A city of old and new

Shanghai, China

Shanghai was a mixing pot: modern and traditional, eastern and western, tasteful and tacky… it has it all. But it all seems to work so well together, you can walk from the French concession – an area filled with bakeries, small cafes and quaint souvenir shops and within minutes find yourself in an ancient Chinese garden, or face to face with the stone banks of The Bund, or staring up at the towering, futuristic landscape of the riverfront skyline. It’s an awesome mix that provides something for everybody. We spent our days exploring the city, visiting the different districts and taking in the sights.

The journey to Shanghaiwas also… interesting. We shared our second hard sleeper train with a family consisting of; one woman who insisted on picking her veruca on the bed, two very polite and well mannered girls, and finally, two young children, both boys, who spent most of the journey being as loud as it’s physically and vocally possible to be. They climbed all over our beds, using them as climbing frames whilst screaming and shouting. One found a really fun game which involved flinging his yo-yo into the metal handrail of my bed, trying to make it clang as loud as he could. Another flew his spaceship around Kerry’s head – this spaceship was great too, it had a button on it that made it make laser beam noises, which of course had to pressed continuously for hours on end.

Then they found a new game.

 It involved creeping up to my bunk, and stroking my leg hair. At first, it was so unusual and just plain weird that Kerry and I found it hilarious. Unfortunately, this might have encouraged them to try it a few more times throughout the journey.