Shanghai - A break from culture (but not for the liver)

I'd like to say that we made good use of our week in Shanghai and hit a load of sights and overdosed on culture. It'd be an out & out lie though. Shanghai is a bit light on culture but heavy on places to get very drunk and act like the eijits that we are (..and by god we did).


Our local host/tour guide/barman/fellow drunk Paddy Linehan hooked us up with a training session in searing 35°C heat (er...cheers for that Paddy) with the Shanghai GAA Team which nearly put a premature end to our trip (and lives) but redeemed himself by ensuring that we drank enough to kill a horse on the BBQ and stag party which followed...we were a sorry sight getting up for our flight to Guilin on Sunday morning (...no pictures available as they would scare small children)

Somewhere in the haze of rampant alcohol abuse we did manage to explore Shanghai's Old Town which is quite traditional and also the newer areas of The Bund & The Putong which are swamped with skyscrapers...Shanghai is definitely a city of contrasts & one which is constantly changing. To find out that one fifth of the world's construction cranes are currently in Shanghai came as no surprise..the rate of change in Shanghai is such that even locals occassionally get lost as buildings are being put up and torn down overnight.