On every trip to Thailand, I try and break my journey at a different destination as spending 18 hours on a plane is not something I chose to do!
 One year I decided to choose Shanghai for my travel break.
 It was actually winter, and rainy and cold but one of the reasons I really wanted to go there was because I wanted to see the Chinese circus which has its own theatre there.
The circus is quite amazing, and not involving animals very much.
Juggling with huge ceramic pots, blind shooting, and other performances needing great skill and strength with a grand finale of eight motorbikes whizzing around inside a huge ball crisscrossing each other at great speed with terrifying closeness.
I also had a chance to visit some of the markets and purchase some interesting gemstones ready for my work when I got home.
At one shop they had beautiful ornate silver clasps but they only had 2 and I wanted to buy a dozen.  No problem said the wonderful Chinese lady behind the counter and she proceeded to cut the clasps off a number of the necklaces that she was selling. I was quite horrified at that but she assured me it was absolutely fine and she would remake those necklaces later.