Cinda Says …

24 hours in Shanghai

I was lucky enough to travel to Shanghai for work.  I have been extremely lucky in this way.  Once a year for the past four years, I have traveled to Asia for work.  In the past, I have been to Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong.  All beautiful cities; all so very different. This year I arrived a day early to take advantage of my luck and to do some sightseeing.  Here are my experiences of spending a lovely April day in Shanghai.

Shanghai is a modern city and China’s commercial and financial centre.  You will see modern and interesting architecture – including the tallest skyscraper in Shanghai, the Shanghai Tower, which is 632 m (2,073 ft) tall with 128 floors.  It has a twist of 90 degrees and is quite stunning to look at.  The next tallest building is the Shanghai World Financial Centre which looks like a gigantic bottle cap opener.  It is 492 metres or 1,614 feet tall.  The Park Hyatt Hotel is located within this building making it the third highest hotel in the world.

All the towers are brightly lit in different LED sequences at night. We took a night cruise on the Huangpu River and it was really amazing.  It is only about an hour long but the buildings lit up are truly captivating. 

We stayed at the Westin in the Bund.  Not quite so tall as the Hyatt. We chose this hotel because they have an awesome air filtration system.  This is really important because the air quality in Shanghai can be very poor.  If you have any respiratory issues, I recommend looking into the air quality of the hotel in advance.  While you can wear a respiratory mask during the day, you will want to rest comfortably at night! 

Our first stop in Shanghai was to explore the area – The Bund.  Walking along the Henan Road, we head to a lovely open air shopping area Nanging Road.  My first stop, Innisfil, a great Korean skin care store.  Having travelled to Seoul a few years back, I became hooked on Korean skin care products.  This is not an understatement – Korean women are SERIOUS about skin care.  While there may be a Tim Hortons on every Canadian street corner, or a Starbuck on American streets, Korean streets are filled with skin care shops.  I have never seen anything like it.  What I took away from my Seoul trip was the importance of facial masks.  This are thin fabric like paper masks dripping with moisturizing creams.  There are masks for every part of your body (I am not kidding) and for every skin type and requirement.  I love them so much that my friend and colleague brings me a box from Korea every time she sees me!  I love her – my skin loves her! (thanks Mani).  After I buy my weight in skin care products for myself and my teenage daughter, we head into the open air mall.  This is a great place for some quick souvenir shopping for my kids.  The name brand shops do not offer any deals – you can do much better in Canada.  In fact, I was told that many people head to Hong Kong to shop.

It is getting dark and we decide to get some dinner.  A great choice thanks to reading ahead on a fellow blogger’s site (Nom & Play http://nomandplay.com) was Lost Heaven http://lostheaven.com.cn/restaurant/lost-heaven/. (No. 17 Yan An East Road Shanghai

+86 021-6330-0967)  They advise they specialize in Yunnan Folk cuisine.  I am not sure what that is, but it was really super yummy, and close to the hotel. After our great dinner we are ready for sleep!

A great part of dining in Shanghai is that there is no tipping!  Travelling by taxi in Shanghai is relatively cheap.  And, like restaurants, tipping is not expected.  In fact, our driver gave us back the tip.

Because we only have a day to see all we can before our meetings start, we decide to splurge a bit and hire a local guide.  After a quick Trip Advisor search, we picked Shanghai Tom's Guide & Driver https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g308272-d8660919-Reviews-Shanghai_Tom_s_Guide_Driver-Shanghai.htm . 

Tom picks us up at the hotel at 9 am and decide to head to a Buddist temple.  Tom takes us to Longhua Gusi.  It was beautiful. 

The largest and busiest Buddhist temple in Shanghai has a beautiful 10th-century pagoda.  The rest of the temple centers around four main halls dating from around 1900:  the Maitreya Hall; the Hall of the Heavenly King; the Grand Hall; and the Three Sage Hall.

I think the most impressive is the Grand Hall which contains a statue of the Buddha flanked on each side by 18 disciples.  In the Three Sage Hall, you will find the three incarnations of the Buddha. Along the side corridors is a room filled with 500 small golden statues of disciples.

