Nihao...

We’ve been really lazy with blogging lately and have to play catch up with Beijing and Shanghai. So here goes a potted version of what we’ve been up to.

For reasons we are now regretting, we were only in Beijing for 2 days. This was not enough time and we barely scratched the surface of what the city is all about and definitely plan to go back at some point. The hostel we stayed at was great and we met loads of really lovely people when hanging around in the lounge. One day was spent wandering around the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, where Pat was disappointed to find that the audio commentary was not given by Roger Moore, as he had read somewhere.

For the other full day we decided to go on a hike along the Great Wall of China which was a great experience, although knackering. We set off early in the morning and the weather was atrocious, drizzling all the way. The wall was surrounded by fog and there was nothing to be seen. There were near vertical climbs and descents throughout which we both really enjoyed, especially when the rain turned to snow. After a few slips and slides, we made it along and down in one piece, but my thigh muscles were hurting so much I could barely walk down steps for 3 days afterwards (I was absolutely fine. Isn’t role reversal a wonderful thing? – Pat). I was amazed by the locals, even if they came just to sell us stuff. They did the same walk every day and didn’t think anything of it. One guy was 72 and took great delight in telling us his age after skipping past us struggling up to the highest tower. The little lady helping me was as strong as an ox. I still don’t know how she didn’t slip wearing leather heeled boots.

Sad to be leaving, we had a farewell coffee with Laurens and Eline before heading to the station and boarding the express train to Shanghai. We arrived 10 hours later, with enough time to check in and have a drink in the expensive hostel bar, the only plus being it was a stone’s throw from our room.

The next morning we went out exploring along Nanjing Road (shoppers’ paradise) to People’s Square. This was when Pat’s hawker counter got into full swing – he was the most popular person with everyone wanting to sell him a watch, a bag, sunglasses… Independently, two groups of young people stopped us and started chatting, asking us where we were from, where we were going etc, which I thought was friendly. 5 minutes into the conversation they were hassling us to go to a tea festival. I would have caved, but Pat had read about this scam where we’d just get sold lots of expensive tourist crap, so we made our excuses. We then decided that, in future, we just wouldn't like tea.

That evening we had a nightcap in the hotel bar. Sitting out on the balcony, overlooking the Bund we tuned into the conversation of some Brits sat next to us. Funnily enough the three of them were from Reading, one of them working out in Shanghai. How small the world is. The next few hours were spent idly chatting – it was nice to be reminded about life back home.

The next few days were spent sightseeing along the Bund, the Pearl Tower, Nuangpu River and in and around Yu Gardens. This was a bit of a miserable experience as the weather wasn’t great. I wasn’t impressed, especially as reports I’d read promised a balmy 20 degrees. No such luck. It was grey, smoggy and cold. All in all, we were quite glad to be leaving Shanghai, and on to Hong Kong...