Shanghai is the modern China... or more to the point, how China wants to be known. With over 24 million people and an endless sprawl of concrete and glass, this is the city that most typifies how China has developed in the last few decades and is the most westernised. So does Shanghai really represent the real China?
We arrived into the main airport at about 8am, from our flight with Spring Air - a low cost Chinese airline. They were very strict with weight (only 15kg for both hold and carry on luggage combined), but after some sneaky work at check-in and s bit of re-packing, we somehow managed to get everything on-board.
This was the first flight ever where the cabin crew did exercises for passengers to follow - stretching arms, rotating necks - all very strange to us... but this is China.
The airport was fairly standard and nothing to write home about, and after getting through passport control and picking up a sim card from a random store in the middle of the luggage re-claim, we headed to catch a slightly different mode of transport into the city - the Maglev train.
The Maglev train in Shanghai is the fastest commercial train in the world. Strictly speaking you are actually flying, as it is propelled by magnets so the train does not make contact with the ground. Reaching a top speed of 430km/h - the world literally goes backwards - it is a little disconcerting going so fast close to the ground. But it is a unique experience (one which Chris has done about 5 times now), if a short one and well worth the 40CNY ticket price (10CNY discount with a boarding pass).
The Maglev stops short of the city centre, so once we had arrived we needed to get a metro to complete the journey, which was fairly painless as Shanghai has an excellent metro system.
Our hostel was located near People's Square in the centre of the city. A YHA, Mingtown Hostel was actually quite Ming'ing (sorry bad joke) - but we will not go into that! We found some good cheap eating streets nearby and it was fairly central so it could have been worse!
Julia had heard that she had been invited to interview for a job (through the magic of Skype!), so after a quick visit to the Shanghai museum nearby - full of old Chinese bits and bobs - she decided that it may be a good idea to do some interview preparation.
We decided to take the following day off from charging around a city, as Julia had her interview and we had been go go go. So Chris went to find a coffee shop and ended up in an M&S... which was a little strange... and a big cup of coffee in their cafe. After Julia's interview (which we now know was rather successful), we headed off to Pudong to check out the skyline Shanghai is famous for. The buildings there are HUGE. Since Chris' last visit in 2007 when the JinMao tower was the highest at 421m, two taller buildings have been built, one of which is now the second tallest tower in the world - Shanghai Tower - at over 632m.
We decided not to go up to the view points of any of the towers as they were very expensive, even by UK standards, but instead we did our old trick of going up to the bars at the top for the view. All of them were very expensive as they required a minimum table spend so we sadly we didn't stop, but paused to take a good look at the views! Our favorite was Cloud 9 in the Grand Hyatt at the top of the JinMao Tower. Even though it is the smallest of the three buildings, it is by far the prettiest in our opinion. There is a spectacular view from the top floor back down into the hotel atrium (turn left out of the top lifts). Cloud 9 is right at the top on the 87th floor (one floor less than the viewing gallery) and provides spectacular views.
The Park Hyatt bar '100 Century Avenue' in the Shanghai World Financial Center (495m high), which looks like a bottle opener, was a disappointment, and given they wanted 500CNY for a table by the window which wasn't actually by the window due to the angle of the outer glass, we said thanks, but no thanks.
Heading to the bars we found to be by far the best way to take in the view, as the viewing decks themselves cost 180CNYpp. You may as well pay for a drink instead or even plan a visit around their promo nights such as ladies night where there is no table charge and drinks are included!
We headed out early walking along Nanging Road towards the area known as The Bund. Nanging Road is mainly full of shops, so not that exciting, but a nice street to wander down - just watch out for scammers.
The Bund is a very famous part of Shanghai. Constructed in the 1920/1930s, the bund is a string of art deco buildings originally built as banks, hotels and media offices. They are quite the contrast to the glass and steel of Pudong on the opposite side of the river.
After taking a few snaps, we decided to explore inside a few, starting with the Fairmont Peace Hotel (the one with the pyramid green roof). It was surprisingly easy to walk around and we didn't get stopped. We ended up taking an elevator to the roof, with a great view of the other buildings nearby and a different perspective on the city. The toilets were nice as well!
We walked down the Bund heading into any building open, including the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank with its beautifully painted ceiling featuring the zodiac. The architecture was fascinating, but it make us realise how lucky we are in England/Europe as there are so many buildings like this and we are spoiled for choice.
Time was on our side, so after a quick Subway sandwich (guilty!) on The Bund, we headed to the French Concession area and walked to the Xintiandi district. It was rather pleasant with tree lined streets and oldish building. However it has clearly been very gentrified with restaurants, branded outlets and boutique shops. At the time it was hosting Shanghai Fashion Week, so the streets were filled with trendy people wearing the latest fashions posing for photographers. We felt quite out of place!
