As a travel girl, I always have partial research done on many "bucket list" vacations in case an airfare is amazing, but I must admit, I had nothing on Shanghai, nada, zip, bubkiss. So I glued myself to the computer for the next month trying to find everything I needed to know about this metropolitan town.
First I found out, though the tickets were cheap..$550.00 round trip from DFW, you had to add in the cost of a Chinese visa ($140.00) and the upgrade from coach seats (you need to)- it is a 15 hour plus flight.($100 each way) so the cheap ticket was about $900.00. But I rationalized, it was China, and all tickets to Europe at that time cost about $300 more than this- once you upgraded your seat.
(The excuses those addicted to travel will come up with!)
Arriving at The Shanghai airport- we took the Maglev- super-duper high speed train to Pudong. It took 7 min. Please use the Maglev both ways- it is worth the extra $7 USD-we almost missed our plane going home because we decided to take just the metro- boy was that stressful- we didn't know it was a 45 minute ride vs. 7min!. When you arrive you buy a Maglev/ metro card good for the day. (55yuan- about 8USD) Get off the Maglev and transfer to a subway for your next stop (ours was East Nanjing). Try to avoid the subway at rush hours, it is pretty crazy!
First I will entice you to go to Shanghai with my very favorite photo, then I will give you a tour!
This picture was taken from the rooftop bar at The Roosevelt Hotel on The Bund. Please go here for a cocktail and sunset pictures. One of my favorite martinis ever!
After researching all my favorite travel sites, we decided to stay in the "old" city, called the Puxi side. The "new" city (background in above pic) is called Pudong seemed (and was) very
"expense account-ish" and sterile.
We visited Pudong only one time. We took a ferry over and had lunch and dinner. We ate lunch at the mall and we had a nice dinner at the top of Jin Mao Tower- <Three of the tallest buildings in the world are located within a block of each other- this makes for a cool pic (see below)>
What else is there to do on the Pudong side? There is an aquarium (we didn't go) and a kid museum (we didn't go) and The Pearl Market and fabric shopping and knock off purse shopping- but be aware, the merchants are VERY pushy. I had a girl wait on me in a purse store who grabbed my sleeve and wouldn't let me go as we negotiated prices. She kept staring at a man behind the counter who looked like he was going to beat her if she didn't close the deal. I ended up getting a good price- but I would never shop for purses again in Shanghai. It was pretty awful. Pearl shopping was a bit easier. I got beautiful pearl and metal necklaces for a little over $4.00 each. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g308272-d3374121-Reviews-Pearl_city_Market-Shanghai.html (TIP: Do not have a suit made in Shanghai- it is a scam- the price is cheap- but they won't finish it on time- then you will pay HUGE shipping fee. And do not go to a tea house with a stranger- READ about Shanghai scams online)
HOWEVER, we were never targeted by scammers- just keep your wits and know the tricks!
So now that I have stressed you out-lol- keep reading
Relax and follow my advice. Book a room on the Puxi side of the Hangpu River. It is a far more laid back, and a more authentic Chinese experience.
We stayed at this small hotel near the metro. We loved this place!
It was a great little inn. This is a deluxe room. The room had a balcony with a view of nothing- but it was extra space to sit and have a beer. The cost was about $48 dollars a night (not a typo). No breakfast, but you could walk one block to Ningbo road
and eat at 85 Bakery or at Yan's Dumplings (yum) (below)
or go to the convenience store open 24 hours on your way to the East Nanjing metro stop- which is 3 blocks away. Below is the pedestrian area of east Nanjing Road.
One thing we did was hire a guide ,named Shine, for our first full day there. We wanted to learn how to catch a cab, where to eat and learn about the history of the neighborhoods esp. Tian Zi Fang and The Old French Concession. I gave him a list about 2 weeks prior to our visit of all the neighborhoods we wanted to explore, so we could get our bearings. Shine took us to all the requested places and walked us by the entrance gates to all the major places we would probably visit over the next few days. We felt much more confident exploring the city on our own for the rest of the trip. He was an excellent guide, meeting us at our hotel early and then bringing us home in time for dinner. His services were about $10 an hour, but we gave him a big tip and bought his lunch. http://shanghaishine.com/
I would highly recommend getting a guide for at least a day, and if I were to go again I would enlist his services as a food guide- because there was a lot of interesting street food, but we weren't sure what things were and which things might not be safe to eat!
Old French Concession Neighborhood-above- very historical
Tian Zi Fang-above and below - my favorite neighborhood- great restaurants and fun little shops
Yuyaun Garden (next 4 pics) MUST SEE #1
The Bund (next 3 pics)- where you can stroll along the boulevard and see period buildings, watch huge freighters glide down the Hangpu River, or take a tour boat- or catch a ferry over to the Pudong side of the river. Ferries and tour boats run day and early evening.- both are cheap.
 |
| The Bund (a long walkway along the Hangpu River) on the Puxi side |
Above- a freighter
 |
| taking a ferry ride to shop at the Pearl City on The Pudong side |
 |
| You can take a sightseeing boat at night- we didn't -but it looked pretty cool |
The Bund was a romantic place for us (on St. Patrick's Day) which was no big deal there- I was hoping for a green dragon parade or something!!!
