A great word to know if you ever visit Shanghai is ‘mafan’, which basically means ‘annoying’ or ‘troublesome’. Everything here is quite a bit more mafan than I’m used to. For example, there is serious construction going on everywhere around me, including right above my friend Matt’s apartment where I’m staying. Every morning I wake up to ‘bam-bam-BAM’ ‘zzzzRRRRRRzzzz’ and other wonderful sounds – the noise is unbelievably loud, so I’ve started sleeping with my headphones on which helps a little.

Regardless of the mafan here, I’m having a fantastic time – Matt and his girlfriend Vicky have been showing me around this massive, chaotic city, and I’ve been enjoying every minute of it (except perhaps the morning parts).