Welcome to Shanghai! Airport arrival transfer and hotel check in. Overnight - Shanghai

Just the mere mention of ‘Shanghai’ conjures up mystery, romance and general decadence. Pre – 1949, cosmopolitan Shanghai was a magnet for seekers of wealth, idle colonialists, explorers and the dispossessed. Everything went belly up in 1949, when Mao and the communists took to power and swept the good times and rock and roll away. A legacy of these heady times is Shanghai’s Bund where on and around this waterfront promenade are a vast series of grandiose pre-1949 buildings. Just across the Huangpu River is the new Shanghai, a high-tech development of gravity defying skyscrapers.

Today we take a guided tour of many of the city’s top spots including the Yuyuan Gardens and market - Shanghai’s finest traditional garden, the Bund, Pudong and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jade Buddha Temple. After, we take a cruise along the Huangpu Rive Overnight - Shanghai (B)

Today it’s a short train journey to ancient Suzhou by train. The Venice like city is interwoven by a series of canals and pretty waterways. We take a cruise on the Grand Canal and visit a silk workshop. Overnight - Shanghai (B, L)

The coming 3 days offer free time for you to discover and explore World Expo 2010, Shanghai.

Set to be the largest World Expo ever, in the grand tradition of international fairs and expositions some 192 countries and 49 international organisations have confirmed participation in the event. Organisers expect approximately 70 million visitors will experience the fair held between 01 May - 31 October 2010. The theme for the 2010 exposition is ‘Better City – Better Life’ signifying Shanghai’s new status in the 21st century as a major economic and cultural center.

The 5.2 sq km area is filled with a series of pavilions dedicated to giving a combination of scientific, technological and cultural insight as to how each of the countries/exhibitors intend to deal with the demands of lifestyle and everyday urban life in their region of the globe.

What to see and do at Expo? A series of 20 000 cultural, artistic, folk, thematic, musical, technological and interactive performances will take place is some 34 venues within the site. Attending nations also host their own foray of events and performance within their own purpose built pavilions.

Our top picks. The Japanese Pavilion - highlights the role of advanced ecological technology in helping humans achieve a more comfortable life with its huge ‘breathing organism’ pavilion. Visitors will be presented with the latest solar technologies, gizmos, gadgets and life like intelligent robots for the home.

The UN World Meteorological Organisation presents its pavilion as a massive weather station complete with fluffy white cloud and mist around it. When the sun falls below 42 degrees a spectacular rainbow glistens high above the structure. Inside guests will experience climatic cataclysms - rain, hail, thunderstorms and tornados.

The GM Pavilion takes driving to the year 2030! Exhibiting future super highways, electric cars, new traffic system to predict traffic jams, un-piloted vehicles, cars that communicate with each other to avoid accidents and autos that talk with roads to choose the best route. Also, checkout out their 500 seat four-dimensional movie cinema, where your chair will spin around according to the film’s plot.

Enjoy your days exploring World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Overnight - Shanghai (B:3)

Hotel check-out and included onward transfer to airport (B)