Shanghi tips????

[billynoguts]

Ok guys...just found out that i am going to Shanghi in the next couple of weeks for a week with work. Any tips or places i cant miss?

[{{909}}]

I was there last week, one tip I have is dont expect to fly out of there when there's a typhoon

I have a shortlist of things to recommend, I'll find it out and post it here. One thing I can say is Shanghai has a pretty interesting history and you will get more out of your trip if you do a bit of reading up first.

Gotta go for a medical now, will post some stuff when I get back.

[{{909}}]

right, found my notes.

First one, the most obvious is The Bund, a river lined with buildings build during the Anglo-French occupation of the area in the late 1890s (I think!)
Its best seen at night, so plan to maybe get a cruise down the river and then walk back the same distance along one side to get the most from it. As I mentioned its better to know what each building is, and its history as it adds so much importance. Walking along the river is pleasant and you will probably get some Chinese tourists asking you to have a photo taken with them, these are perfectly harmless and are just curious tourists. There are however shit loads of people trying to sell laser pens and similar crap, if you have a short temper you may want to be careful as they can be very persistent. You will also get people trying to sell you fake watches and other stuff in the busier streets all over the city, stay clear of those.

For shopping, or at least super expensive high street shopping you can visit Nanjing Road, this is a super westernized high street with all the high end fashion outlets an so on, it gets really busy in the evening. Its not far from the bund and walking to one end of the road gives you a great view over it and the major skyline.

The Shanghai pearl is probably something you will end up visiting, the blackpool tower of the east. Its worth a visit but it does cost between 14 and 16quid to go in and to be honest there aint a great deal inside. theres a glass floor observation room which is probably the highlight, then as you travel down from there, theres a strange 'junior sightseeing' rollercoaster, which is worth a go, especially as its free. There is some sort of lunar landing display, although when I went in December it was either unattended, or just neglected.
At the bottom of the tower there's an interesting museum which does tell you quite a lot about the history of shanghai, although it is rather long winded and after seeing 3/4 of it i was ready to make an exit.

If you are free on a sunday morning, Zhongshan park is a good place to visit, lots of people playing instuments, ball room dancing and so on, its quite surreal if you have never been to china before. Its pretty easy to find as the tube station nearby has the same name but plan to go there at around 8am to catch it in full swing.

One of the places the tourist guides will point you at is a place called Yuyuan Gardens, and to be honest I dont think its worth the visit, I think its only about 3quid to go in but unless you have never seen Chinese architecture before, you wont find that much of interest. Round the back of it you can find the real Old Shanghai though, which is the part I enjoyed the most. traditional narrow streets, tiny house, people washing/cooking/eating in the streets. Probably the only part of the city that's not had its soul drained by tourism. As with most places in China, in the day its fairly quiet, but come the evening the night BBQs start up and things get quite active and interesting.

You will see some red, open topped busses touring the city and these are a great option for a brief intro into the city so maybe try and get on one before you do anything else. For 3 quid you get a 24hour (I think it stops around 9pm) hop on/off ticket and a set of headphones to listen to an automatic tour guide, although the audio very often slips out of sync with your surroundings if you get stuck in traffic for a few mins.

Found a bit of info here: http://activities.english.ctrip.com/activities/56942/
You dont need to book though, just find a bus stop and pay for a ticket.


Oh, and one last thing, most shop keepers can speak enough english to haggle with you and if you buy anything, ALWAYS haggle, you will be amazed what you can buy for 50p in Shanghai but the shop keepers will always tell you a price almost double what they will actually sell it for. My usual rule is to half their original asking price and then negotiate upto a sort of middle ground. For the Chinese it means a lot to them if they decide the final price, even if it is a lot cheaper than their original price so if you want to 'keep face', you set the final price and stick to it Walking away from a sale if the seller isn't co operating pulls a lot of weight too and we often got sellers running after us in the streets of its an item over a tenner.

Learning a few words in Chinese will go a long way, especially Thank you (She Shea), dont want (Boo Yow), which is very useful when pestered to buy something, and of course, Hello (Ni Hao)

[billynoguts]

Great advice {{909}} Thanks for the info!

[king132]

Mate you HAVE TO (have to) find a place called YANGS. i've no idea where it is. But they do the best ever dumplings ive ever had!

Its literally like £1 to take away but worth it, if you can find it.