Shanghai at it's finest!

The next day was jammed packed full of activities. We begun the day by visiting Yu Gardens. The gardens were beautiful and spread over 2 hectares of land. There were lots of little alleyways leading to different hidden areas. It was very picturesque and at one point it felt like I was in the middle of a Monet painting. There were millions of koi carp and also a vast quantity of terrapins. A place to recommend.

Now if you want to get away from the gigantic skyscrapers, I really recommend to visit the French Concession. 

The French Concession is built down little alleys which lead off in all directions. There are lots of different shops, cool bars and restaurants. We stopped here for lunch and had the best sandwiches and wraps we have tasted over our whole trip (who would have thought that finding a sandwich would be so hard to do!). There were also little sweet shops selling delicious flavoured popcorn (which was still warm from the chocolate covered coating) and a stand which showed you how they made rock pieces. I really loved it here and could have easily spent the whole day here with my English tea (Yes I finally found a place which sold proper breakfast tea not some powder concoction).

The next stop was the Maglev train and yes we did look like idiots boarding a train to the airport just to experience e the speed. The Maglev travels up to 420km per hour, lasting only 7 minutes. I did expect it to feel faster than it was, however the train does tip from side to side like a roller coaster which took a while to get used to at first. Another thing we can say we have done!

Then it was the evening and we all braved a nightout in Shanghai. It was... Eventful! It was a really good night and we realised that a lot of Chinese people can't handle their drink (nor can a lot of western people either) but the amount of money they spend on alcohol is ridiculous. We were placed near a group of Chinese people who kept providing us with champagne and shots. You have to buy a table for 3000 yen (about £300) and then you get that much worth of alcohol and food. Which seemed stupid when you could buy a wrist band and drink as much as you like for 100 yen (about £10) and obviously you were gettig the cheapest alcohol and you had to stand! So being near the Chinese group did come in handy. I have to admit the music wasn't really my scene, however it was a laugh and overall a fab night!

xx