FASHION & TRAVEL: December in Shanghai & Nanjing, christmas @wuhan and NYE @the Bund

Monday - Thursday 1st-5th December
cannot believe it is actually december, the christmas month has come! but it does not feel like christmas. although it is finally gotten a lot colder, the is clear and crisp. there is no xmas decor or music. it is not festive. there are no robins, no christmas offers and no festive shopping, friends or family to get me in the mood. usually by now I am sick of hearing xmas songs, but I would love to be able to hear some now. I have added a few to my mp3 and skip through my shuffle list until I come across one.
finally tried the jiaozi. no longer full but rather squished, unfortunately there was celery in them so they weren't the most appetizing but they were okay. i'm still addicted to cai baozi though. also got some sort of black bean sauce though referred to in the tesco as sweet red bean. i used too much and it wasn't the nicest, it also needed cooked longer. on wechat a friend posted a link to chinese street foods to avoid.(Wechat is a bit like whatsapp but you also can post pictures for all your friends to see, there's also video chat and walkie talkie options) it's revolting, they reuse grease for some things, use off sweet potatoes, strange meats etc. it can make you ill, but it depends on the vendor, i've been lucky so far just need to be careful, but i guess its like anywhere, if they can cut corners and save money they will.
my work schedule changed and i had to go in on monday. but with the others having worked so much overtime, alice in a training week with her work and Pauline still in England, it was eventually decided I could have the weekend off, and made a last minute plan with Rosie to go back to Nanjing were we first met nearly 2 years previous and shared a room (developing a love of china) in the Study China Program.
spent my week getting different products from the fabric and accessories market (so strange that some shops can only give out a certain number of fapiaos 发票 -business receipts a month) along with starting to make a headpiece with veiling, attaching the necklace strap to an origami fashion silk neckpiece and going to a 24 hours printers and getting flyers on cards made, very cheap and good quality. unfortunately i got soaked and got the cold from this!I spent thursday going around on my bicycle around the French concession and asking to leave leaflets in different cafes and restaurants. was interesting to see the area, some very beautiful buildings, tree lined avenues and lots of small western restaurants, french bakeries and cafe in particular. one type of housing was done in 3 building blocks resembling a large mansion/french country estate. middle facade and a sort of left wing right wing look. very interesting and lovely to see!

Friday 5th - Sunday 7th December NANJING
started watching a bit of a movie in speaking class today about a pregnant xiaosan 小三 (mistress) who is coming to give birth as she cant in china as shes unmarried! and cant even get hospital checks! shes in Seattle and a bit of a princess. Didnt have work today so wrote some notes for my upcoming exam, a rather sunny day, although cold you wouldn't think it was winter, let alone December! I visited the costume and textile museum at the university, the ground floor being about textiles used for uniforms and structure, so i posed in a car and looked at astronaut outfits. its weird to things how certain materials can be used for such different things, for instance taffeta is not being used in some sports wear.
the other floor was chinese clothes contemporary and past textiles along with how things are made. the style were rather the same, just longer sleeves and different collar sizes really, its stayed very traditional. after this i went to a nearby park for a stroll, it was actually quite big with a nice lake. rushed and got on my train by 10 minutes, I shall not be making such a close call again. I should go look around it sometime as the "shanghai railway station" metro has lots of cheap clothes shops. after 2 hours on the train (having sat beside 2 different men, the second of which, though he didnt speak to me, left me his number on a sick bag with the words "come on" written on it before he left the train, so strange!) I arrived in Nanjing, I was so excited to be back in the place that gave me my love of china and where i met Rosie. we meet up at our old haunt Fashion lady at Xiejenkou 些基恩口! its pretty much the same! lots of clothes and shoes in nice boutiques, welcoming and well presented unlike QIPU lu in SH. the only thing i wasn't happy with was the animals for sale, hate that! there was also a random mircowave shop.
our hostel isnt too far from the presidential palace, it's freezing, they have a random rabbit in a cage and it seemed a bit run down. we walked to 1912 bar street to find it quite dead! freezing we heading back, another girl came in, got the shifu and got the girl who was already sleeping to move to the top bunk. she didnt even change the bed sheets. so weird!
Saturday was spent at QIXIA mountain 栖霞山. with QIXIA temple and 1000 Buddha mountain (which is in fact only 515 and it doesnt even seem it) quite busy we followed the chinese and pretty much went vertical rock climbing to the top. quite dangerous as there was so many people and people bumping into others with bags (perhaps a good thing i Haven't learnt to swear in chinese haha) the view at the top was nice, the mountain area was an array of greens oranges and reds as the area is fashion of red maple leaves, I loved this as i had never seen red maple leaves!

