Shanghai, China

Why?

Shanghai is the place to see how much China’s economy has flourished. If you live in Asia, a long weekend in Shanghai is very doable.

Length of this Trip

3 days. Trip made in 2009.

What to do?

Day 1

• Take Maglev from the airport to town then change for a cab to your hotel. The monorail runs as fast as 400km/hour. Alternatively you can take a cab all the way from the airport to the hotel but it will take you over an hour because of congested traffic in Shanghai.
• Your first stop is Yu Yuan Garden where you can fill your stomach with a variety of local snacks and the quintessential piping hot steamed pork dumplings (xiu long bao). The best place to go is ‘Nan Xiang’. It will be difficult to miss as there is always a long queue outside the restaurant with people waiting for their take-aways. If you want to sit down, go up to the top floor. Last time we went, we waited for 20 minutes for a table but it’s worth it. The restaurant is spacious and it’s a good place to see the locals, however you do pay much more for eating-in than takeaways though.
  

  

  

  [ Queuing for take-away steamed dumplings outside Nan Xiang ]

  Yu Yuan Garden is a big compound with traditional Chinese architecture. It’s a good place to kill half a day, do some souvenir shopping and drink tea. The tea house is just located across Nan Xiang in the middle of a small lake.
  

  
• Tianzhifang in Tai Kang Lu – this is my favourite place in Shanghai. Tai Kang Lu is the ‘art street’ and Tianzhifang is a square full of historical houses, back alleys and lanes. Many houses here have been converted into modern shops, art galleries and cafes but some locals still live here, the attraction of the lanes aren’t the shops but to see how old locals live. You can literally still see people cooking outside their flat or play mahjong in the communal area. This is a true place to see how the old Shanghai emerged into a cosmopolitan city.
  

  

  
  

  
• Dinner in Wu Jiang Lu Street Market (update: shame th market is closed now due to the World Expo) – the best things I enjoy most when travelling is to experience the local food culture. The street market is a short street full of lots of restaurants and take-away outlets. It’s got a great atmosphere and it’s just fun to stand on the street and eat with the locals. Food bought elsewhere is allowed in any of the restaurants as long as you also order something at theirs. My recommendations are the small grilled seafood restaurant near the beginning of the street. The ‘kitchen’ is at ‘front-of-house’ and they can only accommodate 2-3 tables at most. Their grilled oysters and scallops with garlic were delicious. Then move onto a few shops down is a bigger restaurant specializes in ‘sour and spicy beef noodles soup’. I love sze chuan spice, it’s kind of hot and numbs the tip of your tongue. The last one is at the end of the street - ‘Siu Yang’ for the juicy pan-fried pork buns. This is a must try, I think they were better than the ‘siu long bao’ we had in Yu Yuan Garden.
  

  

  [ Grilled oysters in action! ]
• A Stroll & a Night Cap – I am nostalgic and where else is better than The Bund to soak up the glory of old Shanghai? So walk along the Bund and admire the old stone buildings. Then have a night cap at Bar Rouge on the 7^th floor of Zhongsan Dong Yi Lu Shi Ba Hao which does wicked cocktails.
  

  

  [ Shanghai Oriental PearlTV Tower ]

Day 2

• Visit the Water Village - There are a few water villages in the outskirt of Shanghai, one of which is the UNESCO world site Zhou Zhuang, it’s a couple of hours driving from Shanghai and I think you can take a coach to get there. We however chose Zhu Jia Jiao as it’s only 40 mins. drive from Shanghai. We had hired a taxi for a day (RMB500) but I think the coach only takes an hour to get there and obviously it’s much cheaper, so if time allows, I would suggest the coach.
  The picturesque village is a heaven for photographers. Zhu Jia Jiao was formed 1700 years ago and the original Ming Qing Dynasty streets still lie here. Take a boat ride crossing under the ancient little stone bridges while sipping Chinese tea and afterwards walk through the zigzag lanes thousand of traditional shops.
  

  

  

  

  

• Afternoon tea at Face – the former British owned old mansion (No.4 Ruijin Hotel) currently houses Face, the bar/restaurant serves traditional English high tea. The décor is a mixture of Chinese and South East Asian. You can either sit outdoor or pick a table next to the window to enjoy natural sun light while munching on cucumber finger sandwiches.
  
• Dinner at Xinjishi in Xintiandi – Xintiandi is an entertainment district with reconstituted traditional stone-gate houses. It’s an affluent area with lots of bars, restaurants and shops but the best one is Xinzhishi serves traditional Shanghai-ese cuisine. Food to order includes the thousand years old eggs with spicy green chillies dressed in sesame oil, rich and creamy crab roes and crab meat and fried king prawns and chicken in red chillies. This is definitely one of the best Chinese restaurants I have been.

Day 3

• To be honest, there aren’t much you can do in Shanghai. So by day 3, I had to really scratch my head for ideas. Dong Tai Lu Antique Market is worth a look. It is a bit like the ‘Cat Street Market’ in Hong Kong. The street hawkers and shops sell ‘vintage’ knick-knacks. We bought an old black telephone with the round dial here which amazingly still works!
  

  

• Don’t bother going to the French Concession (Huai Hai Chong Lu). It’s a street full of branded shops – no character. I will give it a miss.