First Published 26 July 2012

We had sensibly arranged to meet a local to show us around. Linz and I met a girl called Kun, after she offered to show us around Shanghai, we’d met her on the travelling website CouchSurfing.

We meet her in the morning and we walked down People’s Street and then went to YuYuan gardens. These are old gardens, ponds and pagodas that have been preserved. Much of Shanghai has been rebuilt, and I think these are some of the more “original” buildings. It was really nice, intricate carvings in the wood and stone. There were loads of Koi carp and there were trees to provide shade. Something we needed a good amount of.

Without Kun I would have been totally lost. The gardens were a maze of paths, pagodas and bridges. We went to the old stage, and then headed back into modern Shanghai.

Kun works in MacDonalds normally, but she had taken the day off to guide us. She is very good at English and she is learning Japanese as she wants to be a translator. I think she works very hard and I hope one day she finds a job she really likes.

After going to YuYuan gardens we went to the Bund. After walking a short distance along here we caught the ferry to the other side of the river to see the skyscrapers. The pearl tower and the world international trade centre, plus a lot of other tall bank buildings. The view was stunning. But it was extremely hot. We rested a while in a shopping centre with good air conditioning. It also had good Wi-Fi so we checked our emails.

After cooling off we went outside to the circular walk way and looked at the buildings again. We made our way back to the river and waited for the sun to go down, before meeting Kun’s friend Rose for some food.

Rose works in one of the banks near the sky scrapers.

We ate dinner in Kun’s favourite restaurant, high up in the super-brand shopping mall. The view over the river and the Bund was stunning!!

After this we went back to the river bank and watched the lights of Shanghai and chatted. I really liked Kun she is very ambitious and is determined to do something she loves. She is quitting her job soon as she is going to go travelling to south-east Asia in March. She doesn’t worry about getting another job as there are plenty in Shanghai. A luxury that we don’t have in the UK any more.