Team Wuxi is...well, in Shanghai (Marcus)

Well we have officially left Wuxi, possibly forever! We both left with somewhat heavy hearts - this oddball chunk of China having been our homes for the past 8 or so months. We did a final lap of the school; trying to soak up every little detail for one last time, but now that we are in Shanghai, it already feels like forever since we were there.

We had purchased train tickets to go to Shanghai but decided to pay one of the school drivers to bring us here instead. We're travelling heavy(you know, the moving country thing) with a really heavy suitcase each, laptops, carry bags etc. All in all the amount of luggage wasn't so much of a problem, with a little patience and multiple trips moving it is easy - it's the moving of said luggage through a train station absolutely filled to the brim with people.

The thought of taking our luggage through the wildebeast stampede that is the Chinese stations was just horrifying. On top of this, Chinese trains are super efficient. You have litterally a 10 or so minute window to get down to and onto the train. It arrives exactly on time, hangs around for 5-10 minutes and then it's on it's way. It would have just a stressful nightmare and well, the driver option whilst quite expensive was easily one of the best decisions of our time here.

The drive itself was somewhat uneventful. It only took around an hour and a half which was a bonus as when we were originally picked up from the Pudong Airport it took around 3 hours to get to the school. We passed the burning wreck of a coach bus which was pretty full-on. I have read in various travel novels of people seeing burning busses by the roadsides in China and to actually see one was a bit of an eye-opener. Hopefully no-one was injured, but with the way the busses drive in this country(actually make it the way anyone driving anything drives period) it wouldn't have surprised me.

We are staying in a nice hotel right near People's Park(The middle of Shanghai CBD) which has been terrific. We have tons of interesting things in every direction. Courtney and I stayed just up the road from here in a hostel once before so are somewhat familiar with the area. It has been fun having mum here and showing her all the sights on offer.

We have been trying to show mum as much of the 'local China' as possible, but it's not easy sometimes. It's hard to really convey to a visitor what China is really like. I don't think you can ever really come here for a few weeks and go home with a realistic Chinese experience. Whenever we talk to other people who live here we can all talk at length about the various nuances that is the chinese culture. Thankfully we have had a few different things that have randomly cropped up that mum has been able to experience. I think when she goes home she will have a much better she will have actally seen a lot more than the everyday traveller.

We are experts no more :( At least we have proof that we once were!

We had one final catch-up with Matt and Abby with Mum while in Wuxi. We'll miss you guys!

Right up until the final moments, Wuxi remained true to itself. A week before leaving, just down from the Blue Bar expat hangout, we were lucky enough to witness a dog run past wearing...dogshoes.

And on the last night in Wuxi...dog in a bag. This is exactly what I am going to miss about China. Where else in the world would you EVER find such consistently classic, completely randomly comedy. The country is just hilarious. We see so much of this stuff every single day that it will stay with us for a very long time. Check out the next photo...

Today in a large market at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum - we stopped in a Japanese fast-food place and it was just after lunch time. This of course means it's naptime...check the staff member behind me. I truly can't say how much I love seeing stuff like this. The country is just a crack-up.

In a large garden beside the Yu Yuan temple market area found this fantastic Chinese lion. Normally they're pretty similar with the same..well liony face, but this guy, this guy has personality! If this guy were real, he wouldn't eat you, he'd want a hug!

The view from our final destination in China. This is overlooking People's Park and the surrounding buildings. There's a terrific combination of modern buildings, local streets and everything else in between. We are really going to miss the adventure that has been China. While returning to normality will be wonderful, China will always be a special memory for us. I have no doubt we will return in the future if only for a holiday and of course to visit our dear friend Mr Pan.

And last but not least (for now), the following few images were taken with Mum's friend Di's camera - which quickly showed us how crap our own one was at taking night photos - well not as good. Once more we went to the 26th floor to the open air bar overlooking the Bund from the North and watched day become night and the majesty of Shanghai unfold. We will really really miss this wonderful city.

We took Mum and Di to one of Shanghai's older original streets to eat at this brightly lit restaurant. We have been here previously and just like the first time it didn't disappoint.


Zài jiàn!