China

Next stop on our trip was Shanghai. I must admit, out of the three places that we were going to visit, I was least looking forward to Shanghai. There was not as much that I wanted to see and do and we even planned less days there because of this. However, it turned out to be the best out of the three! The atmosphere and liveliness of the city was brilliant and infectious and I just had the best time there!

One of the best things about the city was The Bund, which is the cities famous skyline. We walked down to The Bund on our first night and it looked great all it up - the Pearl Tower looks so nice at night! We also walked along this a few times in the day and it was just as nice of a view then too. We also took a taxi over to the tower and went up this at night, which was really good apart from the queues! It took quite some time to get to the top so I can only imagine how busy it must get during the day. The views from the top were great and you could still see so much even at night.

Another best for me was Old Town Shanghai. We went here when we were just going for a walk but when we got there we knew we wanted to spend a lot of time there. This is where the atmosphere was at the highest point - it was great! It was also possibly the busiest place I have ever been in my life! There was people everywhere and you could barely move. The little shops and side streets that led to different parts are inciting and fun. Right in the middle of Old Town Shanghai is the Yu Yuan Gardens. These are a must if you are in Shanghai - they are just absolutely phenomenal. They are the most beautiful gardens in the middle of a bustling city. When we got there we had a little walk around and we thought we were done and that it was pretty small. Then, we found a little path and realised they went on..and on and on! There is so much to see and all of it lovely.

Whilst in Shanghai we did take one of the City Sightseeing Tour Buses. It was very reasonably priced and we got to see a lot of the city. If you only have a few days like we did this is definitely a good option.

We had plans whilst in Shanghai to go to a roof top bar and had researched one online that we planned to visit. However, as with Beijing, not many people in Shanghai speak English so trying to get there was so hard. We tried on two different nights but both times we ended up giving up as it was just not happening!

I could definitely have spent a few more days here and it was a lot better than I thought. But we only have 4 days and then it was on to Hong Kong we went!