Hi, I'm finally writing my (Chris'!) first entry from China!

China is so much different than India, in some ways easier & in others much harder. Generally it is much cleaner than India (the lack of cows in the street are probably responsible for that!), but the pollution in the sky is terrible. Both in Shanghai & where we are now-Nanjing, there is a kind of hazey mist which hangs over the city constantly. The language we are struggling with loads, especially since when you move away from the main cities, there is no such thing as an English food menu!

From where Lisa last left off we were still in Shanghai. We visited a very bizarre restaurant where you have a cauldron of boiling water in the middle of the table where you have to cook your own food! Lisa was not impressed! It was very very difficult, waiting for the food to cook, then trying to fish it out with chopsticks after, needless to say it was not our most satisfying meal!

The following day we visited the main tourist attraction of Shanghai-The Bund. The place was absolutely manic since it was May 1st, some kind of Chinese Workers holiday. Went through some strange tunnel where there were enough flashing lights to give someone a seizure (!) and made it to the other side. The view from the other side was great & we stayed to watch the sun go down over the city which was cool.

On our final day in Shanghai we went to an area of the city called the 'French Concession', although what was French about it I have know idea! Strolled around for a few hours, had a look round the shops etc. Whilst we were there we found a couple of 'Irish' pubs, O'Malley's & Oscar's. We went to both since I had a craving for Guiness, with the latter we found having a very generous Happy Hour-11am-8pm!! We most definately took advantage of this and enjoyed several cheap drinks!

The next day we were catching an early train to Nanjing, and were not feeling too great, with the alcohol&lack of sleep catching up with us. The jouney didnt take too long & the train was much more comfortable than we had expected whiich was good. The hostel were now in Lisa likes alot, especially the interior & chilled atmosphere. It also has a 24hour bar & is in probably the best location we have had so far.

Have visted the grandly named 'Historical Museum of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom', which was good, although everywhere is still manic because of the holiday-it lasts for a week from May 1st. The local market is cool too, picked up a few bargains & have been refining our haggling skills, Lisa's having definately improved, getting the price of a Chinese cup down to half price! You can buy almost anything in the market, the pet stores are not too nice though, with kittens, puppies, turtles, rabbits, hamsters etc all being kept in tiny cages & tanks and just being piled on top of one another-Lisa especially hates them, I think she might have a go at one of the owners if we keep walking past them!

Today weve pretty much done nothing, just using this time to relax a bit, since there not a great deal to do in Nanjing and were here for slightly longer than we had intended-with the holiday meaning all the trains out of here were fully booked til Tuesday. Tonight were going to the main club area '1912' with a couple of american guys we met last night. Just resting now since things don't really get going until 1am & apparently they only really play trance music!

Anyway I'm going to wrap this one up for now since I've been sitting here for ages (typing with one finger is not easy!). We are going to try & put up some more photo's soon, just with the Chinese computers its a bitr more difficult.

Hope everyone at home is well,

 Take Care

Chris & Lisa

xx