Day 27 15/10/2014

We headed out and walked east along Nanjing Road and through one of the main shopping areas to The Bund, Shanghai's waterfront and seat of colonial power from the mid 19th century which includes many of the city's landmark hotels, banks and former trading houses.  We picked up lunch along the way, some form of stuffed savoury bread but not really sure what and sat in People's Square before popping into the bank of China to exchange our leftover roubles.  It was only on the way out that we realised we should have taken a number in order to be seen by the cashier (just like the deli counter at home!).  Perhaps the cold, stern greeting that we received was a response to this although not sure that is the reason for the copious amounts of paperwork just to change the money.  If you think banking is hard in the UK at least it comes with a smile.  When we reached the Bund we were amazed to see how much river traffic was on the Yangzi a combination of freight, tourist and ferries with no evident right of passage (a bit like the roads).  Most freight appeared to be coal which continues to be the source of c70% of China's power and the main contributor to it's horrendous pollution.  We'd clearly been lucky to escape this in Beijing but no quite so in Shanghai.  The smog at times was horrid and something we've never experienced before.  Having said that it didn't stop us from having a rather large ice cream (we're not on holiday - honest!).  In the evening we met up with Krys who Diane had worked with in the UK and is currently based in Shanghai.  We went to a lovely restaurant called Lost Heaven in the French Concession (recommended by our friend Dave).  The food was excellent with a range of traditional Chinese cuisine from Yunnan province.  It was great to catch up with Krys and to hear about daily life living and working in Shanghai and all that it entails.  Language is clearly a massive barrier but understanding the local customs, habits and traditions also plays a major part in integrating.  It was fascinating to hear Krys speak mandarin to the taxi driver - not that we understood any of it!