I arrived in Shanghai in the early evening and took the subway to my hostel. I had arranged to meet a friend from Tokyo there so after dropping my stuff off in my room I headed up to the hostel bar and we had a few beers on the lovely roof top terrace. I was noticeably warmer in Shanghai and I was enjoying for the first time in my trip not having to wear a scarf and hat in the evenings (and early mornings). I was pretty tired from travelling so went to bed fairly early, and set my alarm for a sociably late time in the morning (I was sick of early starts after 3 days on the Yangtze river).

My first morning in Shanghai I had a lovely lie-in and a leisurely breakfast before doing a little work. In the afternoon Sam and I headed out to explore Shanghai. I wanted to see the famous bund buildings and the pudong sky line across the river. It seemed a fairly simple walk from our hostel, so we wandered out. Instantly, the pollution was noticeable. It was a particularly smoggy day and my sinuses and eyes were hurting and my nose running within minutes of leaving the hostel. When we got to the river bank the skyline, although impressive, was very, very smoggy. Some buildings were difficult to make out behind the pollution.

We wandered along for a bit, hoping to find a bridge across the river, but eventually it became clear there was no option but ferry, so we were relieved to find this would only cost us 2 yuan (20p) per trip. We hopped on a ferry at the ‘Cool Docks’ and were on the other side only 5 minutes later. We headed over to the Oriental Pearl Tower, which I had been quite keen to go up until I found out the price, which although not extortionate, was more than I wanted to pay. Instead, we went to check out the Insect Museum, which I had been recommended and which was heavily signposted (so it must be good, right?). We arrived at 5.01pm to discover that it closed at 5pm. *Sigh*. Determined to salvage something from the afternoon, we checked out the Bund Sightseeing tunnel, also known as the psychedelic tunnel, which was a rather odd experience. For about 5 minutes we travelled under the river in a metal capsule, past flashing lights and moving images, with a rather bizarre voiceover.

We arrived back on the other side of the river in time to see the gorgeous Shanghai skyline light up at dusk. I thought I had vaguely heard something about a light show, and it seemed as though people were gathering to watch something, so we stuck around for a little while and waited, but when nothing materialised and we started to get cold, we called it a day and walked back to the hostel. I had a little nap to prepare myself for a night out clubbing. I had heard good things about the nightlife in Shanghai, and a brief google search had pulled up ‘Ladies Night’ at Club Phebe. It seemed like a pretty good deal, certainly for me; 100 yuan entry for men, free entry for women, and an open bar all night. We joined forces with 3 Canadian guys from the hostel, and together the 5 of us piled into a taxi.

After a bit of confusion finding the place (and rather embarrassingly asking for directions not realising we were standing almost directly outside it), we got in and got a free shot and an extremely strong drink from the bar. Inside the club was pretty odd. There were lots of seated booths, mostly filled with Chinese people dressed to the nines, drinking huge jugs of brandy and playing what seemed to by Yahtzee. There was no discernable dance floor. But, the drinks were free and the music wasn’t bad (all English, interestingly), so we decided to stick it out, and as the evening went on (and we consumed more ridiculously strong drinks) it did get better. Soon people were dancing on the small stage and between the tables and we had a surprisingly good time. At one point there was a pole dancer, and later a rather strange show on the stage; there were clearly a few *ahem* “professionals” there, and even the regular Chinese people had some fairly interesting approaches to romance, but it was certainly an interesting experience. By 2am we were all ready to head home, though, and we caught a taxi back to the hostel, some of us in better shape than others.

I slept pretty late the following morning, understandably. Around 11am I dragged myself upstairs for breakfast, and didn’t make it out for any sightseeing until nearly 2pm. Sam and I tried to find the Yu Gardens and failed, had a rather amusing visit to Tesco (the first English shop I’ve seen in China) where we managed to find something that vaguely passed for cheese, and explored Shanghai’s old street, with some more traditional looking buildings and an impressive array of shops selling everything from ‘designer’ (read fake) watches, to the usual tourist tat, to some apparently genuine art and pearls. We then headed back across the river, as I was determined to make it to the Insect Museum that had been so strongly recommended to me.

We paid 60 each (6 quid) to get into the museum, and… well… what followed was one of the oddest museum experiences I’ve ever had. It started with the saddest seal I have ever seen. Living in a tiny tank, swimming back and forth repetitively, and staring back at us with it’s big, woeful eyes. It was pretty heartbreaking. Then we walked through a humid room containing a small pond with some fish and crocodiles in, and on past a number of snakes, including some fairly impressive ones (the Burmese python was particularly memorable). Finally, at the end of this room (really a glorified corridor), were some marmosets which looked extremely twitchy and on edge. Frankly, who can blame them? Not only where they opposite a number of very large snakes, who would no doubt have a marmoset for a light snack if given the opportunity, but from the room next door there was an almost constant whir of drills, banging and the buzz of a circular saw grinding against metal. Sheepishly, we proceeded into the next room, keen to see some actual insects. Although it was apparently still an open museum, the next room was essentially a building site, and we had to wait politely for the man with the circular saw to pause momentarily so that we could pass without walking through a shower of sparks. In this room they had some scorpions, a tarantula, a Goliath beetle and some pretty impressive stick insects. Not to mention one tank that quite clearly contained nothing but a single dead beetle. Perhaps the keeper was also put off entering a room so clearing absent of health and safety. We swiftly moved on through a hall of mirrors containing some of the saddest turtle and tortoise enclosures I have ever seen, and a few alligators and then on to the petting zoo, which contained, amongst other things, two very excitable goats, about 100 pretty dishevelled guinea pigs and some chinchillas. Finally, there was one room which had some of the most beautiful pinned butterflies I’ve ever seen, although it was almost too poorly lit to appreciate them. I have to say, in hindsight, I would rather not have given them my money.

On the way back to the hostel we stopped off in one shop I had been dying to check out – Marks and Spencer. This is a quintessentially English brand, and I was excited to see what it might be like inside. Pleasingly, it was almost EXACTLY like the shops are in English. They had barely even bothered to translate into Chinese. The food court was the best – they had everything a normal M&S would sell, including an impressive array of chutneys, cornish ice cream and… Percy Pigs (not just the standard ones, the full range!). It was quite a small food court, unfortunately, and lacked a refrigerated section, but I’m fairly sure a larger one would have sold cheese. I could barely contain my excitement at all of this, and basically wandered round the place giggling and grinning uncontrollably. None of the food packaging was translated into Chinese, and one poor Chinese man was asking the cashier to translate everything! I bought some percy pig tails (rather over priced, but definitely worth it), and left feeling refreshed from my visit to the little English oasis in China.

That evening I had one thing on the agenda – the Captain’s bar. This was a roof-top hostel bar that had been recommended to me by several other travellers as having the best view of the city, accompanied by rather expensive (although hardly extortionate) drinks. Pleasingly it was quite close to our hostel. This bar was not oversold. It had a perfect view of the pudong skyline. The drinks were around 50 yuan for a beer, about double what we were paying in our hostel, but it was definitely worth it (and frankly, no more expensive than I regularly pay in London!). We also had a pizza up there before returning to our hostel bar, and more reasonably priced drinks, a few hours later. That evening I played chicken with my early flight. I knew I had to pack. I knew I had to get up at 6am. But I kept drinking. Around midnight I gave in and was amazed to find that nobody else in my dorm had come back yet, so I was able to pack and make all the noise I needed to. This made everything a lot easier, and I was in bed and asleep by half past midnight. Six hours sleep is enough, right? At least I can sleep on the plane!

Farewell Shanghai, you wonderfully mad little Western haven in the East!