The CCCP museum, where communism started in China was sadly closed, so we changed our plans and headed to the Yuyuan Gardens and onto Tianzifang for dinner.
The Yuyuan Gardens are in an interesting part of the city with more traditional Chinese styled shops (though we think they were newly built). The Garden (40 CNY pp) was nice, but it seemed fairly rundown and was a bit of a disappointment after being spoiled with the calming zen gardens in Japan. Chinese gardens are based around small courtyards with lots of small traditional buildings within them surrounded by rockeries and trees, and very few flowers.
The Tianzifang District was about a 20 minute walk away from the nearest metro. It is a really quaint area of the city, and a great way to spend an afternoon mooching round the boutique shops and bars. It was very expensive for food and drink however with prices even higher than London, so we stuck to some good old window shopping and moved on.
We rounded off our day back where it had began - back on The Bund! We wanted to take in Shanghai's Pudong skyline at night from over the river and it really helped to give us some perspective on just how HUGE the buildings were in comparison to the rest of the skyline.
After a comfort dinner of spaghetti at a cafe we headed home, scratching our heads as to what to do the following day, as we both felt we had managed to 'do' Shanghai in one day!
We had a couple of options available to us as a day trip from Shanghai; Suzhou (a small pretty canal town 30 minutes away) or Hangzhou (a lake side town with mountain views 2 hours away). After having a quick look at CTrip (our trusty Chinese train planning app!) we decided to head to the closer town of Suzhou as we had to get back to Shanghai to pick up our bags and take an overnight train to Beijing that night.
We got to Shanghai Hongqiao Station (at the end of the subway line) with 20 minutes to spare until our train, but we were not prepared for how large the station was and just how long it takes to get tickets. It was gigantic and we were soon lost. We had no idea what ticket office to go to (there were numerous) and which floor to be on (departures above and arrivals below). There were people and queues everywhere - it was the size of an airport!
Eventually we found the right line and after 30 minutes of waiting we got our ticket. Sadly by this point in time only standing tickets were left (the cost of which is actually the same as a seat?!) and we had to wait another hour as all trains were full....but we got there in the end (just as well we decided not to go to Huangzhou!).
The trains in China, especially the bullet trains (D trains), are impressive. They travel at serious speed and get you from A-B in no time. There is now over 19,000km of high speed train line in China... and we can't even build one line in the UK... crazy!
In no time at all we were in Suzhou.
Suzhou is an ancient city and known for high culture and elegance, with lots of artists, scholars and writers making the city their home. The ancient city is a warren of canals and small streets, making it a great place to explore. It is also on most Chinese tour group's list as well, so don't expect a quiet stroll if you keep to the main routes and gardens.
Suzhou is known for its gardens - even the historical museum is designed like a garden! After a quick visit to the Suzhou museum (free), which was rather nice, we headed to the Couple's garden.
It was a bit of a walk and we did go wrong a couple of times, but it was a nice walk along Pingjiang Lu and the waterways. As soon as you get off the tourist routes you get to see the way real people live and it is fascinating - sometimes it is good to get lost.
Finally we got to the garden. Again, like the 'gardens' in Shanghai, it was really a series of courtyards, and again, it was not that well kept. But it gave us a taster for the gardens and was nice to sit and relax a little, before we were surrounded by Chinese tour groups, with their loud speakers and sheep mentality.
We decided to walk further south and planned to catch the metro back to the station, as the bus seemed a little confusing (they put English on the Metro but not buses...???). Again it was a nice walk through the suburbs, passing shops and a set of pagodas along the way.
We enjoyed the day out, but left Shanghai a little disappointed. Maybe we didn't get under Shanghai's skin, but sometimes cities just don't 'click'.
We grabbed our bags, had some food, and raced to the station for our first and sadly last soft sleeper Chinese train to Beijing.
The train was actually a fast train and, as only soft sleeper was available, it was rather nice. It seemed new, and the beds were a good size and comfy. The bedding was already out and as there were only 4 beds, it was fairly peaceful. In soft sleeper, we could also close the door to the cabin which was a bit of a luxury. Lights out and onto Beijing.
 |
| Shanghai... welcome to China... or is it? |
We arrived into the main airport at about 8am, from our flight with Spring Air - a low cost Chinese airline. They were very strict with weight (only 15kg for both hold and carry on luggage combined), but after some sneaky work at check-in and s bit of re-packing, we somehow managed to get everything on-board.
