April 2024

Singapore & Shanghai

My first venture into Mainland China. Read more

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Trip start
April 4, 2024
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- Day 1
- Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 3:28 PM
- 🌬 26 °C
- Altitude: 16 m
- United States Honolulu International Airport 21.331438, -157.92018121°19’53” N 157°55’13” W
Honolulu to Tokyo Haneda
April 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 26 °C
Japan Airlines JL71 | HNL/HND
Economy Class
Boeing 787-9 | JA873J
ATD/1546 | ATA/1916+1
Lounge: Sakura Lounge
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- Day 2
- Friday, April 5, 2024 at 9:59 PM
- ☁️ 11 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- Japan Tokyo International Airport 35.545738, 139.76939435°32’45” N 139°46’10” E
Tokyo Haneda to Singapore
April 5, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Japan Airlines JL35 | HND/SIN
Economy Class
Boeing 767-300ER | JA607J
ATD/0013 | ATA/0643
Lounge: Sakura First Class Lounge
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- Day 3
- Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 1:29 PM
- ⛅ 33 °C
- Altitude: 192 m
- Singapore Bukit Timah Hill 1.35467, 103.7764361°21’17” N 103°46’35” E
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
April 6, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
My one and only priority for the day was to combat jetlag by staying awake all day and having a good sleep after dinner. To that end, I went on a hike up Bukit Timah Hill to make myself stay awake and also to tire myself so that I would sleep soundly. It was absolutely sweltering, but it worked! That night, I had a good sleep after dinner and I was pretty much adjusted to the time zone by the next day.Read more
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- Day 6
- Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 4:29 PM
- ☁️ 32 °C
- Altitude: 16 m
- Singapore National University of Singapore 1.301445, 103.7735751°18’5” N 103°46’25” E
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
April 9, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
My friend Min wanted to visit the Death By Man (sic.) exhibit at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, so on Tuesday we trooped over there after her workday.

Situated on the National University of Singapore campus, the Lee Kong Chian Museum houses a collection of exhibits on flora and fauna, including taxidermied animals, displays of moss and fungi, and three dinosaur skeletons from Wyoming.

Upstairs, we found the Death By Man exhibit, which is a rather discomforting collection of prints of animals and birds killed by human contact in Singapore. The animals and birds were anthropomorphized and given names. Accompanying each frame was a brief description of how the animal died. Most of the birds died by flying into buildings, while most of the animals died after being hit by vehicles.

A select number of the animals were also given a backstory based on what the artist knew about the circumstances of their deaths. There were a few extra sad standout stories, including a pet iguana tossed from a highrise when the owner no longer wanted it as a pet, a woman who suffocated a harmless snake in three plastic bags because she was convinced it was going to kill her and her children, and a man who used to feed a monkey, but then got tired of the monkey's antics so he set his dogs on the monkey.

Overall, this was a sad, horrible indictment of human fecklessness. But, it was a worth a visit, if only to jolt us out of our complacency.Read more
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- Day 8
- Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 2:07 PM
- ☁️ 31 °C
- Altitude: 37 m
- Singapore Nus 1.305612, 103.7745741°18’20” N 103°46’28” E
Berlin Wall Remnants
April 11, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
I have wanted to visit this Atlas Obscura listed site since I first learned about it several years ago. I resolved to seek it out on this trip. Unfortunately, my first two attempts to visit it were thwarted; the first by lack of time, and the second by lack of nearby parking. For my third attempt, I took public transport.

Situated in University Village next to the National University of Singapore, these two slabs of the Berlin Wall were gifted to Singapore in 2015. They stand on top of a small hillock, and they are not visible from the footpath at the bottom of the hill. Due to the lack of directional signage and visibility, one would not know the wall relics were there unless they read about it on Atlas Obscura or some other site. I felt sad that such an important piece of world history would stand forlorn and ignored.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/berlin-wall…Read more
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- Day 10
- Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 7:32 AM
- ☁️ 27 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- Singapore Singapore Changi Airport 1.36427, 103.9924551°21’51” N 103°59’33” E
Singapore to Guangzhou
April 13, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
China Southern Airlines CZ352 | SIN/CAN
Economy Class
Airbus A320NEO | B-32ET
ATD/0800 | ATA/1159

I chose to fly China Southern to Shanghai via Guangzhou because their fare was reasonable, and I could accrue some miles (but not status qualifying though) on American. I also had lounge access within China thanks to American and China Southern's reciprocal relationship.

