And another neehao from Shanghai. Don't be fooled, the photograph is actually of Hong Kong - I will try and upload my own pics as soon as I can.
About to leave Shanghai, thank god, it's an utter dump. There's nothing here and Beijing is much, much, much nicer.
Spent the last three days walking through Shanghai with a guy called Andy from London, and we were basically just taking the mickey out of the place and its lack of sights. Very chilled few days really. We were also desperately trying to find restaurants willing to provide us with some green tea... which proved A LOT more difficult than first envisaged. When we asked for 'cha' we tended to get vinegar, for some reason. Or we asked before entering a restaurant whether they served green tea, and then we wouldn't get served or get any attention at all for an hour so we'd leave again. Ironically, The Guardian featured a news story a few days ago called 'All the tea in China'. Well, according to our research, there's next to none, really.
When I arrived I had a cold, due to the 40C temperature and the air conditioning being set to about 16C everywhere. The sore throat is gone, I'm still sneezing, but since yesterday evening I've been spending quite a lot of time on the toilet.. I hope that'll sort itself out again soon.
Else, I'm off to Nanning near the Vietnamese border in two hours' time, should get to Vietnam on Thursday and am really looking forward to it. Also because of the food. I hate to say it but even though I spent most of my time buying stuff from street vendors etc. - I've hardly eaten anything more bland than the food I've had since coming to China, with very few exceptions.
It'll take me 30 hours on the train to get to Nanning, so don't expect to hear from me for a few days... I'm off very well actually, I got a posh seat in 'soft sleeper' while poor Andy is off to see the pandas in Chendu, and the trip will take him 3 days - to be spend on a 'hard seat'. Oh dear.
Will go now and brave the madness that are Chinese train stations. Trying to find the right train is definitely one of the most stressful aspects about travelling in China.
Hope you're all well,
lots of love
Jn xx
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