Our next Chinese stop was Shanghai, so very different to Beijing. Shanghai is the metropolis of China, full of huge sky scrapers and high rise offices but also bursting with ancient tradition and culture.

Queen Mary 2 was berthed at the Port of Shanghai, the biggest port in the world and from here there were millions of containers ready to be shipped around the globe. It wasn't too far into the city and our tour bus was hosted by a young guide called Pinky.

Shanghai is the business hub of China compared to Beijing which is the government hub and it reflects in its western style hotels and shopping malls. Our tour though was to explore some of the older Shanghai and the history behind this once small fishing town.

Our journey, the Best of Shanghai, started with a tour through the densely populated city and along the Bund riverbank, which is a popular strolling destination in Shanghai. We arrived at the Old Downtown and instantly were set upon by the traders selling us fake watches and handbags, just like China Town in Manhattan, they all bartered hard and it was a great buzz.

In the busy Old Town were lots of little shops, all trying to pull you in to buy their stock, we headed through to the Yu Gardens of the Ming Dynasty, a calm place, set right in the middle of the hustle and bustle, we walked across the Zig Zag Bridge and went into the Pavilion Teahouse, we felt like we were walking along the side of a Willow pattern tea cup!

We tried a dumpling from a food stand, which was hot and tasty but much of the other foods was difficult to imagine what it was, the deep fried birds we could identify but we gave them a miss.

The ancient Chinese Temples are weird and wonderful, in the middle of the city where they have been for thousands of years and completely dwarfed by the development around them. A Chinese luncheon had been arranged for us at the beautiful old style Jinguan 5 star hotel.

At the Shanghai Museum traders were flying and selling Chinese kites and we couldn't resist buying one, we're not sure if our captain will let us fly it from the back of the ship though?

Our last stop was the Jade Buddha Temple and as we arrived the monks were praying and banging drums. Built in the Song Dynasty, the temple is in the middle of a huge poor residential area and you cannot see the sky through all the high rise apartments.

The day came to an end too quickly and we slowly made our way back through the very busy and crazy traffic. We have one day at sea and it will be St Patrick's Day so we'll be wearing our green clothes before we hit Hong Kong. On board we are expecting a huge change in passengers, over 800 are leaving and new ones joining and also around 500 crew will be changing us at our next destination in Hong Kong on Saturday.