This was the first flight ever where the cabin crew did exercises for passengers to follow - stretching arms, rotating necks - all very strange to us... but this is China.
The airport was fairly standard and nothing to write home about, and after getting through passport control and picking up a sim card from a random store in the middle of the luggage re-claim, we headed to catch a slightly different mode of transport into the city - the Maglev train.
 |
| The Maglev train |
The Maglev train in Shanghai is the fastest commercial train in the world. Strictly speaking you are actually flying, as it is propelled by magnets so the train does not make contact with the ground. Reaching a top speed of 430km/h - the world literally goes backwards - it is a little disconcerting going so fast close to the ground. But it is a unique experience (one which Chris has done about 5 times now), if a short one and well worth the 40CNY ticket price (10CNY discount with a boarding pass).
 |
| That is fast! only 430 km/h or 270 mph |
Our hostel was located near People's Square in the centre of the city. A YHA, Mingtown Hostel was actually quite Ming'ing (sorry bad joke) - but we will not go into that! We found some good cheap eating streets nearby and it was fairly central so it could have been worse!
Julia had heard that she had been invited to interview for a job (through the magic of Skype!), so after a quick visit to the Shanghai museum nearby - full of old Chinese bits and bobs - she decided that it may be a good idea to do some interview preparation.
We decided to take the following day off from charging around a city, as Julia had her interview and we had been go go go. So Chris went to find a coffee shop and ended up in an M&S... which was a little strange... and a big cup of coffee in their cafe. After Julia's interview (which we now know was rather successful), we headed off to Pudong to check out the skyline Shanghai is famous for. The buildings there are HUGE. Since Chris' last visit in 2007 when the JinMao tower was the highest at 421m, two taller buildings have been built, one of which is now the second tallest tower in the world - Shanghai Tower - at over 632m.
 |
| Pudong at night |
We decided not to go up to the view points of any of the towers as they were very expensive, even by UK standards, but instead we did our old trick of going up to the bars at the top for the view. All of them were very expensive as they required a minimum table spend so we sadly we didn't stop, but paused to take a good look at the views! Our favorite was Cloud 9 in the Grand Hyatt at the top of the JinMao Tower. Even though it is the smallest of the three buildings, it is by far the prettiest in our opinion. There is a spectacular view from the top floor back down into the hotel atrium (turn left out of the top lifts). Cloud 9 is right at the top on the 87th floor (one floor less than the viewing gallery) and provides spectacular views.
 |
| Inside the Grand Hyatt |
The Park Hyatt bar '100 Century Avenue' in the Shanghai World Financial Center (495m high), which looks like a bottle opener, was a disappointment, and given they wanted 500CNY for a table by the window which wasn't actually by the window due to the angle of the outer glass, we said thanks, but no thanks.
Heading to the bars we found to be by far the best way to take in the view, as the viewing decks themselves cost 180CNYpp. You may as well pay for a drink instead or even plan a visit around their promo nights such as ladies night where there is no table charge and drinks are included!
 |
| These are big buildings! |
We headed out early walking along Nanging Road towards the area known as The Bund. Nanging Road is mainly full of shops, so not that exciting, but a nice street to wander down - just watch out for scammers.
 |
| The Bund |
The Bund is a very famous part of Shanghai. Constructed in the 1920/1930s, the bund is a string of art deco buildings originally built as banks, hotels and media offices. They are quite the contrast to the glass and steel of Pudong on the opposite side of the river.
After taking a few snaps, we decided to explore inside a few, starting with the Fairmont Peace Hotel (the one with the pyramid green roof). It was surprisingly easy to walk around and we didn't get stopped. We ended up taking an elevator to the roof, with a great view of the other buildings nearby and a different perspective on the city. The toilets were nice as well!
We walked down the Bund heading into any building open, including the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank with its beautifully painted ceiling featuring the zodiac. The architecture was fascinating, but it make us realise how lucky we are in England/Europe as there are so many buildings like this and we are spoiled for choice.
 |
| Inside the HSBC |
Time was on our side, so after a quick Subway sandwich (guilty!) on The Bund, we headed to the French Concession area and walked to the Xintiandi district. It was rather pleasant with tree lined streets and oldish building. However it has clearly been very gentrified with restaurants, branded outlets and boutique shops. At the time it was hosting Shanghai Fashion Week, so the streets were filled with trendy people wearing the latest fashions posing for photographers. We felt quite out of place!
