Shanghai - part 2

A trip to the founding place of Communism in china proved an interesting diversion to another exciting day filled with adventures in Shanghai. I think that there is still a huge amount of 'education' that goes on against the local people in China. The press is definitely not free, as an example the local chinese channel made some very interesting comments about Tibet and that the french have always believed that Tibet should be part of China. So as a word of warning, don't believe Chinese TV and news, well in fact don't believe any mass produced news, its all a conspiracy and the only way to know anything about anything is to find out about if yourself. But on the other hand they do show a large amount of football on the tv along with plenty of snooker so you can forgive them a bit for their devotion to high quality tv. Non-chinese satellite tv is only available illegally and lonely planet China guidebooks can't be bought in China as they have said some negative things about the place in the past.

A day of wandering around the city proved interesting, we invested in some custom tailored suits and clothes in the clothing markets which take a few days to put together. The evening involved a very large amount of beer and shots and an argument with bar staff about a fake note that they had just given to us in change. The groom to be proved slightly the worse for wear but heroically backed up again the next night.

The days in Shanghai were proving to fly by, we were almost killed repeatedly by taxi drivers who seem to make a living from avoiding crashes by the narrowest possible margin and charging you $3 to go across the whole city. The subway system was so jammed packed a peak hour that you couldn't see for the walls of people. The french concession is highly recommended for just wandering around. There are plenty of cool bars, restaurants, and of course the Shanghai TV university. I dropped in to pick up an honorary degree in simpsons watching, and was also awarded a doctorate in advanced world cup broadcasts.

Don't believe all you read about this fine institution though because it does appear to be run out of a shack on some back street and across the road there are plenty of dodgy dvd dealers but I personally believe that its all legit.