by Alan Goodwin

Created on: December 20, 2009   Last Updated: December 21, 2009

Waking up in an incredibly comfortable giant bed under an unfeasibly incapacitating duvet at 7.50am when you are still slightly jetlagged and are supposed to be meeting a human metronome in the hotel foyer for your airport transfer at 8am is, ordinarily, the precursor to frantic ungainly lolloping around a hotel room, checking every drawer just one more time just to absolutely convince yourself you didn't hide anything astonishingly valuable underneath the King James'.

This ritual is made more exhausting when you've spent the past 2 nights in a suite with 5 rooms. The flat in which I live only has a total of 6 rooms (7 including the 'magic cupboard'). I was checking in drawers that I'd only found whilst looking through other drawers.

Suitably satisfied that I never owned a valuable anyway, we managed to be behind elevator doors on time and performing the self-frisk dance confirming passport and ticket availability before our final voyage with Katherine, the wordsmith guide, back to the airport at Xi'an.

Shanghai was our next stop, and traveling from the airport to the centre of the city gave some incredible views of the skyscrapers that donate to the famous city skyline, which I'd previously only known as a regular on the BBC News New Years fireworks montage bonanza.

Skyscrapers are generally best viewed from afar where their scale can be properly appreciated and a jesting Squish! photo can be attempted, and are not at their best when craning your neck into pseudo-yogic positions and peering through a car window, as was our view at the time. A much better view can be attained by walking down the Nanjing Road to The Bund area, and do as we did. Stand on your tippy-toes and lean slightly precariously into the busy road, and your view is great if still a little uncomfortable.

Alternatively, walk to the footbridge, and cross over the road onto the wharf, where the views are uninterrupted and require little or no peril. Go straight for option three if you have taken a Kodak disposable camera and are limited to 24 mystery photos.
If like us, you own digital technology, you can take loads of photos of the same vista, then find the better view and take some more photos, before crossing a bridge and really go just a bit mental with your shutter finger.

As you wander away from the Bund area and back up the East Nanjing Road, back towards the main shopping areas of Shanghai, you will no doubt be approached and advised by some friendly local to "Watch your bag!" 

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