While Guangzhou is the place for food and Beijing is the cultural center of China, Shanghai is the financial and commercial center of the country. Being the front-line hub for foreign trade and investment, the city is lined with booming trend of modern architecture and urban amenities making it the most foreigner friendly place in the country. As remarked by Ben, who knows no mandarin at all, English is spoken here more than the other two cities we visited.
DAY SEVEN 上海
We booked and flew to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, which is further from the city than the older Hongqiao Airport, with an intention. We wanted to experience the world’s first commercial Maglev train.
For those who isn’t familiar with the term, ‘Maglev’ stands for ‘magnetic levitation’. A maglev train is one that suspends, guides and propels via magnetic forces. Meaning… no wheels! It is faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems. Ideally, it is capable of reaching velocities comparable to turboprop and a jet aircraft.
While the journey lasted only for 7 minutes, the experience of travelling at top speed 430km/h so close to the ground is something we don’t get everyday. Woohoo! Can I go around for another trip? Can I??
Upon alighting at Longyang, we took a cab across the Huangpu river past the old city to our hotel. The view was amazing. Being a fan of Manhattan, the old bricked buildings of Shanghai had that similar appeal to me.
We stayed at 东湖宾馆 Donghu Hotel. Donghu Hotel has a few buildings along Donghu Street. The one we were staying was a French style three storey residence built in 1925.
While the interior has been renovated and the rooms now look very clean, you can’t help realizing the building is more than 80 years old. It’s just as creepy as staying at the old Raffles Hotel, I guess.
Only less than two days in Shanghai, we didn’t want to waste much time. So we headed out to the street after some bathroom breaks. 陜西南路 South Xiaxi Road is a street not too far from the hotel, adjacent to 淮海中路 Central Huaihai Road at 百盛购物中心 Parkson Shopping Center. It is a small road lined with some interesting shops for street fashion. The lines of street-shops stretches to 新乐路 Xinle Road and 长乐路 Changle Road.
We spotted some street marketeer in mid-drifts distributing some stuffs from big bags. I wonder what they are.
Dinner was at a Shanghai fushion cuisine restaurant called 夜上海 Ye Shanghai located at Xintiandi. Like most other fushion restaurants, it has a nice contemporary deco. Dimmed lighting. Wine glasses.
They even provide these mini chairs for your handbags.
More 长寿面 Longevity Noodles for dad.
After dinner, we took the chance to enjoy an aftermeal stroll at 新天地 Xintiandi, a car-free shopping, eating and entertainment street, composing of restored traditional 石库门 shikumen (“stone gate”) houses on narrow alleys with some newer buildings serving as book stores, cafes and restaurants. At night, the place is vibrant with people, locals and foreigners alike.
While Dad decided to go for the new movie 赤壁 The Red Cliff, we just wanted to chill out somewhere. We settled at a restaurant/pub called Fountain.
After some nightcaps and lots of laughs, we called it a night.
DAY EIGHT 上海
It’s our last day in China/Shanghai. We decided to relax and just roam the city area. Enough of rushing from one historical site to the next like we did in Beijing.
We decided to start the day with a local Shanghai breakfast. Along the way, we got to see how the locals live on a typical street.
Mission #3: eat xiao longbao in Shanghai is accomplished!
We couldn’t find coffee in this local food place, so we went back to the main streets to hunt for a coffee joint and found Città. Not a bad place for a morning coffee break in Shanghai.
As we strolled more, we saw more colonial style buildings amidst the modern infrastructure. With the weather hot and humid, we decided to stop over different air-conditioned buildings once in a while to shop and more coffee.
Dinner was at an old Shanghai restaurant called 上海早晨 Morning Shanghai, near the Bund.
And finally, we walked to the “Lung-fan… Lung-lao” famous place in Shanghai, The Bund. Pretty crowded but the beautiful sight was worth the walk.
Be careful of your belongings. The crowd here is always full of weird characters.
The famous Peace Hotel closed down.
We went for foot massage to pamper our tired feet from all the walking before heading back to hotel.
So that concludes our trip to the three big cities of China. Given another chance and perhaps more time, I would definitely want to visit again.
