Over the last few months, And has been to many different countries, and it really is just the beginning. Some locations were more desirable than others, and I can say personally that China wasn’t on my list of ‘PLACES I MUST GO IN MY LIFETIME’.

How wrong I was.

We arrived in Shanghai after an 11 hour flight – which always leaves you feeling a bit worse for wear, greeted by customs who took one look at our 9 flight cases full of filming equipment and immediately pulled us over. As usual I presented the correct paperwork to allow the kit through, but for one reason or another, they weren’t having it…. Ugh! So several hours later and after leaving a rather LARGE deposit, we were through…

Drving through Shanghai was a complete eye opener, even for us who had had no sleep, it truly was a sight to see. Though smoggy, you could see the sheer size of the place. Astounding architecture, and swarming with people at every turn.

We arrive in Wuxi – a large industrial town 2 hours north of Shanghai where we are due to start filming the next day and we are in the most wonderful hotel (Millenium). Don’t get me started on the computerised toilets there – there was about 30 buttons on them and the only one I could work out was the heated seat – wonderful!

We venture out to have a look around, and saw this couple on their modified motorcycle, normally these are piled high, but this must have been after delivery. The speed they go at is really quite extraordinary! And did I mention that scooters are on the pavement!? Yup – You are not safe anywhere!

Ventured out for some food – which was to die for, but prior to that a much needed Tsing Tao Beer was calling..

As you can see from James and Sarahs face, we still hadn’t had any sleep…. Zzzzz

Language barriers were interesting, Wuxi is not a touristy area at all, and very few people bar the hotel staff speak any English. We got by with a great app from Lonely Planet – I truly recommend it if you are going abroad, its about the only one that works., its about £6 but got us through!

The next few days we were filming at the clients premises, which was great, very different from their UK premises, but I don’t want to go on about that, I’ll tell you more about Wuxi J

Waiting for a truck to go through frame – again this took a while due to the er… language barriers!

Wuxi is famous for Xihiu Park, which should you go to Wuxi, I highly recommend, though bring walking boots, it’s a huge park, but as you can see from the picture it truly is stunning.

We met this lady who was fascinated by what we were doing there with this enormous camera! She was a cleaner at the park (of which there are many) She gave us a lovely smile so I couldn’t resist snapping her.

My overall opinion of Wuxi – and filming there, were that we were lucky to see the real China, the China that you don’t see in the big cities. People were so friendly (generally) our hotel was amazing, and the food was to DIE for.

choc pud with jasmine ice cream

the BEST tempura vegetables I have ever had – I don’t know what half of them were!

 local fish called Sweet Fish – seems to be a river fish… we think…

I also bought an array of trinkets for my friends and loved ones, all ranged from about 50p to £3 – and they are ace!

 an array of purchases

the pure randomness of some of the things they sell are brilliant.

I was so happy that this place well surpassed my expectations. Yes its smoggy, and yes you risk your life with the mopeds, and there is a lot of poverty in China, but overall, my first stop in Wuxi – was amazing…

Next we are on to Shanghai and Chong Ming Island, but I’ll leave it there for now.

See ya,

Heather

Producer, And Productions.Limited