What is great about hiring a driver is that not only can you cover a lot of territory in a short time, but he accompanies you to the sights providing insight and history into where you are and what you are seeing.  We learned a lot about Buddha, the temple and the religion.  This temple was the highlight of my day.

From the temple we head to the former French Concession area.  The area is lovely, full of leafy trees and pretty shops.  Really quite tranquil.  The former French Concession area was a foreign concession from 1849 until 1943.  The concession came to an end in 1943 when the French government signed it over to the government.  The area of the former French Concession remains an excellent residential and retail district.  We do a little shopping.

One of the city’s most popular attractions – and for good cause – is the Old Town and Yu Yuyan Garden.  It is a terrific garden, peaceful, green and just what you need for a little down time.  There are many places to sit and meditate or just rest.  The gardens are beautiful, filled with bonsai, wisteria, pretty pavilions, a stone bridges over water filled with goldfish (carp) and turtles.   In Chinese Yu means peaceful and that it is. 

The old town is filled with restaurants, food stalls and tourist trinkets.  There are even some western favorites including Starbucks, KFC and of course McDonalds if you are missing home.

We stop for some nourishment and Tom takes us to Yang’s Dumplings – a sort of McDonalds of dumplings that offers 3 kinds – shrimp, pork and meat& veg. https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g308272-d2035728-Reviews-Yang_s_Fried_Dumplings_HuangHe_Road-Shanghai.html We get one of each.  Tom explains that you first take a small bite of the dumpling and drink the yummy juice from inside that way you can confidently take a bite without dripping juice down your chin and onto your shirt.  Super filling and yummy.  

When I got home, I did a little research.  Boy are these dumplings popular.  I have learned that Yang’s Dumpling was formed in Shanghai in 1994 by Mrs. Yang, who still keeps her recipe secret. They have over 20 locations in Shanghai.  Tom advises that they are listed on the stock exchange.  

Next is a quick stop to the Bird and Flower Market (718 Hongjing Lu, near Hongsong Lu).  This was not as expected.  Indeed, there are birds in small cages but there are also chipmunks, rabbits and crickets.

The predominant item in the market is crickets which are used for cricket fighting.  Crickets fights are arranged according to weight class. In a fighting container, the crickets are agitated and when they become sufficiently aggressive the crickets are freed to fight.  I have been told that this is not a fight to the death.  Instead, the loser is the cricket that first begins avoiding contact, runs away from battle, stops chirping, or is thrown from the fighting container. 

Having decided that gambling on a cricket match is not for us, we decide to head to the AP Market – also known as the Shanghai Asia Sheng Department of Leisure Mall.  (202 Century Avenue Pudong Xingu).  This is a below ground mall that is MASSIVE.  There are shops making tailor made suits to order, knock-off purses galore, silk scarves, pottery and other souvenirs.  I have to warn you, it is a bit of a maze and very large.  A bad combination and we do wander around a lot.  In the end, we don’t purchase anything but a few bowls.  But it was an interesting experience. 

After eight hours of sightseeing we are tired and head back for a rest and some dinner.  What a day.  Thanks Tom!

In addition to Lost Heaven, we have a lovely and I am told typical Shanghainese dinner at Fu1088. https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Restaurant/Shanghai-_-Fu_1088-yinken1z   I found this meal a bit more ‘exotic’ than Lost Heaven. 

What struck me about Shanghai was how orderly it was.  Despite housing more than 24 million people, I never felt claustrophobic and while there was a lot of traffic at rush hour, people drove orderly.  Electric cars, including Teslas were abundant but so were very large North American SUVs.  A very interesting fact was how the government takes a very active role in ensuring this order.  In fact, it is against the law to honk your horn – there are actually monitors all round and violators’ licence plates are posted on traffic signs.

This sign shows the licence plate of a car which was caught honking.  It's owner will receive a fine.

Now a word of warning, if you are a Facebook, Instagram, Google, Twitter or Netflix devotee, you will go into withdrawal in Shanghai!  (Actually all of China) Thankfully, Yahoo works if you need a search engine.  I didn’t know how much I used these sites until I could not get them. 

Enjoy Shanghai.  I know I did