At 6am I was woken by a mad hot itch in my right foot. My single bite had transformed into three distinct spots of pain, ugliness and despair. I scratched for a while in my sleep, before realising that it wasn't going away and I needed my miracle cream from Flanagan's. I fell out of bed and scattered ziplock bags everywhere, before finding the magical potion and applying it. Soothed, I turned in again for a few more hours sleep, but in those few minutes the street noise had escalated from nothing to everything. There are these men that go round on bikes ringing chimes, and if you have scrap like old motorbike parts, you can give it to them and they give you some money. There are bin scavengers that collect and recycle all the plastic bottles people throw out for pittance from a recycling machine. Same with cardboard and paper. EVERYTHING is gone through and recycled. Besides the chimes, horns and builders (could you imagine Irish builders on a construction site before 7am?) there seemed to be a rather large Chinese orchestral ensemble practising a flute concerto, and I think Godzilla walked past at some stage too.

I managed a few more hours sleep, then hauled my sorry carcass into the subway and off to whatever I could find to substitute for my beloved Special K this morning . It turned out to be a Dunkin' Donuts, where I had a Boston Cream, a glazed star and coffee that scalded my tongue, throat AND intestine. I figured out where I was, and decided to see the French Concession today. You see, back during the opium wars, the money-grubbing foreign invaders took over parts of poor China, and revolt as they might, the brave underdog Chinese couldn't get them out until communism came along. Different invaders acquired different areas and Shanghai got divided up between French, British and Americans (mostly). This can supposedly be seen in the old French style buildings in the Huaihai road area, but I had to take a detour to find any, since the closest thing Huaihai road has to a French establishment is a Givenchy outlet.

I finally found some un-Chinese buildings along a leafy boulevard and patted myself on the back. Then, to my great joy, I stumbled upon one called "The Museum of the Site of the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party" . Tickets were free, and I'm tired of shelling out for too-hot-coffee, so I took one and ran in. I had to x-ray my bag and drink some Evian to prove it wasn't acid or something, then I was up the stairs and admiring the best translated English explanations I've come across so far. I made a point of reading everything, which worried the guards no end. I was followed the whole way around, but I was fascinated by THEIR fascination with this fuzzy, beardy western communist dude and their dedication to reproducing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g related to him in Chinese. There was also an interesting mugs gallery where Meowsy was the only one who didn't defect to the enemy, get gruesomely murdered or die of a horrible disease.

After that brief interlude, I took myself off to Xujiahui. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to know that today, I found heaven, and it's above exit 10 of Xujiahui metro in Shanghai. It's called Pacific Electronics something something something, AND ITS AMAZING. Cameras, phones, mp3s and 4s and 5s, laptops, playstations, nintendos ... EVERYTHING. Except they all thought I wanted a Lady iPod, and I don't. I want a Man iPod. Guess I'll have to wait for Hong Kong. This place was no Pearl Market either, it was all real stuff, and you could haggle for it. My parents will be pleased to know that I didn't engage in such unpleasant behaviour this time, but I am DYING for something small and touchscreen that I can poke with a tiny stylus on the subway, and thusly keep up with Joneses. Or Wangs or Lis, or whoever. I had to leave before I acquired something else I didn't need, and on the way out I saw my first outdoor LAN gaming party thing. For those who don't understand, it's a pile of guys (usually) on computers all playing with and/or against each other on the same game, and an audience can watch what's going on in the game on large screens at the front. I couldn't really see what was going on, and to be honest, I didn't really care, so I left them to it and went back to Nanjing Lu.

It had escaped my attention that today was Saturday and most people weren't at work, but I tell ya, I figured it out pretty quickly . I made the mistake of getting off in Peoples Square, which is the most massive underground complex I have ever had to find my way out of. There are at least 20 exits (and there must be more, when you consider how central it is, and the fact that Xujiahui has at least 15 and it's nowhere). I forgot what I was doing in the confusion and came out on Nanjing West instead of East, and paid for my lapse in attention by having to battle through the crowds of (Asian) tourists, "DVD, watch, tshirt, bag" hawkers and runaway tour trains of the pedestrian street (they will actually run you down if you don't get out of the way). I made it to Pizza Hut and joined the queue outside the door, but - though it was also the longest - it was the fastest and most efficient Pizza Hut waiting line I have ever been in, with walkie talkies and everything, and I was in and ordered in no time. I was a bit miffed at the size and contents of my "personal pizza" first, but I also had delicious mushroom soup and just about managed to finish both, so I ended up quite proud of myself.

After that, the crowds proved too much for me and I gave up and headed back to the hostel . I had an atrocious pain in my abdomen all day, which I think is from the overuse of muscles that have never had to do anything before now, and are finding it difficult to keep up with my new active and exciting lifestyle. I slept for a while, then found an English CCTV channel (that's the name of the Chinese national broadcaster, not some weirdo spy TV), but it's boring and clean. I had an Ugly Wudi marathon last night and I love love LOVE it, so nothing else can compare. It's the Chinese version of Ugly Betty, which I've only watched once and didn't really like, and there are a million characters besides the boring Wudi, including a floating, white haired witch lady who has blue flames in one finger. It's awesome. Hope it's on tonight!

Don't forget to check Twitpic for photos from my phone when I can't upload from my camera!