Greetings from Shanghai!

Apologies (to those who may have worrried, parents....) for not writing for a while: time has flown by since the end of our India trip. Well, we are currently in Shanghai and not really doing much today since it's raining, so we have plenty of time to update from where we left off....

Our last few days in India were spent in Mumbai, the most cosmopolitan city in India. It was such a relief to be here with time to ourselves, having spent the previous ten days + in the clutches of that rip-off travel company. Because of this, we vowed to do things our own way from then on and so far it feels good - like a weight has been lifted! Compared to the rest of India, I guess Mumbai was more 'cosmopolitan'. Chris certainly seemed more comfortable as he seems to enjoy the busier cities. Either this, or he was relieved after letting off some steam: After our 19 hour train journeys we were mobbed by a bunch of taxi drivers. It was crazy and Chris seemed to lose the plot and started yelling and swearing at them!! They seemed quite shocked and luckily backed away + I think it did Chris some good as he was keeping his frustrations to himself for 2 or so weeks...!

Whilst in Mumbai we were asked, on a couple of ocasions, to be extras in Bollywood movies/adverts. We were tempted as it would've certainly been an experience. However, since we only had a couple of days we kindly declined on the offer - plus, we've heard that it can take up to ten hours and most of the time you are sitting around all day until you're needed; not really our idea of a great vacation! However, we do have the business card of a talent agent who 'specialises in western people', so if ever we need work in the future we know where to go...... The rest of our time in Mumbai was spent visiting places like Chowpatty Beach and Gateway of India and just generally chilling out after the madness that was India!

So, since Tuesday we have been in China. On our way we made a stop off at an airport in Singapore which was the best airport ever!! Fortunately we will be revisiting this gem on our way to Australia: there's free internet access, x box, live musicians in a sports bar, loads of cool shops/delis/treats to buy - it was generally a great place to spend the six hour gap between our flights. We also met a cool Australian guy and killed some time exchanging travel stories and tips.

So far in China we have visited Beijing (see photos) and Shanghai, our current location. The first thing we noticed about Beijing is how clean it is!! This was in no way influenced by us just coming from India: It was spotless!! After this, we couldn't help but notice the constant reminders of the olympics - 'Beijing 2008', on coke/beer/water cans/bottles, shops, clothes, buildings...everywhere!! Since we were tired on our first night, we had a stroll around the centre to get a feel for the place. It's a pretty exciting place with so much going on. My favourite part was a massive row (about 400 feet or so) or food stalls selling the most weird and wonderful things: there were starfish, snakes, squid and other random things which we couldn't make out..! Since I love corn on the cob, and we thought we'd be safe after Delhi belly, we ordered some corn sticks. Bad idea. This was the hottest corn EVER!! It didn't burn inside our mouths, but our lips - I think it took a layer off (no exaggeration) as since that night my lips have been flaking/crumbling!! We also had the most delicious fruit sticks ever (+ my new obsession): they were like toffee apples, but strawberries, bananas kiwis etc on a long stick: amazing!!

The next morning we visited Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. This experience was made much easier by a group a Americans we met at a KFC branch! Fortunately, one of them spoke Chinese allowing us to ride the subway and navigate ourselves with ease. That's one thing we have noticed since being in China: the language barrier. Unlike India, where they all seem to speak/understand English, here the language barier is huge, thus making us feel quite isolated at times! We enjoyed this day, getting to know some other travellers and seeing the sites of Beijing. Towards the end of the day we all went on a Hutong tour on rickshaw cycles - which our Chinese speaker managed to haggle down from 200yuan to 80!

 The next morning was the Great Wall tour. For this we rose early, much to Chris' discontent!! We decided to book a tour for this as, despite our certain dislike of tours due to India, it was fairly cheap and we spent the day getting to know fellow travellers/tourists. Before the Great Wall, we visited Chang Ling (burial place of the Emperor Yongle and one of the Ming Tombs). Since the Great Wall is so huge (slight understatement!), we visited the Ba Da Ling part and managed to reach the highest point - although we did take a cable car ride some of the way, probably due to our himalayan experience!! It really was amazing to be there and, like most of our experiences since being away, didn't feel real. It's hard to explain, but you have to pinch yourself to realise that you are actually there. The wall was different to what I'd imagined/expected, snaking up and down the valleys in all directions!! 

On our final day in Beijing we met up with Chris' uni friend Janice, who is currently studying over here. This was a great opportunity to view Beijing life from the perspecive of someone who lives here. To start, we visited Silk Street, as 8-floor indoor market. Apparently this is the place to bag yourself a (fake) bargain! Here we witnessed Janice's fantastic haggling skills and the pure desperation of the market girls: They practically held Chris hostage until he purchased some trainers. However, we got the last laugh as Janice managed to get the price down from 850yuan to 110!! We also purchased various other fakes such as rolexs, chanel watches, ralph lauren t shirts - I guess we got caught up in the moment! That evening we went to Red Rock, one of Janice's locals, where we tasted the great Soju: a kind of Korean whiskey which comes in a whole range of flavours. They bring it to you in jugs and you down it like shots. All in all we had a great evening and managed to get through 7 jugs - and 2 bottles back at the flat!! Unsurprisingly we slept in the next morning... Before our flight to Shanghai we managed to fit in a quick Bicycle ride in Beijing (for you Mum!) I don't know how the Chinese ride everywhere - I still have saddle sore!!

Since last night we've been in Shanghai and haven't really seen much yet -  as we said, it's raining today so it kind of feels like a lazy Sunday. The hostel is great - more like a hotel but still so cheap!! There's a bar here which shows football (yes, chris is pleased), so we'll probably chill out here this evening - more for the fact that most of our clothes are in the laundry!!

Well, that's a kind of summarised account (believe it or not!) of our last few days. We'll update again shortly, but in the meantime take care and hope you enjoyed the pics!!

Much love, Lisa & Chris xxxxxxx