Day 14 - Shanghai Hopes . . .

Dude, you're in my bed!

Day 14 - 7th July

So I arrived into Shanghai's Railway Station in the North of the city after an epic 20 hour railway journey.

After navigating the metro system with surprising ease, I located my hostel within five minutes, avoiding walking the wrong way up one street, which takes you South for miles. I was pretty proud of myself as. I checked into RockandWood hostel. The staff seemed great as did the room when I booked in. For the first time in the trip, the room was empty. A sense of apprehension filled up inside me but then I realised, I've had about twelve different roommates in three locations so it's just the way things are backpacking.

This is where my clothes hangout . . . at least they can play ping pong.

I decided to do my washing because it'd been hand washing up to this point and my towel was starting to smell of mould. I paid 1 Yuan (10p) for my detergent and headed for the washing machines on the third floor. It was all in Chinese with a little English. You had 30 seconds to put your 8 coins in otherwise you were knackered. I managed that easy enough, but there were no drawers for the detergent. So I just bundled everything in and threw the detergent in with it, hoping for the best. And I've learned, sometimes the best is not always good enough. The towel came out the same dampness it had gone in, my shirts were dripping on the arms but not the body and my socks were bone dry. What kind of witchcraft is this? I thought. So I went back to hand washing.

Shortly after, probably from the stress of the washing rather than the humidity or lack of sleep, I had my first travelling migraine. Turns out, it still hurts as much as it does back home! Staggering around with one eye fuzzy, I got into bed and slept it off.

Shanghai can be a cruel mistress. . .