Shanghai, China

Another overnight sleeper, this time to the east coast metropolis of Shanghai. We met up with friends Paul and Tracy (Canadians we met in Yangshuo) who live nearby - 4 hours away! Shanghai feels very westernised and is a huge, very modern city with about 14 million people! Thanks to Paul, though, who knew the city well, we saw interesting and diverse parts of it. We walked around the old French Concession area, then visited the fake market with lots of brand-named goods, the antique market (my favourite), and the bird market with the unusual but very popular feature of 'cricket fighting' going on. Very strange! Next, we walked Fangbang street - full of character ... and characters cooking and doing their washing outside in the street - probably more pleasant than the interior of their homes. Then it was off for a rooftop drink at The Captain's Bar, with views over the Bund and the Huang Pu river to watch the impressive dancing lights on the Pearl Tower and the highrises of Pudong. The district of Pudong was built in 1990 on a mud bank where the high rises are effectively built on floating concrete! Kind of scarey! Finally, it was off for some mexican food at Zapatas - our first since we left Portland, and it was delicious! *Mush