 however the downfall was the smog and the industry factories below. we climbed further up and round finding cute dogs trying delicious candied hawthorns on a stick (they have them everywhere in China, its a must,just remember not to eat the seeds)  we found some pools, rocks areas and rocky cave areas, up and down we went, to some pavilions and quite spots, chatting and admiring the colours on a crisp but clear sunny day, it was really enjoyable. down at the bottom we visited QiXia temple and checked out the Buddhas. placed in caves along a the rocks, old weathered and surrounded with plant life it looked like something in an ancient Chinese tale. it was a lovely sight in the background of autumn colours.

after this we heading back to our old university, Nanjing university near Goulou station. we had
butterflies, and excitedly remembered the way, it seemed like a dream!! we even went up to our old room haha! checked out the local shops and had our favorite drink in the local student bar "talking 2" unfortunately our favourite food place had shut, a small garage that did really Delicious food that we went to daily and called the "shack" very disappointing. Instead we went to the shopping centre under the intercontinental hotel and had fantastic hotpot in "boygirl" overdosing on mushrooms and watermelon (watermelon and ice-cream are free and you can top up your, we got tomato, was sublime!) it was delicious and so filling! only downfall was a strange chinese man came over to practice his poor english and asked for our wechat and numbers, i played dumb and refused to give him anything, we even told him we were from France so he might not want our english level as much. it took a long tie but eventually he left, he did not take the hint, no-one wants to be bothered while they are eating, especially when you are starving and the food is delicious!
after this we hit conscious temple. it was also very quite, so strange to be back at these places and finding them so empty when they were so full of life before! but its still a lively area with lots of random shops, got a cheap but cute xmas jumper and thick wool inside leggings! a hot shower and then bed as Rosie was leaving after 6am.

i also got up and left early. I took some photos of the historical documents house and then went to the Nanjing Museum. some nice artworks, the usual bronzes etc and a temporary exhibition on american western bronzes. the best bit was ancient Nanjing as it had skeletons from the ice age , huge stag like and buffalo creatures and a huge mammoth! I didnt get to do it all but it was a bit different from the usual museums, and free in! back on the train and then to my dorm to begin studying after i went to the Carefour. some xmas music there and the employees in Santa outfits was quite cute!

Monday 8th- Saturday 13th December
back to school and back to the fun that is revision. I was off on the monday so spent it revising for a comprehensive exam the next day which i did poorly in, I was not the only one who didnt understand the majority of a section, and unfortunately due to exhaustion the day after the test I missed her explaining it. However, pleased to know that to get into the higher class, you need over 60% in your unit exams, so I should be okay unless i fail miserably at the final exam. however I am speaking and using my chinese a lot more, making full sentences and short paragraphs when shopping and asking for mail, and texting Linda my chinese friend in chinese too. after the exam on tuesday myself and 3 other girls from my class (2 german and one russian, Kat, Melia and Elina) went to the shanghai german xmas market near Longhua station 龙华. As it was week day we paid 30 in, but at weekends it doubles, it is not worth it. It wasnt so busy and doesnt have much atmosphere until it gets dark and the lights go on. there artificial light tree in the centre is nice along with all the little wooden huts that the stalls are in, however its not the cheapest, 30 for mulled wine. the majority is not german, though all seem to be western, its mainly food and drinks and the odd shop to buy things, such as scarves or odd nutcrackers (some of which did not have mouths and others which resembled a cupcake more than a traditional nutcracker) however it was still nice to see some festiveness. we chatted a lot, the lights were cute, food and drinks was good and we found some places to go to eat in future. discovered why you have to get your bag scanned in the metro stations and train stations now (i didnt have to a couple years ago in Nanjing) turns out some crazy Chinese made brought on a load of knives and went crazy and killed a few people one day. hence the new law. however they arent too bothered. if u open you're bad they seem fine, or hit your backpack, or just walk on it a rush works sometimes, as it is annoying having to take off your bag, load it, pick it up and put it on again each time you go into the metro. so they aren't racist, just some are more lazy than others and i can just open my bag like the chinese. I take back what i said a few months ago.

back in work on wednesday going to the accessories market and make some new origami like headpieces. my boss Pauline came back from England with lots of British treats, for example monster munch crisps! i got very confused that they didnt recognize a certain type I was on about until i realized that it was Tayto and it is only sold in northern Ireland! so silly!
also,  nearly got hit by a car, the chinese do not seem to have a traditional way of driving, red and green seems to mean go. if its read, turn even though pedestrians are walking, always if you're a bus or taxi, fancy cars may also chance it. if things are a bit slow, who cares about cyclists, just drive in their lane, or stop, park and have a chat in it. they worst area is at xujahui , as they park and stop near the mall at a junction, sometimes in two lanes meaning you ave to go right into the motor lane. not good!! and so inconsiderate. its stressful, cars and taxi's pulling up, some trying to go into the parking area and pull out on the main road. it is here where i nearly got hit. cyclists and motorcyclists are all just as bad, some seem to stare into space or chat on their phone, reactions are slow, they do not pay attention and they dont have spacial awareness. ITS SO STRESSFUL AND ANNOYING!!
12/12 passed on Taobao, so bought some more things online, slowly gathering up for Christmas. spent my weeknights after work studying. learning so many characters and forgetting so many too,dreading this final exam!

Sunday 14th December - Saturday 20th
wanted a lie in but still woke up before my time! not happy. had lunch and met Rosie's Roomate Sarida at Xintiandi station. She was not a happy bunny, someone had stolen her phone on the metro!
we went to the vintage winter festival. we paid 50 in to visit 4 floors of food stalls, craft stalls and live music, quaint and festive, there were some interesting deisgns, vintage clothes, hair pieces and some hand made christmas presents, Kat bought a pillow case for the gay thai guy in our class saying big brother in chinese. we got speaking to two stall workers who volunteer at a dog rescue and foster centre, explaining how some men offer a dog service were if you have too many puppies he'll take some off your hands for £50. he however, leaves them in poor conditions squished into cages, many get sick and die, when they rescued the current 55 that are in the vets, many had already died and those remaining 55 were all very ill, they were fundraising to help with the vet bill. so many were so cute! it was devastating, often they are sold to be eaten and their fur used for fashion (meaning that in Xi'an and near YuYuan in SH that fur skin is definitely dog!!!) you can also help out an volunteer or foster a dog til they get rehomed. perfect for those living in shanghai or china briefly. so sad!
some good singer singing xmas songs, nice jewellery and delcious looking western cakes for sale. on the 2nd floor there were some odd art pieces and on the 3rd floor and random barber service. but it was nice to go around and seem festive. we we went to itandi style and then around the local area, felt like we were in Europe not china with tha architecture!was so nice. plus lots more xmas stalls and decor. peaceful realxing, charming and pretty. the french concession area can be like another world!
my weekdays were the usual, we were open in work this monday and Alice was back on tuesday. I stayed till after 7 working none stop cutting out pieces for a toile for a skirt bottom for a client, undecided on whether is should be curve or straight pieces. in the end the woman picked the curved sweeping looked but i continued to cut more and sew on more to try and get the back looking right as there was a trail, so adding smaller pieces inbetween. all very interesting to see it come to life and considering other ways of doing to to create different looks.this along with a trip to the fabric market on saturday, panel cutting for a very strange assymetric dress in white with 2 different laces and then pink chiffon strips for a mexican client (it seems odd on the hanger but she seems to pull it off, but its far from my own taste) along with pattern cuting and begining new head peices (which are sold from £50/70/150) was my week in work. my trip to the fabric market was successful speaking in chinese and getting the fabrics I wanted with some of my own, the only bad thing was that the last woman asked her daughter in chinese was i good looking and she said no because of my lipstud. thanks kid! NOT.
I retardedly fell off my bike on the Friday cutting my knees badly. i have no idea what i didnt, i must have swerved, but i fell sideways with my foot in the bad wheel and the bike on top on me sprawled on the ground! im such an idiot but at least i wasnt on the main road and there was no traffic about.
chinese spekaing test on friday went a bit better, I hope so anyway!and we watched a bit of a movie "I do" which is odd and not as good as the last one "Mr Right" but hey, sometimes we need a break. Linda helped me with some Taobao returns, she also told me that she's going to be away briefly in america studying English for 4 months in Georgia or somewhere, go linda! i alwasy tried some deep fried sweet potato balls with red bean in teh middle which are nice.
was in a bad mood on the Friday night but eventually decided to give myself a shake and to stop being antisocial and head to the german guys leaving party, He studies business and fashion and was doing a brief CIP programme, his girlfriend had just arrived and he wanted to say goodbye to everyone. we went to perrys,then some of us walked to Myst, Clare, the French girl stopped for drink and i tried a bit, a sort of chinese liquer with a hint of cinnamon, not hongjiu or bijiu at least (VOM) free into myst we were able to leave our coats and hit the dancefloor, chinese men in layers (ie. full jackets for outside) were dancing...well standing there being awkward, one told me I was beautiful and asked me where I was from and another asked kat. leave us alone please! dancing time! we left after one and got home round 2 feeling a bit better for having gone out.

Sunday 21st - wednesday 24th December
met sarida after lunch at the xintiandi station, (sarida is my friend Rosie's roomate in Wuhan) someone had stolen her phone on the metro!! but she seemed to accept that nothing could be done and that things happen (I would be in a complete mood!) we went to the Lafayette arts centre for the vintage winter festival, 4 floors of different boutique stalls and artists wares, Kat got a hand printed back for the gay Thai guy in our class saying "GeGe"哥哥 older brother. there were some lovely headpieces, jewellery stalls etc too. there were lives bands playing Christmas music and different European food stalls too, and the majority of customers were western! we got speaking to a dog fostering company who were trying to raise money for sick dogs who had been giving to a chinese man for 5ormb, the puppies were all not looked after in small cramped containers and when finally were rescued by this company only 50 were still alive, many were sick though from living with the dead dog around them. so sad! and they're all usually sold for meat and fur! China makes me sick sometimes!
after this we strolled round the french concession are through Xitiandi style to the outside, lots more stalls, chrsitmas decor and a complete look and feel that we were in Europe, was so nice and refreshing!
back to class on monday studying like crazy as there's only a week and a half yet. got my speaking results back and was .5 of 80% which is good, though i believe she cut of my last speech. need to be quicker! work was doing some new head pieces, cutting them out stitching them and manipulating them into the styles. booked my flights! got them by being flexible with dates for under £400! cheaper than my flight out here!

then boom! it was xmas eve and i was on my way to wuhan to see lola (my other british friend who did study china in nanjing with us) and rosie! classes are still on over the xmas holdays but the majority of westerners dont go due to religion and because it is the biggest holiday of the year for us, Russians would as NYE is the bigger celebration for them, and of course the Asians as they are mainly Buddhist (though the old thai school that i worked for id have "santa" come in and visit and distribute presents) arrived in around 7. a chinese guy and his girlfriend started speaking to me on the train and helped me to the metro station (he thought i was from the Ulkraine as im beautiful, never heard that before!) he offered to carry my bags and got my ticket. helpful and friendly and pratised some chinese with his girlfriend, turns out her mothers birthday is the day after mine.
met the girls and fei (the chinese jewelery design student who is amazing at drawing and we all know is gay) we booked ktv and headed back to get ready as it was all busy due to th holidays we had to book a room for 12-7 cheap though in what we described as a ghetto ktv. we got 12 beers and snacks for under 300 in total, with so many of us going it worked out approx 30rmb each!
we got ready and chatted away, made mulled wine (rosie accidentally dropped my phone in the mulled wine trying to take a picture and now there is speaker damage oops!) before meeting up with the others, lots of coloureds and only one other white girl from the czech republic. we all wished each other merry chirstmas as soon as it hit midnight! it was a great night, though maybe there wasn't too many english songs available, we did sing lots of abba, some eminem and finished the night with last Christmas by cascada... haha! lola had went to sleep and maybe of the others had left by the time we decided to go at 6am. a very strange but fun way to start christmas of but worth it! tired when i got up around 11. but was a night full of fun memories (except for the south american guy who took a shine for lola even though he has a kid on the way...men!) great night and being with some many people and my good friends made being away for christmas a bit easier.

Thursday 25th - Sunday 28th December Christmas and boxing #3BritsinWuhan
Sarida (Rosie's roomate from Suriname) woke us up around 11, we were exhausted so a chilled out christmas day was the plan. skyping family, opening whatever parcels had been sent (I ate a whole bag of vanilla fudge it was glorious)  chatting away and watching random videos. we made a sort of christmas dinner, mashed potatoes with gravy sent from home, carrots and brocoli (no Brussel sprouts could be found) and steak instead of turkey. we didnt complain (although partially cold as cooked in stages as only one hotplate) we loved the taste of mash and "spuds" watching the christmas movie "love actually" and skyping again Lola fell asleep and rosie visited the others who were having their own xmas night (i missed nothing) A relaxing night with close friends from my home country I'm glad i spent my christmas with them since I could not be at home. was weird talking to my family and seeing them, knowing exactly what i had missed as christmas always seems to follow the same pattern, I know that if i had been alone in Shanghai I probably have would have cried!
rosie had class the next day (she'd skipped two days like I was doing) we had lunch in her canteen, she has a sort of pick and mix you can get were you pick what you want in a pot and its weighed, was quite tasty, though a lot dearer than what I get in my canteen. we booked Lola's return ticket to Fuzhou from shanghai as they are coming to shanghai for New years. Fuzhou, although the capital of Fujin province in the south has no metro system, Lola believes that (although they have been preparing to build it now for a few years) that they dont made it a flourishing city as the chinese believe that it would be the first place to be attacked by outsiders as its exposed in the south of china by sea. she also told us that she accidentally got a massage from a prostitute sort of place in a hotel. they massaged her oddly and you also got a room and dinner at the hotel and got it in your room. (she got massaged in strange areas) but it was cheap and she got free dinner! finally know why bags are scanned at the metro stations, a year or so ago some crazy chinese man came on board and stabbed lots of people, hence why bags are checked, but to be honest, most guards are quite lazy and if you really cant be bothered taking of your bag you can just shove on through, pr they hit your bag with they're detecting stick, I usually just open mine and they usually glance in.
we met Fei who took Lola and I to "Creative Captial" we had to change buses twice (Wuhan is huge, with 3 different lakes/rivers its larger than london) it was meant to have exhibits on fashion, art and jewelry and although in a run down area was quite a new impressive building, however with one day left they had shut the exhibitions. we did look around the permanent ones, freezing in a non heated building. it was mainly strange modern art, downstairs had odd video art which was awful, old furniture painted over with a different flag, while upstairs had a horrid "abortion" art piece, full of dead badie, puppies and piglet figures representing how little chinese value life (via abortion) it was gross and shocking, but I guess that was the agenda.  underground there was some weird art by a chinese artist who had studied in art, however there was  a very realistic artist there too, with work so outstanding and real it look like a photograph! now that is true skill and contemporary art that I admire!
back at University of Geosciences (or Dda as the students refer to it - there are many universities in wuhan, even though the pollution is bad: much much higher than shanghai, and the driving is worse too!) we finally watched the Queen's chirstmas speech online via yokou (chinese film and video site which has international and chinese videos) I dont usually watch it at home its always just in the background but i felt the need to this year, to feel more of a connection to home.
all four of us then got the metro to "Han Jie" a rich shopping area in Wuhan which had a fake small london bridge, there were lots of western shops from Zara to Marks and Spencers, it was al lit up with christmas decor which was lovely to see. we then had dinner in "Grandma's" cheap and delicious, i finally tried "yam's" which I was always convinced was some sort of weird meat like Spam, when its more like a watery sort of potato. we got a taxi back and had a great lie in the next day until nearly 11!

went to computer city to try and get my phone fixed as it had slight water damage and wouldnt play music etc. The guy asked for money upfront and changed the speaker breaking my volume buttons, he was unhappy that i accused him of this (as i told him before it was ok but now it was broke with lots of pointing etc) he wanted to change the charger slot and when we rang Fei to talk to him he got pissed and called fei a bitch. one of the women got it fixed for me as she understood what I was on about eventually, changing the charger slot it all started to work. we got that cheaper than she wanted so in total got in fixed for £17. slowly replacing all of the original phone haha! works fine now though. we tried to go to a temple but it was closed, instead looking round some shops and getting a skirt from H&M for £2.Tonight was the New years party (mine was on boxing day, the chinese dont seem to understand when New years seems to be for some reason, in the universities anyway) as it was international students we were ll a bit late for the beginning, but being one of the few white people Lola and I got seats in the front. Rosie had been persuaded to read the intro in english along with 4 other different students (russian, arab, spanish, french and chinese) the show was different students singing and dancing or playing music, it was all quite fun, the africans can really dance! after was food from the countries, we got small samples as we were some of the first lot to go in however they quickly ran out due to the small budget. We chilled in Darys room (one fo the Surinamese students whos been studying in china since 2008) trying raspberry sky vodka which s only £5 for a 10 glass! before heading back and chilling in Rosie's room.
Sunday we went to church with one of the other students, good thing she was there as it was quite a windy path to it and was quite hidden once we got off the bus. it was full of internationals and chinese, the priest was Irish which was great! loved hearing the accent. sometimes they spoke french as there is a lot of french africans etc in Wuhan, the service alst 1 1/2 hours with singing, hymns, sermons, reeadings and prayer followed by communion (which we all seemed to do wrong, they dipped the waifer in the wine, and the wine was gross, chinese HongJiu!) at the end new comers needed to stand up and introduce themselves resulted in the end an irish priest coming over to say hello! unfortunately we couldnt stay for the christmas show and food but on our way back we got some cakes for 5rmb, all small delicious sponge cakes and also some chinese pancake before getting the bus. we chilled briefly at rosie's before i headed for the train, however the metro was slow and I missed my train! i had to spend ages in a couple fo different queues before i was able to change for 5rmb, and with few on the train i was allocated a seat (I stupidy tried to sit on the ground!) a later train meant a later arrival,I thought I would have had to get a taxi back however I was lucky and line 2 and 3/4 were still open and I was able to get the metro back, some restaurants and shops were even still open beside my univeristy and i was able to get fruit for tomorrow! did my revision notes for my upcoming exam and arrived home to some packages. looking forward to rosie and lola coming for NYE