I LOVED People's Park (next 5 pics)
http://www.shanghaihalfpat.com/matchmaking-market-at-peoples-square-park/
The group exercise tai-chi classes (above) were fun to watch!
Inside People's Park is People's Museum- which was amazing.
A place that I read about online was the
A little too touristy for us was The Old Town Shopping area (pics below)- at first I though that these were all very ancient buildings- only to find out they had all been re-built recently- inside were stores that were very modern- jewelry- tons of eastern medicine pharmacies..interesting at first- but one after another of the same kind of shops got to be monotonous. I would say stroll through this neighborhood- get some pics- maybe 40 minutes tops
We went to an acrobat show. We took the metro. The metro stop was 2 blocks from this arena It was a good show, but don't pay for the super expensive seats- because the arena is fairly small- so every seat is good. Also- don't buy your tickets ahead of time because the surcharge is high and you have to claim your tickets from a salesperson outside-too complicated- so simply go to the box office window, the night of the show about 90 minutes (I think) before show time, buy your tickets and then go to dinner nearby. http://www.showshanghai.com/shanghai-circus-world
Changing gears totally....
My favorite place to visit outside of Shanghai proper was a "daring" visit to Zhujiajiao.
The daring part was the bus ride. Armed only with a picture of the bus marquee..see my trip advisor post pic. http://www.tripadvisor.com/SavedPhotos-g1805650-i95862766-Shanghai.html
we climbed on a city bus- buses have no English translation like the subways do, so we played match the symbols as the buses pulled in.
When all the seats in the bus were filled they pulled out the plastic stools for the aisles. The bus drove like crazy on the shoulder going about 70 mph- it was an hour and a half drive- non stop.
I made new friends on the bus ride going to Zhujiajiao. And I am glad I did, because we couldn't find the return bus depot. (It was down the street from the drop off stop). These girls called out "Hey American Lady" - then they led us to the stop (and let us line cut -in with their friends!) We in turn helped to smuggle this dog back on the bus, when the driver informed my new friend that dogs were not allowed on HIS bus. We wrapped my coat around the dog and pretended it was a baby, while my strapping husband defensively blocked his view, as we all boarded the bus. Her dog's name was
Doo-doo- which, as she has learned English slowly, would not be a great name for a dog in America.
(This is why I love to travel.)
Zhujiajiao, is the Venice of China, but much older. When you enter the town, go to the visitors center and buy tickets. We bought a 9 stop ticket with a pre-paid boat ride. The tickets came with a town map thankfully. The ladies at the ticket shop were not very friendly. (Hint: use the bathroom nearest the visitor center before beginning your tour)
The 7 stop ticket got us into the beautiful Kezhi garden,
and into one of the oldest pharmacies in the world,
and into an old post office
and into a watercolor museum, (to name a just a few of the stops).
You don't have to pay anything to wander the streets, but we were glad we paid to get into the attractions. Going into the museums and gardens allowed us to get away from the weekend crowd (HINT- don't go on a weekend-lol)
After hitting the ticketed attractions, we took our boat ride. It was great fun!
 |
| I am not the one taking a selfie |
It was a great day. If you are not daring enough to take the city bus for 2 USD, figure out a menu on your own and pay 7 USD for lunch> (we needed help ordering the people at table next to ours helped us-very kind people) and pay about 13USD for admission with a boat ride, then you should get a guide to drive you in a private car that includes admission and lunch for about 80 USD per person. If we had not had our private guide Shine, (on our first day in Shanghai), show us where the bus to Zhujiajiao departed from( in People's Park), I would have paid a private guide to take us there..it was worth seeing even for $80 USD!
I am almost done with this blog. I would like to leave you with my favorite street scenes of Shanghai. The diversity of this town (think New York) is what makes it so fabulous!
 |
| Pudong Night Skyline |
 |
| laundry airing out on a main city sidewalk |
 |
| where to go???lol |
 |
| shopping |
 |
| bamboo scaffolding |
 |
| new malls |
 |
| shrines on city streets |
 |
| lol |
 |
| exercise equipment for anyone to use- it was all over the place |
 |
| Our guide Shine took us to a HUGE cafeteria-no thank you- so we went to an awesome restaurant |
 |
| soup stand- buy it in a pottery bowl- stand there and eat it, return the bowl |
 |
| every part is used |
 |
| another "What is that?" |
 |
| Yum food in Tian Zi Fang restaurant I hope this made you want to visit the city of Shanghai! We sure had an excellent time! |
