Well, Jake and I ended up staying 3 weeks in Shanghai as Katie Simmonds, very kindly, gave us her fantastic apartment for free! So instead of writing a mammoth lengthy account of each day, I will just highlight the good bits.
Shanghai is an enormous city with a population of over 20million people, (the whole of the UK has about 50million!), but it is an amazing mix of West and East.
Now, what you have to remember is that Jake and I have been living in the middle of no-where in a backward town with only McDonalds as Western culture. Just imagine our surprise when we stumble upon Starbucks and Pizza Express! There was no stopping us, each meal was a treat and we filled up on French and Italian food as much as we could. Not to mention real draught beer and nice wine! It really was 3 weeks of fun and paradise. This city is well worth a visit and I hope to be living there someday.
I have already put some pictures up of the riverfront of the stunning architecture and lights. The waterfront actually has some very old English looking buildings, I believe that Shanghai was actually a French colony for a while, so some of the stunning architecture has remained. However, this is still a developing city with great plans for the future. Whilst Hong Kong’s skyline was a full range of lights and buildings, Shanghai is relatively sparse in comparison.
Now, shopping in Shanghai, wow, what an experience. There is a mall called “The Super Brand Mall” which is like a giant labyrinth of shops, western and eastern. However, these were out of our price range, so we headed to the markets. Nothing I can write will describe the size of these clothing markets. Miles and miles and rows of shops all with cheap clothing, shoes and accessories. It goes without saying we had trouble packing our bag on the way home.
On our first night, we went up the Pearl of the Orient TV tower. This is the large structure that looks like a spaceship. The views from the top of the tower were amazing! At 100yuen a ticket it is expensive, but definitely worth a visit! We also (later in our trip) went up the Jin Mao tower, which is the 5th tallest building in the world. It’s also expensive, but the bar at the top, Cloud 9, was comfortable and had great views.
Shanghai is well known for its great nightlife. Jake and I visited quite a few of the popular spots only to feel like we had walked into a busy London street full of loud Westerners and trendy bars. It made me realize that I don’t miss it at all, and we were both embarrassed to be English as a group of fat girls got up into the table and danced and shouted at the whole bar how drunk they were…we left. However, there are other nice nightlife spots. We found great pub like bars on the backstreets and made many friends chatting to others. Maybe I’m just getting old.
Jake and I both realized the benefit of learning to speak Chinese while we were in Shanghai. While there are plenty of places designed for Westerners, pricey and full of louts, we were able to wonder a little further into actual China and go to restaurants and bars that had no foreigners present. We made friends by chatting in our limited Chinese and found some great, ridiculously cheap and seriously yummy places to eat. It’s well worth exploring beyond the tourist places and discovering real China.
Shanghai is an enormous city with a population of over 20million people, (the whole of the UK has about 50million!), but it is an amazing mix of West and East.
Now, what you have to remember is that Jake and I have been living in the middle of no-where in a backward town with only McDonalds as Western culture. Just imagine our surprise when we stumble upon Starbucks and Pizza Express! There was no stopping us, each meal was a treat and we filled up on French and Italian food as much as we could. Not to mention real draught beer and nice wine! It really was 3 weeks of fun and paradise. This city is well worth a visit and I hope to be living there someday.
I have already put some pictures up of the riverfront of the stunning architecture and lights. The waterfront actually has some very old English looking buildings, I believe that Shanghai was actually a French colony for a while, so some of the stunning architecture has remained. However, this is still a developing city with great plans for the future. Whilst Hong Kong’s skyline was a full range of lights and buildings, Shanghai is relatively sparse in comparison.
Now, shopping in Shanghai, wow, what an experience. There is a mall called “The Super Brand Mall” which is like a giant labyrinth of shops, western and eastern. However, these were out of our price range, so we headed to the markets. Nothing I can write will describe the size of these clothing markets. Miles and miles and rows of shops all with cheap clothing, shoes and accessories. It goes without saying we had trouble packing our bag on the way home.
On our first night, we went up the Pearl of the Orient TV tower. This is the large structure that looks like a spaceship. The views from the top of the tower were amazing! At 100yuen a ticket it is expensive, but definitely worth a visit! We also (later in our trip) went up the Jin Mao tower, which is the 5th tallest building in the world. It’s also expensive, but the bar at the top, Cloud 9, was comfortable and had great views.
Shanghai is well known for its great nightlife. Jake and I visited quite a few of the popular spots only to feel like we had walked into a busy London street full of loud Westerners and trendy bars. It made me realize that I don’t miss it at all, and we were both embarrassed to be English as a group of fat girls got up into the table and danced and shouted at the whole bar how drunk they were…we left. However, there are other nice nightlife spots. We found great pub like bars on the backstreets and made many friends chatting to others. Maybe I’m just getting old.
Jake and I both realized the benefit of learning to speak Chinese while we were in Shanghai. While there are plenty of places designed for Westerners, pricey and full of louts, we were able to wonder a little further into actual China and go to restaurants and bars that had no foreigners present. We made friends by chatting in our limited Chinese and found some great, ridiculously cheap and seriously yummy places to eat. It’s well worth exploring beyond the tourist places and discovering real China.
posted by anwen in china @ 11:21 PM
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