triumph - and found the missing plectrum too. Not all bad then. Just the lack of sleep.
The night before we both agreed to get up early as we had read people do Tai Chi on The Bund early in the morning. At 7am we were off like a shot and were suprised to find Tai Chi (and babmington) happening in East Nanjing Road. The massive bustling high street was now a pensioners playground. Music flowiing from portable speakers, everyone going through the motions all in time. Drummers, women dancing with fans, a woman wielding a sword, even further down the road a man was cycling and singing, enjoying the accoustics a desserted high street had to offer. The Bund in the morning mist (or maybe that was haze) gave us yet another view different from our first sight a few days before. A truly magical morning.
Later in the day we visited the Yuyaun Gardens which are in the middle of an old Market area. In the back streets there was an old man playing a harp type instrument - with sticks it was on a stand. Through the very busy zigzag bridge, into the very busy 
gardens and back out into the very busy market. The weather was sunshine and blue skies. A serve yourself diner lunch and a thorough exploration of the old market done we ambled on to Peoples Park hoping for a lie on the grass to catch up on a few lost winks I was left wanting - you can not sit on grass. Oh well. A gentle stroll back through East Nanjing Road, now very different from the early morning. It's at this stage you get several people along the way, try to sell you some things...
"Watches. Bagges"
No word of a lie that's what the dude's say! A point of irritation for Frank - "It's watches and bags!" - he was dying to correct them.
While I got a little sleep, Frank played some pool and got chatting to Nick. He told us how to get a VPN to allow access to our apps and internet. It was a weight lifted as suddenly we could communicate with ease again.
That evening we went looking for somewhere different to eat, we found a Muslim restuarant and the tea there was great. As was the food, spicy but great.
Bed and hoping for a better nights sleep although people seem quite happy to shower (and dry their hair) well after midnight !?!

Thursday 26th April
We tried to get a lie in but we were happier out of that dorm really. We noticed quite a lot of people will use the hostel as a cheap hotel, ideal for business trips. All well and good but they don't tend to do as backpackers do - consider others. Also one guys alarm managed to wake everyone else in the dorm and not him! (I have writen about staying in hostels which I will post soon).
Off on our metro which we had to update for another 72 hours (24 hours wasn't long enough) and headed further afield to the Ancient town Qibao. It's a small market town on a river. Some cute bridges and small alleyways full of food stalls, rammed with people. Great little place, despite THAT smell (again) which we now figured was for the unwashed bins. Not feeling hungry, but in need for caffeine as our heads craved it we hunted for coffee. The cheapseat was Starbucks. Any port in a storm.
Enough for one day, back onto the metro. Incidently Shanghai is the longest metro rail in the world by route length. Thankfully for us it is also easy to follow.
Bycle (race, queen song came to mind) and scooters - hooters/ horns.
Scooters will ride anywhere on the pavement,(there is no lane for two wheels) all over the road, with no lights on at night!
We can't yet work out the rules of the road.

Friday 27th April
We departed Blue Mountain hostel to head to Nanjing. We had booked our tickets for a bullet train so just a case of turning up and getting on our train. The Train station was huge - each platform has a waiting area like the gates at an airport. There we reflected on our time in Shanghai and in particular The Bund which we have seen in daylight, nighttime, early morning sunshine and (low) rain clouds. Quite a feat really. See you in Nanjing.