On Friday, I didn't wake up until 11 am. Paul had given me the key to his apartment, so I was free to go wherever and whenever I wanted. Ronald, a Dutch guy who's lived in Yangshuo for nearly 8 years, had lended me his Lonely Planet of Shanghai. I decided to do one of the walks as described in the Lonely Planet. It was called 'French Concession I' and the estimated duration was 2.5 to 3 hours. It took me almost 6 hours to complete, hehe! I really enjoyed walking through Shanghai's French Concession. It's a very lush area of Shanghai with wide streets, low buildings, villas and a European atmosphere. The walk took much longer than indicated in LP, because I visited the Shikumen museum and I couldn't resist all the shops, department stores and malls along the way. Shanghai sure is shopper's paradise! I didn't buy anything, though, because every time I found myself on the way to the cashier, my overweight suitcase sprang to mind.... So I enjoyed window shopping and the sun outside - it would have been a shame to spend such a beautiful day indoors. It was dark at 6 o'clock. I'd reached the end of my walk, the temperature was dropping, so I decided to take the subway back to Paul's place. When I was in the subway,however, I received a text message from Paul: 'Feel like joining me for a drink after work?' Sure! Only, he was in the French Concession and I was heading the other way.... I got off the train at People's Square and tried to hail a taxi. After having waited for about 10 minutes, a motor cyclists approached me and offered me a ride. Ok! So on the back of the motorbike I went (again without a helmet...) and I was back in the French Concession in no time. Paul introduced me to one of his colleagues. His colleague left after one drink, but Paul and I stayed and ordered some food. After our meal, we went to the farewell party of an American friend of Paul's. We basically barged in on their party, but nobody seemed to mind. I was introduced to the crowd and seated next to Coby, a girl from Australia. She was at the party with her Dutch husband, Roel. It's a small world! I had a really nice talk with her. After a while, Paul, his Chinese colleague Ting and I went to a bar called Zapatas. Coby and Roel arrived a few minutes later. The temperature outside was still pleasant, so we sat with our drinks outside. From inside the club came music and of course, I had to go dancing. It took a little persuasion, but after another drink, Paul and Ting went with me. To my surprise, the only people that were dancing were dancing on the bar, not on the dance floor ...No way I was going up on the bar! We didn't stay very long, because Paul was really tired after a busy week at work, so we left around midnight. Paul fell asleep in the taxi back home (!), so as soon as we were inside the apartment, we went straight to bed.

On Saturday morning, Paul asked me if I would like to go to a polo match. Polo? Wasn't that something with horses? Hmmm.... It was still quite early when I was asked this question, so without further thinking I said yes. 'Right, then we have 20 minutes to get ready', Paul said happily. 20 minutes?!? Help! I quickly took a shower and got dressed. I wasn't really prepared for a visit to a polo club, but luckily, I had a pair of reasonably decent trousers with me. We took a taxi to a restaurant where we had breakfast on the roof terrace together with Jim, an English friend of Paul. We had to hurry, because the bus that was supposed to take us to the polo club - located about one hour from Shanghai - was about to leave. When we arrived at the meeting point, however, it turned out that the bus had already left. Oh no! Another bus was summoned and with a group of 10 people we went to the Shanghai Royal Salute Polo Club. I felt very out of place and underdressed there, but I had a great time people watching! The weather was beautiful, so we just walked around, sat on the grass, had a few drinks and snug into the VIP tent for a free glass of champagne (!). At 5 pm, the games - of which I didn't see much - were over and the polo party began. The food at the party wasn't great (pizza and hotdogs) and I'm not much of a drinker, but the music - ah, fantastic! I couldn't stop dancing! There were fireworks around 7.30 pm and at 9 pm, we were picked up by a bus that brought about 50 party people back to Shanghai.

On Sunday, Paul had to go to a wedding, a client lunch and a basketball match, so I decided to do my own thing. It was nice weather, so I decided to walk all the way to the famous Bund, passing loads of shops where I couldn't buy anything... The Bund is a must-see site in Shanghai. I'd heard great things about it, but I found it rather disappointing, because the entire area was under construction! I continued walking and ended up in China Town. That's right: China Town in Shanghai. It was great! Shanghai has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere. You don't really feel like you're in a Chinese city, but China Town felt very er... Chinese. I walked back to Paul's place where I arrived right after dark. The apartment was empty, so I texted Paul if he had any plans for the evening. He replied by saying that he expected to be home around 8 pm and the we could order dinner then. Fine with me! I went outside for another walk, went back inside, read a book, looked at my watch a couple of times, but still no Paul. Hmmm.... I was getting hungry! Paul came back at 9.20 pm. We ordered some Thai food, (mmmm!) watched a dvd and went to sleep.

On Monday, I left Paul's apartment at noon and I arrived in Yangshuo 9 hours later. I did take the Maglev train this time, but it went so fast, that the ride was over before I knew it! My return flight was delayed (don't fly Juneyao Airlines!), but my journey from Guilin Airport to Yangshuo went well. In Yangshuo, I was welcomed by a rat in the alley to my apartment, a cockroach in my bathroom and a handful of spiders in my bed.... Welcome to the countryside!