Rhona in Shanghai - the first few weeks

Well, here I am in Shanghai. The first few weeks have passed in a bit of a blur, helped along by learning Chinese all day every day.

I arrived in Shanghai 3 weeks ago - 3 weeks ago already! The biggest impact at first was that it is the complete opposite of Davydovo. I look out of my hotel window and all I can see is skyscrapers! Not quite the silver birch forest of rural Russia. Also, there must be well over 100 places to eat within 5 minutes walk - from Brazilian BBQ to Indian curry, as well as chinese, of course! Shanghai is buzzing; there are people, traffic (mainly taxis, bikes and mopeds) and noise everywhere.

So, my first visitor has come and gone. Sheila arrived a couple of weeks ago, and left this morning. I really enjoyed having her here, and she seemed to have a good time. She left me a list of places to visit when I have time.... We managed to make it up to Beijing for a 4 day weekend (see my picture at the Great Wall). We saw lots, but were a bit foot-weary. It was hot, hot, hot too, which didn't help the stamina. We managed to see loads though!!