Didn't really do much in the morning but come lunch time I went out with Alex as Alexa to grab some food. Spent quite a lot of the time laughing at the chinglish translations of dishes, especially "fried tofu with no result" and "chicken fixes the boiler" !!

The girls had to go back to the hostel to sort some stuff and so I headed off to Yu Yuan garden, a 400 year old traditional Chinese garden. To get there you have to walk through an extremely busy and touristy road, full of shops selling variations of the same souvenirs; however once you reach the actual gardens which are walled in, you're struck instantly by its beauty and landscaping and it is hard to believe you were caught up in the hustle and bustle just moments before. Whilst there I overheard an English tour guide walking around with about 15 people so I hung on at the back about a meter behind everyone and got a free tour haha. I think the people at the back noticed but they just smiled at me so was fine ;). The gardens had a few large ponds filled with koi fish as in China they symbolise positivity, tranquility and good luck. One lady was sitting on a rock feeding them and they were almost jumping out of the water at her!
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When I left and walked back through the touristy area I went under an archway built under a building when all over a sudden there was a massive crash and plaster and dust went everywhere - was quite funny seeing everyone panic thinking the building was about to collapse.

During late afternoon I decided to head over to the West of Shanghai where the main skyscraper buildings are, the most of famous of which is the Pearl Tower. Further along is the even taller World Financial Centre which is nicknamed 'The Bottleopener' as it has a rectangular aperture at the top of the building. The architect who designed it originally planned a spherical cut-out space in order to reduce wind pressure, however the mayor of Shanghai said it would look too much as though a Japanese flag was overlooking the city and so ordered the design to be changed! Next door to this building is the Jin Mao tower, and from all 3 buildings you can pay to go right up to the top of them and look out to get 360' view of the city. However... I had decided that I didn't want to pay and had discovered that the Jin Mao building is actually partially a hotel with a lobby on the 54th floor, so my plan was to sneak up to there for free rather than pay around £15 to go a little higher. The route back from Yu Yuan gardens took me towards the Bund and I managed to catch a ferry across the river to the other side. The smell of the fuel by the jetty reminded me of trips on the Black Abbot which was a nice reminder of home :) Once we got to the jetty I headed straight for the Jin Mao Tower and after walking around the reception for about 10 minutes I eventually found the lift and snuck straight up to the lobby. My plan was to sit with a drink and wait for the sun to set so that I'd have a view of the bund lit up, but drinks were about £10 and although back home I probably would have just bought one, I couldn't get it out of my head that that would be around 3 nights stay In a hostel in china! So instead I just sat and read for a little bit and luckily nobody questioned why there was a scruffy girl sat in trainers, a woolly hat and with a rucksack in the corner.

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Once the sun had set and I'd got my pictures I headed to the river front again and took some close ups of the Pearl Tower before heading back over to the East side of the river for more pictures (battery lasted out this time) and a bought a delicious sweet potato off a street food vendor !