The cheapest OneWorld fare, which was on Cathay Pacific, cost over $200 more, and it was in a fare class that wouldn't earn me any miles or loyalty points. I do want to experience Cathay's First Class Lounges in HKG while I still have OneWorld Emerald status, but I couldn't justify the extra $200 expenditure.

This was my first flight on a mainland Chinese carrier. The flight itself was fine, but the hard and soft product was definitely less refined than that of competing Asian carriers. One thing I did find interesting was the obvious presence of an air marshal on the flight. I guess all the reports of badly behaved Mainland Chinese tourists led to this.Read more
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- Day 10
- Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 7:08 PM
- ☁️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- China Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport 23.407892, 113.30960823°24’28” N 113°18’35” E
Guangzhou to Shanghai Pudong
April 13, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
China Southern Airlines CZ8211 | CAN/PVG
Economy Class
Boeing 787-9 | B-20C6
ATD/2012 | ATA/2235
Lounge: Sky Pearl VIP Lounge

I took almost an hour to go through arrival formalities at Guangzhou. The immigration officer who processed me was very brusque. Once I was through to the sterile domestic departures area, I found absolutely no signage for the China Southern lounge. It wasn’t marked on the terminal map either, but I found it using the terminal map search function. As it turned out, the lounge was appropriately signposted for local joining passengers after they go through security, but not for passengers coming connecting from the international terminal.

Upon arrival to the lounge, I was channeled to the section reserved for economy class passengers with status. The lounge was aesthetically pleasing, but the food was passable at best. I am grateful for this lounge access, though, because what was supposed to be a five hour layover became a seven hour layover, ostensibly due to weather en route.

We boarded the flight from a remote bay. At the remote bay, I saw that CZ8211 was to be operated by a B787 instead of the originally scheduled B777-300ER. Once we were on board, the captain announced a further one hour delay, but we did take off half an hour later.

Sadly, the delay to this flight meant that I would arrive in Pudong after the last Maglev train departed. I really wanted to try the Maglev, so this was a disappointment. Jeff waited for me to arrive and then we took a ride share to our accommodation. The drive into town took almost an hour.Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 8:32 AM
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Shanghai 31.242722, 121.48658831°14’34” N 121°29’12” E
First Look at The Bund
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We had a good night's sleep at the Shanghai Fish Inn Bund.

We began our exploration of Shanghai with a quick walk to The Bund from our centrally located hotel. The skyline, juxtaposed next to the traffic on the Huangpu River, was quite spectacular.

I am embarrassed to admit I ate breakfast at Starbuck's, but I was hungry and there weren't other options in the immediate vicinity. A short while later, I kicked myself when I saw the food options at the nearby East Nanjing Pedestrian Street.Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 9:35 AM
- ☁️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Huangpu 31.239738, 121.48056831°14’23” N 121°28’50” E
East Nanjing Road
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Leaving The Bund, we walked over to the nearby East Nanjing Pedestrian Street. We enjoyed viewing various quirky displays and sampling some of the food on display, including a stall dedicated to White Rabbit. There, we both had a White Rabbit ice cream.

My favorite site on East Nanjing Road was undoubtedly Pop Mart, which featured some rather disturbing looking toys and figurines. We both also liked a mall with a dragon head on one end and a dragon tail on the other.Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 10:26 AM
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- China Huangpu 31.234179, 121.46777331°14’3” N 121°28’4” E
Marriage Market at People’s Square
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
A short walk west from East Nanjing Pedestrian Street, nestled within the green space of People's Square is a meat market of sorts: here, parents put out posters to help find prospective marriage partners for their single children.

Walking into the park, we easily located the Marriage Market. On the ground, parents placed descriptions of their single children. Even with my limited Mandarin, I figured out that the posters listed attributes such as their year of birth (most were born in the 1980s), their height (but not their weight), their jobs and educational qualifications, where they live, and in some cases what kind of mate they were looking for. I only saw one poster with a photograph of the child, and that photo was likely outdated. A fair number of the kids were located in the US or Singapore.

