Shanghai Introduction

We're in Shanghai! Creeping up the river as the sun rose over the city was an amazing way to arrive, and the lack of disorientation one usually experiences after a long plane flight, was, in itself, quite disorientating. We stepped into this strange floating hotel/prison in Japan, spent two nights there, got thrown around a bit on the open sea, and then were shocked to find that we were in China, just like that.

And what a shock it has been! We heard more car horns within 5 minutes of leaving the ferry terminal than we had heard during 10 days in Japan. Cars drive wherever and whenever they like, traffic lights are simply a suggestion of when to stop and go, and, scooters whizz around all day and night carrying 2, 3 or 4 passengers, all without helmets and more often than not, up on the pavement...oh, and most of their lights don't work so you can't see them coming. Crossing the road is now something we have to work into our daily itinerary.

So far, we've had many many ridiculously cheap bottles of beer (60p for a massive bottle of local brew) eaten Chinese sesame chicken while the poor thing's eyeball looked up at us from the plate, and strolled along the river front as the sun set on our first full day in China (photo below). As we now sit drinking more of the aforementioned bottles of beer in the hostel's roof garden, with twinkling skyscrapers all around and terrapins paddling around in the moonlit pond below, the next month promises to be a memorable one.

We are staying in a lovely hostel with a cool bar playing good music and serving yet more cheap beer and lovely breakfasts with giant cups of earl grey tea for just a few pounds. People's Square is just across the street, as is the Shanghai Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. There is just so much to explore and so many streets to get lost in...just don't ask for sweet and sour chicken....and mind that scooter!