Ni Hao

Yesterday we took a bus out to the big park area that they have in Nanjing for a look around, we did last a while but everywhere you walked they wanted an entrance fee in a park!!!!

We now work out how cold it is by how quickly we loose the feeling in our noses. Back at the hostel our room was still cold even though the heater had been on for 36 hours without being switched off. A day earlier we had booked to go to the Chinese opera and even though it was cold out and we didn't know what to expect, it was free and we had to give it a go.

I think it was free because we turned up half way through, which in hindsight was a blessing!!! The actors on stage were wailing and howling like banshees and our guide kept looking back to see if we were enjoying it, so at one point I was moving to the music and watching intently, it must have looked convincing because even Mel thought I was enjoying myself!!!!

After what seemed like an eternity we all clapped and were able to leave, no sooner had we left the guide caught us on the hop and asked us if we enjoyed ourselves. Mel responded straight away with a very tactful "it was different" and I not wanting to lie or upset anyone was lost for words and could only muster the words "I liked the old man's beard" which made Mel laugh but i'm not sure what the guide was thinking!!!

Now we are in Shanghai after taking the lovely warm and fast CRH train from Nanjing to get here.The journey only took just over 2 hours and we had seats in 1st Class which was great. At one point I looked up at the displays in the train and we were travelling at 160mph, which is pretty fast for a train i think.

Before we left Nanjing I said jokingly that the snow had been following us around China and the guy at the hostel said don't worry it never snows in Shanghai and guess what as we pulled into the station there was a blizzard blowing all around the city!!!

As soon as we got off the train we had to queue to get our tickets for Beijing as Chinese New Year is just around the corner (Feb 6th) and everyone in China is on the move it seems. In China you cannot book tickets on the internet so it makes it tricky to get tickets also you can only book onward travel from the city you are in at the time so again you really have to be one step ahead of yourselves all the time.

We have just come to expect that all our hostels and rooms will be freezing cold and this one was no different, but the room is more like a hotel with toiletries as well. We spent most of the afternoon booking onward travel and accomodation for south Korea and India which is only two weeks away now.

This blog has taken me ages to type as I am typing with gloves on and keep hitting two keys at once, but the good news is the snow has stopped falling, so tomorrow we will head downtown and have a good look around the city and the Bund area, there is even talk that we might splash out 200 Yuan/14 quid and visit the Cloud 9 bar at the top of the Hyatt hotel (it is the highest bar in the world) with great views of Shanghai but you have to spend at least 200 Yuan to get into the bar area.

Will be in touch

Lots of Love

M & M

xx