The CCCP museum, where communism started in China was sadly closed, so we changed our plans and headed to the Yuyuan Gardens and onto Tianzifang for dinner.
 |
| Xintiandi |
The Yuyuan Gardens are in an interesting part of the city with more traditional Chinese styled shops (though we think they were newly built). The Garden (40 CNY pp) was nice, but it seemed fairly rundown and was a bit of a disappointment after being spoiled with the calming zen gardens in Japan. Chinese gardens are based around small courtyards with lots of small traditional buildings within them surrounded by rockeries and trees, and very few flowers.
 |
| Yuyuan Gardens |
The Tianzifang District was about a 20 minute walk away from the nearest metro. It is a really quaint area of the city, and a great way to spend an afternoon mooching round the boutique shops and bars. It was very expensive for food and drink however with prices even higher than London, so we stuck to some good old window shopping and moved on.
 |
| Yuyuan Gardens again |
 |
| A dragon... in the Yuyuan Gardens |
We rounded off our day back where it had began - back on The Bund! We wanted to take in Shanghai's Pudong skyline at night from over the river and it really helped to give us some perspective on just how HUGE the buildings were in comparison to the rest of the skyline.
After a comfort dinner of spaghetti at a cafe we headed home, scratching our heads as to what to do the following day, as we both felt we had managed to 'do' Shanghai in one day!
We had a couple of options available to us as a day trip from Shanghai; Suzhou (a small pretty canal town 30 minutes away) or Hangzhou (a lake side town with mountain views 2 hours away). After having a quick look at CTrip (our trusty Chinese train planning app!) we decided to head to the closer town of Suzhou as we had to get back to Shanghai to pick up our bags and take an overnight train to Beijing that night.
 |
| Chinese bullet trains - super fast, very regular, but impossible to get a ticket |
We got to Shanghai Hongqiao Station (at the end of the subway line) with 20 minutes to spare until our train, but we were not prepared for how large the station was and just how long it takes to get tickets. It was gigantic and we were soon lost. We had no idea what ticket office to go to (there were numerous) and which floor to be on (departures above and arrivals below). There were people and queues everywhere - it was the size of an airport!
Eventually we found the right line and after 30 minutes of waiting we got our ticket. Sadly by this point in time only standing tickets were left (the cost of which is actually the same as a seat?!) and we had to wait another hour as all trains were full....but we got there in the end (just as well we decided not to go to Huangzhou!).
 |
| Waiting with about a billion people at Huangzhou station |
The trains in China, especially the bullet trains (D trains), are impressive. They travel at serious speed and get you from A-B in no time. There is now over 19,000km of high speed train line in China... and we can't even build one line in the UK... crazy!
In no time at all we were in Suzhou.
 |
| Suzhou canals |
Suzhou is an ancient city and known for high culture and elegance, with lots of artists, scholars and writers making the city their home. The ancient city is a warren of canals and small streets, making it a great place to explore. It is also on most Chinese tour group's list as well, so don't expect a quiet stroll if you keep to the main routes and gardens.
Suzhou is known for its gardens - even the historical museum is designed like a garden! After a quick visit to the Suzhou museum (free), which was rather nice, we headed to the Couple's garden.
 |
| A garden in Suzhou |
It was a bit of a walk and we did go wrong a couple of times, but it was a nice walk along Pingjiang Lu and the waterways. As soon as you get off the tourist routes you get to see the way real people live and it is fascinating - sometimes it is good to get lost.
 |
| Line up! |
Finally we got to the garden. Again, like the 'gardens' in Shanghai, it was really a series of courtyards, and again, it was not that well kept. But it gave us a taster for the gardens and was nice to sit and relax a little, before we were surrounded by Chinese tour groups, with their loud speakers and sheep mentality.
 |
| Wondering around the Couple's garden... being couply |
We decided to walk further south and planned to catch the metro back to the station, as the bus seemed a little confusing (they put English on the Metro but not buses...???). Again it was a nice walk through the suburbs, passing shops and a set of pagodas along the way.
We enjoyed the day out, but left Shanghai a little disappointed. Maybe we didn't get under Shanghai's skin, but sometimes cities just don't 'click'.
We grabbed our bags, had some food, and raced to the station for our first and sadly last soft sleeper Chinese train to Beijing.
 |
| Getting ready for bed on our first night train in China and since India |
 |
| Not too shabby at all |
The train was actually a fast train and, as only soft sleeper was available, it was rather nice. It seemed new, and the beds were a good size and comfy. The bedding was already out and as there were only 4 beds, it was fairly peaceful. In soft sleeper, we could also close the door to the cabin which was a bit of a luxury. Lights out and onto Beijing.
Buen viaje
ReplyDeleteBuen viaje
ReplyDelete