13 uncomfortable hours later – that was a rough night ! After navigating the Shanghai metro we got to our hostel. Shanghai’s main streets look as modern as any western city with towering skyscrapers and all the typical branded high street shops and resturants. Although the hostel (Captain Hostel) is in a prime position near the Bund it is not impressive. No mixed dorm so V and I can’t even sleep near each other, no kitchen or common area, no train booking service and no WiFi ! We could not believe it. With nowhere to relax at the hostel we showered and headed out to the Shanghai Museum. Still drizzling we decided it best that I also get an umbrella – who needs a fancy Gore-Tex jacket when a £2.50 brollie does the job 🙂

I think we are pretty much done with museums for now but we did enjoy the money, arms and seal exhibitions. The place was packed with locals (as usual) but V noticed a large group of western couples with Chinese babies. Either a group adoption holiday or the ‘Welcome Gift’ provided by their tour package was a little unusual.

Next stop was to the train station to arrange tickets for the onward journey. We managed to get tickets to Hangzhou using the automatic machines – impressive – yip. The biggest frustration with Chinese rail travel is that you can only buy tickets starting from the station you are at so we could not book any further ahead. The system is computerized so I cannot understand why !?

Another metro trip and we were close to the ‘The Pearl TV Tower’ – the silly ‘onions on a skewer’ looking building that helps define Shanghai. With very poor visibility, extremely long queues (Sunday) and an outrageous ticket price we decided against going up to the glass floored observation deck – I was a little disappointed but at least we spotted the new Apple store.

More walking in a homeward direction got us to the ‘Bund Sightseeing Tunnel’. We should have gone back to the metro to get across the river but both of us were fading fast so it was into the breach. The tunnel goes under the river and is remeniscient of a ‘tunnel of horror’ ride with lots of flashing lights and noise. Best to skip it if you have the option. The plan was then to walk along the Bund but I only lasted 10 minutes – it is stunning (and crowded – no surprise) but I was feeling the effects of last nights bus ride. Will definately give it a go to tomorrow night.

New things we have learnt:
– Sleeper trains are waaaay more comfortable than sleeper buses. In future we will rather wait a few more days to get on a train rather than take the bus.
– When booking accommodation and travel through an agent interrogate them rigorously to make sure you cover all the options. We should have learnt this one from Russia already.

[Pictures: The Pearl, Some other cool buildings and the app store ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi