I'm back in Yangshuo - back to squat toilets, spitting and staring Chinese, school meals, sharing a room and street stalls.... Before I went travelling, I told everyone that I was looking forward to leaving the city (Amsterdam) for a while to enjoy some countryside peace & quiet. Who was I fooling?!? The moment I set foot in Shanghai, I felt GOOD. No more herbs for me, just sent me on a city trip!

Last Thursday, I left Yangshuo at 2 pm. Kathy was so kind to walk me to the bus, just to make sure I got into the right one. 90 minutes later, I arrived in Guilin. I only had a backpack and a small handbag with me, so I jumped on the back of a motorbike (without a helmet - sorry, mum!) for a short ride to the MinHang Hotel (in English: Airport Aviation Hotel). The airport express bus was already waiting outside when I arrived, so I could just hop in. So far, so good. When I arrived at Guilin airport, however, it turned out that my flight was delayed. I was supposed to arrive in Shanghai at 8 pm, but we didn't leave Guilin until 7.30 pm.... The flight went well and the food onboard was surprisingly good, but unfortunately, the last Maglev train had just left when we finally landed at Pudong Airport in Shanghai. I had to take a bus instead and it took more than an hour to get into Shanghai city. I got off the bus at People's Square, which was near Paul's apartment. I'd informed Paul, my host, of my arrival and he told me to take a taxi to his place. Paul was still at work (at 11 pm!), but he promised to be home soon. The taxi dropped me off at a very high apartment building and I went inside to wait for Paul. I'd never seen Paul before and Paul had never seen me, so it was a bit weird, but as soon as Paul walked into the lobby and said:'Carola?', it wasn't weird anymore. We took the elevator up to Paul's apartment, on the 27th (!) floor. It was already 11.30 pm by that time and I was quite tired after a day of travelling (I could've flown from Amsterdam to Hong Kong during this time!). Paul made a bed for me in the living room while we chatted a little bit. Paul had to get up early for work the next day, so as soon as my bed was ready, we went to sleep.

To be continued....