Nǐ hǎo Shanghai

Day 1
The bullet train from Qufu to Shanghai was very quick and uncomplicated as before. I arrived in Shanghai just before 4pm and got the metro to the city centre and arriving at my hostel around 5pm. The temperature was significantly higher than in Qufu (I found out later that there was a mini heatwave) so I was a but of a hot sweaty mess when I arrived so just collapsed on y bed as soon as I saw it. After about an hour of rest I pulled myself together an headed to the Bund, the riverside in Shanghai which is its most touristic site. By this point it was dark so when I got there all the buildings were lit up. Now I definitely have enjoyed more of the nature side of things on this trip, but seeing all the skyscrapers lit up on the other side of the river was a pretty special sight. I stayed on the Bund for about half an hour just taking in the view and people watching, but after a while my journey seemed to catch up with me so I decided to head back to the hostel for an early night. When I got back my room was empty so I had a very rare undisturbed sleep.

Day 2
I decided to start my day in the city by visiting the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre which gives a detailed history of the cities development and the plans for the future. It also has a huge scale model of the city on the third floor, complete with city lights. Quite a unique way to see a birds eye view of the city. After the exhibition I walked to the Bund again as I wanted to see it in the daylight. Plus it was getting really hot (like unbearably hot) so I thought it would be cooler by the water. As I was standing by the water taking in the view again a German girl asked me to take a picture of her and we started talking. She was in the city visiting her brother for a few weeks but she was on her own as he was working most of the time. We decided to explore the city together, safety in numbers. We headed to a nearby sculpture park where we sat in the shade for almost an hour sharing travel stories. We were rudely interrupted by an angry security guard who was yelling at us in Chinese pointing to our bare feet on the grass. We quickly put our shoes on and ran away. Don’t put your feet on the grass in Shanghai. Lesson learnt. After our brush with the law we decided to go for some lunch in a nearby vegan restaurant (thank you HappyCow!). After our break from the heat we headed back into the furnace and made our way to the French Concession, a former French area of the city. This area was very picturesque with many tree lined streets and shopping areas. It was hard to believe that we were still in the worlds most populated city. We did a short self guided walking tour aided by Aniko’s Lonely planet (unfortunately it wasn’t the most informative guide, but still a pretty walk) and finished near one of the subway stations where we parted ways, agreeing to meet up the next day to visit the Yuyuan gardens. When I arrived back at my hostel I found I finally had room mates. One of which was a very nice Chinese-canadian girl, Cheryl, who I got chatting too and invited to join me qand Aniko the next day.

Day 3
Cheryl and I met Aniko at a nearby subway station early in the morning and headed to the Yuyuan gardens. The gardens is a small walled garden area of the city surrounded by a tourist market. The garden actually more like a series of courtyards with small ancient hall buildings and numerous ponds. Even though it was pretty busy inside it was a really peaceful area to walk around. We sought shade at one point and watched some turtles and fish in one of the ponds. After walking around the gardens we visited the City God Temple a small unimposing temple adjacent to the gardens. We then headed for lunch in a nearby vegetarian restraurnt where we rodered, with the help of Cheryl, four local dishes, one of which was a coconut soup in a dumpling (traditionally made with crab meat) which you drink through a straw and then eat the dumpling. Very unique but very tastey. After lunch I parted ways with my new friends as I had to head back to the hostel to get myself sorted for my first overnight train in China and they wanted to continue exploring the city.

So there you have my whistle stop tour of Shanghai. Next stop is Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors (and hopefully less of a heatwave!).

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