Shanghai-ly damp

One heck of an early morning got us unnecessarily early into the cold wetness that is Shanghai on 29th November. I've never bought an umbrella for 66p before, but after three hours of getting completely soaked down my back the memory of our delight with such a steal starts to be washed away down the drains along with our last shreds of will to troop around sightseeing. Nonetheless we did get to see the old "Chinese Quarter" of Shanghai, well what's left of it, a few small markets, the colonial Bund area and I even finally found a limited choice of Christmas cards to send home on what seemed to be Christmas corner! Only one I've seen in China, where Christmas decorations seem to come in every shade of red! Martin did his bit for charity, nobly giving a Y5 note he found on the pavement to the tramp we'd just passed. Xin had told us they just got packed -off and sent home in Shanghai but apparently that's not the case.

Back at the Captain Hostel with its slightly overdone boating theme we decided to take a bit of an evening off with an excessively priced pizza (well for China anyway). One thing the rain is good for though is great nighttime photos...and getting hassled by hawkers offering bars full of "pretty Chinese girls who speak very good English", "no pay just look"!!! When do they ever give in?! I guess shaven-headed western guy in ski-jacket equates to a need for massage with make love??!