Shanghai

mandrake04

Heading to Shanghai for 3 weeks (September) on business, don't know much about the place (just been to Hong Kong) and was just wondering what's the place like? I am staying in the Grand Hyatt at the Jin Mao Tower, I find Hong Kong easy enough because the street names are in English as well as Chinese but often struggle with the Japanese when in Tokyo and wondering if it's going to be the same in Shanghai?

Also whats the must see things to do and places to go? I should have plenty of time in the evenings to do stuff plus 2 full weekends.

roundymac

Shanghai is a good place to visit, plenty to see. NangJing Road is the main shopping place/to be seen, also The Bund which is on the waterfront, just be careful with the taxi's, some can be rip off merchants like most places, one quoted us the equivelent of €70 to takes us back to our hotel, we got one for the right price about €3 in the end, if your looking for a decent fry up Mojo's in NangJing road is the place. There are plenty of tours to pick up locally, the river cruise, the old town, try the Dim Sum (Chinese Dumplings). Also if your are traveling with out a meet and greet, try the Maglift train from the airport, it reachs a speed of around 450kph, the journey takes about 7mins for the 16 mile trip.

faceman

Shanghai is a fantastic city, I loved it there. Generally speaking its very safe, however its full of con artists and hawkers.

Be prepared for plenty of people to approach you trying to sell you stuff. If anyone approaches you offering you a tea house experience, avoid at all costs. (Im pretty sure there are older threads on this on boards)

As roundymac said, The Bund is cool. And be careful with taxis, make sure you know how much a journey should cost. Most drivers wont speak english so its handy to have the destination name and address written in Mandarin so you can show the driver.

Here are some places I visited:

(1) People Square Park
You can either visit (i) Shanghai Museum Address: 201 Renmin Dao Dao, People's Square or (ii) Shanghai Urban Planning Museum Address: 100 Renmin Da Dao, People's Square. I didnt visit the Urban planning museum but the main museum was cool.

(2) Nangjing East Road Pedestrian Walk:
You may be overwhelmed with the crowd of local people and tourists walking on the street from different directions.

(3) Yuyuan 豫园 269 Fangbang Road (M):
http://www.yuyuantm.com.cn/
It is an area popular with tourists because it features an Oriental Garden liked place which offers lots of traditional street snacks and handcraft shops. Recommend to go early otherwise it will be crowded. Also, remember to bargain hard, they like to jet up the price when they see foreigners.

(4) Jiang'an Temple
It is a famous temple and it is very interesting to see a historical architectural building located in the heart of a modern city.

(5) Xintindi
They tore down a traditional community housing complex and turned it into a chic place. It is a very popular place to go for dining and drinking. A very pricy place for local but all foreigners like to hang out there.

Some tips for eating and drinking:
(1) Le Royal Meridian 8/F - Ai Mei Chinese Restaurant: Cantonese food with delicious dim sum. Very reasonable. Despite it being located in a hotel, its apparently the best Cantonese restaurant in Shanghai. I stayed in the hotel too, its very central.

(2) Raffles Mall or 来福士广场 (address:268 Xizang Road (M) 西藏中路268号): It is a shopping mall with both restaurants and fast foods in every floors. If you want a quick bite, you can either go to the basement floor for Japanese Ramen 味千拉面 or go to the 6/F, the food court 大食代 which offers various dishes (you need to buy a prepaid card and get refund for the unused cash balance). If you want a sit down type meal, try Charme 港丽餐厅 on 6 Floor, they offer a great and wide variety of food but there is usually a queue.

(3) 789 Hotpot or 789新概念火锅料理 (address: 180 Xizang Road (M) Gao Xin Building 4/F or 西藏中路180号高盛商厦4楼):
A hotpot concept with individual hotpot. It is a fancy way of having hotpot at a reasonable price. This was my favourite restaurant in Shanghai!

(4) Shanghainese People or 上海人家(黄浦店) (address: 云南中路41号(近北海路) 电话: 021-63513060 63515021:
Reasonable and good Shanghainese food.

(5) South Beauty or 俏江南(百联世茂店) address: 829 Nangjing East Road 南京东路829号百联世茂国际广场东扩9楼(近九江路) 021-63528856 63528857:
Sichuan cuisine. High class and relatively more pricey than average but great Sichuan food.

(6) Barbarossa Club Restaurant
231 Najing Road West
Peoples Park
Shanghai (next to Art Museum)
Nice spot for drinks, I think Wednesdays is ladies night.

(7) Lost Heaven
38 Gao You Road (Near Fu Xing Xi Road)
Tel: 6433-5126
They offer Yunnan Folk cuisine. The restaurant is pretty with great ambiance and is able to accommodate for a big crowd. After dinner, you can go to Fu Xing Park where they have several bars/club e.g. Park 97, California Club inside the park.

(8) New Heights
3 Zhongshan Don Yi Lu
www.threeonthebund.com
Tel: 6323-3355
New Heights offers a casual western menu and the best Bund view with a wrap-around terrace. After dinner, you could have drinks in "Bar Rouge". It is one of the more popular bar/club in Shanghai. Llocated on Bund 18,
18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 7th floor. www.bund18.com

zagmund

Was there in 2007 at a wedding. Expect hawkers all over the place as mentioned.

The one and only time I have actually ever been impressed by a street artist was in Shanghai. I was out for a walk with #2 son and we stopped on a bridge between the Bund and the old town. This old dude walks up and starts talking in Chinese to me and gesticulating.

"Not interested, go away" sez I while clutching my wallet even tighter. A stream of Chinese/Mandarin/woteva pours forth. Eventually we work out that he wants to cut a silhouette of the two of us with a scissors and a piece of paper . . . while we're talking and standing there on the bridge.

"Still not interested, go ahead and cut. It'll be a waste of your paper and time" sez I. So he does.

I have to say that I was really amazed at the likeness, especially given that he did it in a minute or two, and he couldn't *possibly* have practised it or used some laser kung fu to prepare it in a back room before coming out.

I think he was looking for something like 50c, so despite being a hard hearted, well worn traveller who generally doesn't have time for hawkers, I gave it to him. Be sure that I kept my hands on my wallet, in my zipped up pocket *all the time*.

z

p.s. the bikes, watch out for the bikes. They are everywhere and appear to be immune from all road traffic regulations

p.p.s. if you have red hair, expect to be be taken aside and have your photo taken. A lot.

spurious

zagmund wrote: »

p.p.s. if you have red hair, expect to be be taken aside and have your photo taken. A lot.

This also applies if you have blonde hair or are tall or heavy - anything out of the ordinary.
Crowds can form and swarm round you as their pals get photos of them with you.

Trampas

spurious wrote: »

This also applies if you have blonde hair or are tall or heavy - anything out of the ordinary.
Crowds can form and swarm round you as their pals get photos of them with you.

I was in China for 3 weeks in a group of 6 and I was the only 1 not to be asked for a photo