Monday 29th December - Wednesday 31st NYE
back to class. i had wrote up all my notes at least but with the last classes being given on wednesday we were cramming to get everything done. in total 27 chapters out of 30 for comprehensive and 23/25 for speaking. eugh! so many characters and some of the grammar can be so confusing, especially since the way they structure sentences is pretty much the opposite of how we do it in English. In work im doing some more headpieces and have finally seemed to get the hang of the origami one through the use of an ironing ham rather than the ironing board! (ordering one for sure!) making more of the floral pieces but experimenting with different fabrics and manipulating them in different ways to see the result (before we used lace and did tucks but it looks weird on net so twisting them instead) sort of getting to know the difference between organza and organdy or poly organza...sort of.


the other intern in work made me a christmas card, so cute! and very pretty! (they also celebrate christmas in Hongkong)
chilled in my room after work on NYE before kat came round, we made some mulled wine and headed out, to find that even though the metro was meant to stay open later, it was closed at Hongqiao. we spent half and hour in the cold (Id forgotten my gloves of course!) haggling with a motorbike taxi (what an angry man, but practsing chinese at least) before we finially got a taxi, we spent nearly 40mins in traffic, missing the countdown completely. before getting dropped off near the bund. we could barely get near it. we ended up half way down a side street near 3 on the bund. it was backed. no1 was moving. i could have lifted my feet off the ground and still have been held in place. some idiots had tried ot drive down and were stuck in their cars (and most likely would be till 3am) we ended up shuffling over a sports card and heading back. it took a long time! there were not any fireworks, all we saw was the Oriental pearl and the newly completed finacnce building all lit up. there had been a countdown on the pearl and it now said 2014 and 2015 on it.
we waited for a while at forever before rosie and Lola met us. it was insanely busy. they had climbed up onto a ledge on one of the side roads and had seen women being carried having fainted due to the crowds (lets hope most of them werent wearing high heels like most chinese women seem to do) we walked on, down some side streets, freezing we called into a hostel to use wifi before walking again and going to coffee in a nice cafe. it was warm and busy but we managed to get seats. there were quite a few chinese students sleeping there as apparently after 11pm they cannot return to their dorms until 7am (crazy!) we decided to give up on doing anything and go our seperate ways until tomorrow. heading in opposite directions to get taxi's (they ended up getting a motorike taxi) we walked for ages, all the way down to century park, still with lots of people many trying to get taxis, we nearly did at ne point but a boisterous chinese woman ran in front and smacked my arm from the handle yelling hey!
eventually we got one for a complete rip off at 150rmb (the first taxi cost 50, its usually around 25-30) he tried to pick people up too so we'd get it for 100. didnt end up back to the univeristy until after 3! skyped and went to bed. skyping my grandparents in the morning (1am there time) who were hilariously a bit worse for were! however having checked out the news and recieved a message from my teacher is transpired they there had been a huge disaster at the middle of the bund last night. there had been a sort of stampede (apparently some wankers threw fake money from a club, im guessing bar rouge) causing a stampede. people were crushed and trampled. many injured and deaths were caused!!! killing 36 and injuring nearly 50. things happen for a reason, we were not meant to get there early and our taxi was meant to be late! catastrophe!!