Shanghai with my little bro

well we've settled into life in Buyeo quite nicely, although I'm not sure how we would survive without our frequent trips back to Gwangju (thanks to Lokhee and Anthony for their floor). It also helps that we have our new pal Ralphy; a blue Hyundai Elentra who starts even in the snow! Although not without a fair bit of whining. Buyeo is a little more "peaceful" than Gwangju.

So we've been slogging our guts out in the public schools of Buyeo (not quite the walk in the park that we'd anticipated) and after starting the year with a few weeks of winter camp, we were in need of a good holiday. Unfortunately due to our very stubborn (to put it nicely) schools our holidays only overlapped by a week, so I decided to jet of to Shanghai leaving poor Alan at work for a few more days.

Although I went to China in August, I knew that this trip would be a little different. Without the hospitality of Craig and Julia, it was back to some serious budget backpacking with Teej and his friends, Emily and Josh. However budget backpacking in China is not that hard. In fact we had an amazing hostel which for just over 5 quid a night included a buffet breakfast. We also managed to find some seriously cheap and delicious food.

The weather in Shanghai was not wonderful but coming from the Korean winter it felt pretty warm. on the first day it was raining so we decided to go and see the Shanghai museum which was very nice, followed by a lunch of soup and noodles. That evening we went to a small market near the hostel with all kinds of fresh (and breathing) food and lots of smiling people happy to pose for the camera. Teej and Josh bought a tasty chicken, squid and veg stir fry that was cooked up in the street on a little burner. Then we all went back to the hostel bar for some cheap Chinese beer.

The next day we took a trip to the water town of Zhujiajiao. Like a Chinese version of Venice, there are no roads in the town, just waterways with boats and footpaths. It took us almost 2 hours to get there on a bumpy bus and Shanghai stretched out for the entire way. The town has been preserved and is obviously a big tourist attraction but at this time of year it made a peaceful change from frantic Shanghai. There are still people living and working there, presumably most of them making money from tourism. The streets were narrow and jumbled, with small shops selling all sorts from embroidery to food, and washing hanging out of the upstairs windows. We walked along the little canals and over bridges. Our entrance ticket also allowed us to visit a beautiful Chinese garden and temple within the town. We even took a short boat ride with our own private boatman... awesome.

On Friday we did some exploring of central Shanghai. We walked around the french concession, admiring some of the grand and dilapidated old houses. Then we headed for the old town. A lovely area with busy streets full of markets stalls where all the buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding and drying clothes. From here we found one of the big markets, selling art, antiques and lots of other souvenirs in some very impressive and traditional looking buildings (apart from the McDonald's). We perfected our bargaining skills and even had people running down the street to drop their prices. As the sun was setting we walked to the famous Bund, so that we could see the Shanghai skyline lit up in all it's glory. Unfortunately there seemed to be a huge amount of construction going on so although there were some pretty impressive buildings we didn't hang around for too long. We were getting hungry and dinner on the Bund would have blown a week's budget. We got a taxi to Nangjin Road and found a fancy looking hotpot restaurant in one of the malls as this meal was my treat as an early birthday present for Teej. The restaurant seemed to be full of Shanghai's young and hip, so we thought we would fit in nicely. The hotpots were truly delicious. We had 4 different flavours of broth over flames in the middle of the table, into these we dipped lamb and beef and noodles.

On Saturday we spent the morning fantasizing about fried breakfast, until sometime later Emily mentioned that she had seen it on the hostel menu, so we finally got up and ate it. After a late start to the day we had to go and get train tickets for Teej and co's onward journey. Getting train tickets in China is not an easy business, and unless you want to end up spending 24 hours in a cramped carriage with no guarantee of a seat, it requires knowledge, patience, timing and luck. Luckily they have at least 2 of the 4 so things haven't worked out too badly so far. After a final drink in the bar, I had to say a regretful farewell and go to catch the Maglev (fastest train in the world) to the airport. When I got to the Maglev station the last train of the day had already departed so I was left to get a rather expensive taxi to the airport. Can't complain though... off to meet Alan in Manila!

Thanks Teej, Josh and Emily. Was really great fun with you guys and I didn't even feel old. Wish it could've been for a bit longer.