Shanghai continues to be awesome.

Last night I ate pigs knuckle! That is - one made entirely of tofu and shaped into a giant hoof. The days all begin to merge into one as we hop over the city doing this and that.

Yesterday we went to the arts district. It reminded me a little of what I saw of the arts district in New Yoik - blocks of warehouses - all networked together, offering the usual commercial art expos with a few really good bits hidden among all of the Nathan Barley bits. It was rather immense and took some time, after all of the wandering and staring at conceptual Chinese art, we decided to grab a cab to the Bund and have some touristy fun in the Pearl Tower. Now, the pearl tower is nicknamed the disco balls - look it up on google images and then imagine the balls covered with glittery lights - this is what it is like at night. Except bright neon pink!

As with a lot of places in Shanghai (and China, I imagine) you have to go through tons of security and get frisked before you are allowed into any building. Even before you enter any tube station you have to put your bags through an x-ray machine. Its bit sinister sometimes, but mainly you don't notice. At the pearl tower though, we did notice, as you had to go through about 50 checks! In the basement there is an immense, labyrinthine museum dedicated to the history of shanghai - some cool bits and only 20 kuai (2 quid) which kept us entertained and out of the cold.

Now, the cold is something I will just mention, as you will never have experienced anything like it. It creeps into your bones. Imagine the coldest that the winter in the uk has been, except somehow, more bitter, sharper. It sucks ass. And its absolutely pitiful to see Shanghai in all of its finery, especially after their world Expo 2010, with all of the homeless people and slums that exist under the surface.

Today and yesterday we went to some neglected areas and saw much poverty. So weird when you've just come from another bit of town and literally everyone is clad from top to toe in Gucci.

After the museum of everything, where Rick took the door off of one of the toilet cubicles by mistake, and I sat down on a prop bench made of papier mache, we ran away, and met Anna.

The best bit of the day was yet to come - we went up to the bar on the 91st floor of the financial tower - the 3rd tallest building in the world and one of Shanghai's biggest treats - and had a decadent cocktail!

The building is nicknamed the bottle opener - as with the pearl tower - look it up online, then imagine it with billion buckets of glitter thrown all over it. It truly was amazing being that high up, I've never experienced anything like it. My ears popped several times in the lift up and the entire building was very futuristic. Rather than pay 100 kuai (per person) to go on to the observatory, we opted for the bar, where we were waited on like royalty and, I kid you not, the loos had heated toilet seats. Heated. Heated! As you walk into the loo the seat opens - as if it knows... This amazing sensor device seemed to me as though the toilet were speaking to me, saying 'come on, have a seat, do a lovely wee'... And so I did.

Nice toilets are very, very hard to find here, but this was in another league. Ooh, I do like a nice loo.

After this, we headed to the totally vegetarian restaurant, which fashions tofu, fungus and bean paste into plates of 'meat'. We had sweet and sour ribs, rockfish and chicken wings.

I found this a rather disturbing experience - and not an entirely tasty one to boot. However, it was most jolly, and, having never had tried these items in their 'real' forms, it did have a novelty. But we all agreed that the most delicious bit was the side order of Aubergines and Shechuatan Mashed potato! Mash...mmm...

God, I love potatoes. You can get baked sweet potatoes here, in their jackets, just being sold by men in front of little open fires for a few pence. I may start this venture up in Shoreditch.