There were quite a few parents in attendance, but none of their kids were to be seen. I can imagine their 40-something kids saying: "Mom/Dad, you're embarrassing me!".

After viewing the Marriage Market, we wandered the grounds and enjoyed the greenery.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shanghai-ma…Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 11:54 AM
- ☁️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 18 m
- China Shanghai French Concession (historical)31.209454, 121.45089731°12’34” N 121°27’3” E
French Concession
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
At People's Square Subway Station, we bought 24-hour subway passes for RMB18 and we took our first subway ride to the French Concession. The area featured pleasant tree-lined roads and old French-style buildings. While it was a nice area, it didn't really hold my attention. The highlight of our time here was a quick break in dog park where we played with a very friendly corgi.

While walking the streets in the vicinity, we saw many motorcycle riders wearing coats from the front, and we also saw that they had thick mittens on their hands. We then spied some parked motorbikes and saw that the coats and mittens are affixed to the bikes.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shanghai-fr…Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 4:18 PM
- ☁️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 19 m
- China Shanghai 31.217096, 121.42975631°13’2” N 121°25’47” E
Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
This was undoubtedly the highlight of our time in Shanghai. I read about the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center in Atlas Obscura, and I knew I had to visit. Located on the seventh floor of a nondescript office building, this private museum featured propaganda posters from 1949 onwards.

We had a great time viewing the various posters. Some of them were just simply jaw dropping; China certainly didn't shy from commemorating Tiananmen Square, hydrogen bombs, and commenting on race relations in the United States. Our favorite was a somewhat homoerotic poster celebrating the special relationship with between China and the former Soviet Union. This poster featured a young Chinese man and a young blond Russian man, each with an arm around the other, and with their other hand clasped around the other man's hand.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shanghai-pr…Read more
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- Day 11
- Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 9:09 PM
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Huangpu 31.242723, 121.47826831°14’34” N 121°28’42” E
The Bund & East Nanjing Road at Night
April 14, 2024 in China ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
After eating dinner at the East Nanjing Pedestrian Street, we wandered the area and also The Bund, where we enjoyed the lightshow. The area was very crowded.
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- Day 12
- Monday, April 15, 2024 at 10:28 AM
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 25 m
- China Longyang Road Station 31.204762, 121.55339131°12’17” N 121°33’12” E
A Joyride on the Maglev
April 15, 2024 in China ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Due to the delayed arrival of my inbound flight, I missed an opportunity to take the Maglev into town. I couldn't let go of my disappointment; besides, and I wasn't sure if I would have another opportunity to ride on the world's fastest commercial train. So, I declared to Jeff that we would go for a joyride on the Maglev.

After breakfast, we took the subway to Longyang Road Station, where we connected to the Maglev. I was in geek heaven on the short ride to Pudong Airport. The train hit a top speed of 301 km/h, and I enjoyed the scenery as we whizzed by. The ride was smooth except for a brief shockwave when another Maglev going in the opposite direction passed us.

At Pudong Airport, we took a short walk to seek coffee for myself, and then we took the Maglev back into the city.Read more
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- Day 12
- Monday, April 15, 2024 at 1:28 PM
- ☀️ 25 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- China Oriental Pearl Tower 31.240863, 121.49398831°14’27” N 121°29’38” E
Oriental Pearl Tower
April 15, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
After the Maglev, we made our way to Lujiazui to visit the viewing platform at the Oriental Pearl Tower. Interestingly, this place has an entry in Atlas Obscura:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oriental-pe….

At the Oriental Pearl Tower, we purchased the RMB160 package. Our first stop was the viewing platform at 263 meters high, where we enjoyed views over the Hunagpu River and into the distance. After that, we walked downstairs to the 259 meter which featured a glass floor. Jeff enjoyed filming himself "falling"; I kept my distance!

