Shanghai has been described as the whore of the orient, a city of ill-gotten gains, brothels and the haze of smokey of opium dens. And it's still a hedonistic city of temptation.  Not so much opium anymore, but the little boutique-y shops, bars, art galleries, museums, restaurants, foot massage places and ridiculously over priced tourist sights. It is the most outlandishly consumerist place we'd been to since, well, London. The central street is a rainbow of neon, complete with a 20ft high neon clad Coka Cola monument in ode to Piccadilly Circus. We resisted the strong urge to spend the rest of the travel budget on clothes and shoes, but did part with a lot of cash to zip in 9 seconds up to the 88th floor or the Jintao tower, go out dancing to brazilian drum and bass, and walk along the clear glass tunnel under the shark exhibit in the aquarium which, needless to say, was bloody brilliant!

 

Shanghai has plenty of snaz and millions of residents, but it was neither as crazy nor as big as we expected.  We really enjoyed walking around the streets near the river and in the pretty old French district and watching the street sellers hawking noodles as the neon lit up the mist.  Down by the river we listened to fog horns of giant barges as they pushed their way through brown water and we tried to peer through the drizzle at the giant pearl tower that stands with its pink space balls glaring at the colonial buildings that used to be the old harbour.

 

The mist finally cleared, but then it began to snow. We didn't realise it at the time, but it was the beginning of the worst snowy weather to hit China in 150 years...

 

H