Four likely lads travel the planet

¡Hola!

This one comes from Kerr with a lot of love.

I met Morto at out sweet, sweet hostel, where the staff non-English speaking staff have been great, although the no booze rule blows. However, in true Falls Festival form, vodka and OJ were smuggled in for our pre going out drinks. And, yes Gareth, it was warm.

Madrid is awsome, and afternoon siesters are so good. And everybody does it. The place really shuts down at about 3:30 until after 5:00, then it tapas time.

Tapas is one of the sweetest things here, so good and so cheap. We got a plate of pigs ears with potato for about €3.00. I'm not sure we'd recomend that dish, the catilige was a bit chewy.

As for my own travels in Italy, the food was great, the ruins were ruined and the food briliant, particularly in Napels, the birthplace of pizza. Having said that, eating a pizza with 7 types of cheese on it will give you some realy weird dreams. Sciliy is so mafia, every second shop is selling pin-strip suits.

Well, there are no photo's for now, but they are on the way, so watch this space...

Top Five Stray Dogs in Italy
1. The dog guarding some old statues in Pompeii. Some kind of mixed breed I think.
2. Another dog at Pompeii, a terrier, was just lazing in the sun working on a tan.
3. The massive German Sheppard who was wondering around at the port in Napels. He was loving it, even though it was pouring rain.
4. Two dogs (breed unsure), hanging out at the Colesium. I think if I was a stray dog taking another dog on a date in Rome, the Colesium would be ideal.
5. The brown dog outside the mum and pop run resturant in Napels. You just had to be there.

Hope you all enjoy this latest offering of special photos. By the way, it takes us about 2 hours to get all these photos up here and it takes you about 30 seconds to write a comment at the bottom. Please give us some love. We're lonely. Thommo and Moof: you guys are close to our hearts. Cheers, Melon

Shanghai's Bund. Behind these two bums are the old British style buildings which show Shanghai's past......

........And here is the future! The other side of the Huangpo River and opposite the bund

Up, up and away!

The view of Shanghai from the 4th Tallest Building in the World - Jin Mao Tower

Possibly the greatest photo I've ever taken

Old Town Shanghai. Feels quite traditional except for the quiet offers of 'Sex', 'DVD' and 'Sexy massage'

Nanjing Rd. Home to bright lights, quality Chinese cuisine and Sexy Massages. Often all at the same venue.

More Nanjing Rd

The Forbidden City: Amazing place. Most emperors at this place had no less than 1000 concubines to choose from at any one time

It's amazing what a few weeks in a communist country can do to a man. This guy led a bunch of tanks into Tiananmen square immediately after this photo was taken

Enjoying a beer on a rooftop with an old mate of mine, Gabe, from back in Quzhou

It's impossible not to make a face like that when you're standing in front of a building such as the 'Great Hall of the People'

Forbidden City by Night

I'm on top of the Wall!!

We went to see the wall at a place called Samatai. It had 70 degree inclines at some points. We call it 'the Great Wall Workout'

Hengel checking out for Gengis and his band of Dirty Mongolians

That is a quality view. 5000 Culture points (you have the right to review this Morton)

Getting down from the Great Wall is a lot faster than getting up

We arrived in Shanghai in the middle of the May Day holiday week where every man, woman, their kids and their dog either go home or on holiday. It seemed a lot of these people decided to head to Shanghai.

The main sightseeing areas and rampant tourist traps are the Bund, Nanjing rd and the new Pudong area. The first night we went for a walk along the Bund only to be put off by the squillions of people, the thousands selling crap and the stench of urine eminating from the public toilets. The view of Pudong from the Bund was quite spectacular though, amazing new buildings in an area that was only open for development since 1990. It now contains the 4th highest building in the world (see highlights) and the Oriental Pearl Tower. In contrast the Bund is all older european buildings built while trade was rampant in Shanghai.

From here we ventured to Nanjing Road, one of the biggest shopping malls in the world. This also was teeming with people and people selling crap, but much worse than Hong Kong. I could have DVD's, fake shoes, fake bags and rolex's up each arm. As you walk up the street the touts come and ask if you want any of these, we just walk and shake our heads, which mostly leads to them asking if you want a "sexy massage? lady spa?" Funny stuff.

Highlights:
Jinmao Tower
4th tallest building in the world, in the new Pudong area. Great view of sprawling Shanghai and the Oriental Pearl Tower

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel
Actually probably not a highlight, this 100m tunnel under the river from the Bund to Pudong contains crazy flashing lights and weird inflated statues

Maglev Train
We hopped on the Magnetic Leviation train to the Shanghai International Airport at a top speed of 430km/hr! Sweet ride and mighty quick.

Whilst in Shanghai we met up with Melon's cousin Simon. Our first night in Shanghai involved us getting boozed with Simon, to be honest we got boozed with Simon quite a bit. He took us to some good bars and some shockers and by shockers I mean crusty euro-trash sex tourists dancing or crusty euro-trash sex tourists chatting with prostitutes. We hit some good places and usually ended up at a second floor Mexican restaurant called "Taco Popo". For the remainder of our time in Shanghai most conversations consisted of us saying "Taco Popo", "Make yourself a dang Quesidilla" or "Chimichanga" (some sort of mexican stuff wrapped in a tortilla, like everything else).

Our last night in Shanghai we hit the train for the overnight journey to Beijing.