Our third stop was the 98 meter viewing platform which was outdoors. After that, we went to the ground floor to visit the Shanghai History Museum which was included in the ticket. The museum itself had some interesting highlights, but it didn't really hold my attention.Read more
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- Day 12
- Monday, April 15, 2024 at 3:23 PM
- ☀️ 27 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- China Shanghai 31.238598, 121.49925231°14’19” N 121°29’57” E
Lujiazui
April 15, 2024 in China ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
After the Oriental Pearl Tower, we walked to the nearby Shanghai World Financial Center to look for Din Dai Fung, which I thought should be a safe choice for lunch with vegetarian options for xiaolongbao. However, when we got to the building, a staff member told us it was closed. So, we looked around and settled on Fatty Leow's, which looked like a Malaysian-inspired outlet. Here, we had our first food issue: Jeff wanted the Penang fried noodles. I asked for it to come without meat, but it still came out with prawns and fishcake which, apparently, is not considered "meat". The staff were really good about it. They came out and sought clarification, and then they produced a vegetarian version. I was not expecting this sort of service in China and I was very impressed.

After lunch, we walked around the area admiring the architecture. There was an elevated walkway in the area which would have been convenient for exploring, except that the police closed off certain sections of the bridge, so we were forced to navigate at street level or go into a mall a couple of times.Read more
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- Day 12
- Monday, April 15, 2024 at 4:47 PM
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 7 m
- China Shanghai 31.242687, 121.49740631°14’34” N 121°29’51” E
Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
April 15, 2024 in China ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Our next stop was the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium next to the Oriental Pearl. The aquarium was organized by geographic habitats, including Australia, South America, Africa, and the Yangtze River. Our journey through the aquarium included several glass tunnels through huge tanks.Read more
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- Day 13
- Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 8:30 AM
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Huangpu 31.238642, 121.4782131°14’19” N 121°28’42” E
My Meals in Shanghai
April 16, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Our two dining highlights were:
(1) Stuffed pancakes (known as jian1 bing3) for breakfast. Just off East Nanjing Pedestrian Street, we found a little stall selling made to order stuffed pancakes. We had two breakfasts here, and we ate pancakes stuffed with egg, potato slivers, romaine lettuce, and cheese. It was a hearty and filling breakfast.

(2) Godly (or Gongdelin) Vegan Restaurant on West Nanjing Road. In operation since 1922, Godly served hearty vegan fare. We ate two meals here.Read more
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- Day 13
- Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 10:52 AM
- ☁️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 3 m
- China Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport 31.197428, 121.34188131°11’51” N 121°20’31” E
Shanghai Hongqiao to Tokyo Haneda
April 16, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Japan Airlines JL82 | SHA/HND
Economy Class
Boeing 777-300ER | JA738J
ATD/1253 | ATA/1644
Lounge: China Eastern Lounge

I had to wake up at 6am for a work call. After that call, Jeff and I walked out to East Nanjing Road for breakfast, and then we went to the The Bund for one last look before returning to the Shanghai Fish Inn Bund to pack.

We left for Hongqiao Airport around 9.30am. Jeff was flying out of Terminal 2, whereas I was flying out of Terminal 1. The two terminals were located on opposite sides of the airport, and different subway lines went to each terminal. Fortunately, both of these lines operated from East Nanjing Road Station, so we didn't have to change trains. At the station, Jeff and I parted ways. I went to Line 10 while Jeff went to Line 2.

The train ride to the airport took about 40 minutes. From the station, I had a bit of a walk to the checkin area. Based on the appearance of the terminal, I suspect this was the very original terminal at Hongqiao. Apart from domestic flights, it seemed as if the only international flights were to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

JAL utilizes the China Eastern Lounge in Terminal 1. When I first entered the lounge, my initial impression was that it was a very small, empty and basic lounge with some drinks and cold buns on offer. Then, I noticed a passageway which led to a dining area, where was there all the lounge guests had congregated. Apart from a buffet, there was a cooking station offering made to order noodle soup. I had a nice noodle soup and steamed buns before leaving for the gate.Read more
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- Day 13
- Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 6:35 PM
- 🌬 19 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- Japan Tokyo International Airport 35.547592, 139.76995835°32’51” N 139°46’12” E
Tokyo Haneda to Honolulu
April 16, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
Japan Airlines JL74 | HND/HNL
Economy Class
Boeing 787-9 | JA875J
ATD/2117 | ATA/0927
Lounge: Sakura First Class Lounge
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Trip end
April 16, 2024