So today's the day I decide to up sticks, say goodbye to Shanghai and hello to Hangzhou. This part wasn't originally pencilled in as part of the tour, however I decided to mix it up a little. Most of Shanghai is high skyscraper buildings. Once you've seen one you've probably seen them all. So I took the advice of my friends from New York who have just come from that direction. I'm going to be staying at another Mingtown International hostel, this particular...

Things have been a little less fast paced since I reached Shanghai. In the last couple of days I haven't managed to venture out too much. Maybe Beijing has worn me out. Yesterday I took a walk to people's park which is round the corner from the hostel. I saw a local partake in some Chinese acupuncture which involved sticking pins in his legs and putting smouldering blocks on them. He was nice enough to let me film & take photos. One major factor which contr...

After travelling for 11 hours on the hard sleeper train and a short metro journey, I arrived at the Mingtown Etour International Youth hostel in Shanghai. The Metro system worked pretty much like the Beijing subway. It is however £0.30 per journey instead of the £0.20 subway. Rip off!!! At first glance, the hostel seems pretty clean and hotel like (apart from the face I'm sharing with 5 others. It doesn't seem like there's air conditioning which may become ...