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business trip plus a spare day. never been. any tips for a few mid week beers?
Boxing Cat.
If you're centrally located, a walk to The Bund at sunset is ace. Lots of hawkers on Nanjing Rd, though.
cheers. I know SEA, but china is off the radar for me.
Shanghai is amazing and repellent in equal measure. The gap between rich and poor is huge, with only a very small, if growing, middle class in between. Shops on Nanjing selling luxury watches at 3x Western retail price, so people can tell you how much they spent. Three blocks away, people are washing themselves in the gutter.
That aside, some stunning architecture, some truly astonishing food and good people.
Few things;
Ask your hotel for a card with a photo of the hotel on it. Many taxi drivers can't really read, so navigate by image instead. 😯
If you're the guest of locals, clients for example, don't eat all the food. They want to show you hospitality, eat it all and they haven't shown you enough!
Those taxi drivers. At night. When you've been on the sauce all night, and they're driving home at warp speed along those blue lit roads.....HOLYCRAPOLA, HOLD ON TIGHT!
Don't plan on getting a good meal in the BA/OneWorld lounge at PVG. It's dire!
Eat xiao long bao. Lots of them!
Where are you going to be staying? Will try and dig up some additional food/booze suggestions based on that.
While we are on Asia....
Day off in Beijing and day off in Yangon - in September - what to do?
Yangon? You lucky bugger! Camera. Walk. Soak it all in.
Beijing? Again, excellent food. I'd probably do a day trip to the Wall.
I love Shanghai, my favourite business trip. The Shanghai brewery used to be OK for a few locally brewed beers. It has recently moved from the Henshang Rd.
Beware of scammers in the bund (usually asking you to take a photo then try to take you to a tea house).
Use the metro instead of taxis when you can. Buy one of the cards you preload. It can get exciting during rush hour but is much better than taxis.
The maglev is worth a trip on the way back to the airport.
I was only there for two nights - and didn't see much apart from the usual airport/taxi/office/hotel combo in that time.
I did however come away feeling like I'd cheated death a number of times - being a pedestrian is pretty terrifying, there seems to be an understanding that it's ok for mopeds to drive on the pavements.
I will also never, ever, be eating jellyfish again. Like a flacid water-balloon filled with wallpaper paste and gravel. The dumplings were superb though.
Yangon - schwedagon paya - its spectacular!
Beers / food - Yangon is, errrr, limited. (Or it was 5 years ago, things may be changing since its starting to open up)
I live in Shanghai. Where you staying? Also, got a fixie you can borrow if you want to ride. dccbysea...outlook,com
360, I'm there with a colleague but appreciate the offer. May be back at some stage solo though.
Shanghai:
Definitely head to the Peace hotel Jazz bar (think old world opulence) to check out the pensioner only jazz band playing some tunes, it's vaguely expensive but not by Western standards (£10-15 a cocktail). One of the best things we did, we visited a couple of times. Weekends have a min spend per table, but it was only about 2 drinks worth. It's down by the bund.
Also check out the waterfront at the bund at night, maybe after drinks!
We felt very safe in Shanghai and no issues at all wandering around at 1am walking back to our hotel.
Beijing:
If you're adventurous try and hit one of the un-repaired sections of the great wall, again a highlight of a 3 week trip. Saw zero people (which as you'll discover is almost impossible in China!), no hassle but it did requiring hiring a driver to take us as there was no tourist transport available. He dropped us at one end and picked us up at the other. The walk itself was challenging (some steep , descend on bums sections, some failing wall sections) but great fun.
In both cities we used the metro extensively and it's cheap, efficient and easy. Worth downloading an app with the nearest stations on it for when you're wandering around.
If you plan to take a taxi have your hotel write down where you're going in mandarin.
As above, the Maglev train is cool, and crazy fast, and a fun way to get to the airport an back.
If you're eating in Beijing I highly recommend hitting one of the Da Dong Duck 'peking duck' restaurants (there were 3 last time I was there). It was amazing! Get the whole duck between two. Nothing like you'll have had at home. Expensive for China but normal prices for UK.
Have fun!
Ooh, also, as mentioned above be VERY careful if anywhere near a road!
There may not be as many bikes these days, but there are thousands of ebikes/emopeds that are almost silent, use no lights at night and drive at mach 10...
When crossing roads, don't expect traffic to stop for things like red lights or crossings, cross your fingers and make a run for it!
There's been a huge rennaissance in city bikes in China the past year - nice way to get around Shanghai IME, and it costs next to nowt, get on get off anywhere. However, hiring them is not completely straightforward on a single visit as you need to set up an account on your phone, but if someone could sort you out it might be an option.
I like the Hengshan Rd area for bevvying and just walking around - a few spots are only moderately hot and noisy, which is like the Chinese equivalent of an arl fella's pub, and more up my street.
Got to visit a garden - as above Yu Garden is good - and a temple, this was the best I found in Shanghai:
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/jingan-temple.htm
Pudong is obviously worth a visit if you like that sort of thing - silly high offices.
I wasn't that keen on Shanghai but enjoyed some nearby cities - West Lake at Hangzhou is great if you ever get the time:
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/zhejiang/hangzhou/west_lake.htm
Especially this nearby:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingyin_Temple
How was the trip OP?
I'm going to Shanghai myself on the 3rd Sep, staying until the 8th but mainly travelling around.
Will be back in Shanghai on the evening os the 7th so have Friday the 8th free before my flight at 13:20.
360, what's the chance of finding a ride out on Friday morning early? Is it even worth me trying?
I thought the roads were actually pretty safe. The mixed use kept speeds low and no one drove like a British idiot. Taxi drivers maybe a bit quick sometimes. Train is better than taxis. You may get ripped off in certain types of taxis.
Old quarter is good, the French bit too. If you want to go to the water front, go one block left or right from the main drag and avoid the hawkers.