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China is huge. Extremely large. Vast. And to see it in one go takes considerable planning and time. Time that isn’t afforded to most people. If you’re ever in this part of the world, perhaps it’s best to see one or two cities at a time. If you go to Korea, maybe take some time to see Shanghai and Beijing as these cities are relatively close. If you go to Southeast Asia, Hong Kong is a ‘short’ plane ride away. If coming from India or Nepal, head on over to Tibet or the Sichuan province (you get the idea).
Despite any political, economical, societal differences that you hear in the news, China is a country worth seeing with millennia of rich history and great experiences. For the efficient traveler, with seemingly unlimited energy, you can do cities like Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai in one fell swoop. These cities are all significant in their own way and are easily accessible from one another by (night) train. For intracity travel, use the metro systems since the cities are HUGE, because China.
You can find a Googlemap of the places I will discuss at the end of this post. If you’ve also got time to check out more of China, do it! Check out my blog posts on Beijing, Xi’an, and the Great Wall of China.
You can fly into the world’s 2nd busiest airport for passenger traffic at Beijing International (PEK) or fly into one of the 2 airports in Shanghai (Hongqiao - SHA and Pudong - PVG), depending on where you’d like to start your trip. For this post, we will choose the latter. (Note: both of Shanghai’s airports are accessible by Shanghai metro - metro map).
Bund 8, Shanghai, China (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/50 s)
Shanghai is a very western-friendly city. It has a built up skyline, rich financial center, familiar branded restaurants and clothing shops, and most importantly, a larger percentage of population that understand english, so starting here is a great way of easing yourself into a more casual culture shock.
If you want to stay more or less in the thick of it all, try to get accomodation near The Bund, a popular pedestrian traffic area along the river with shops, cafes, restaurants, and bars. We stayed at the Jinjiang Inn Shanghai Waitan Binjiang, which was good value for money, location, and comfort.
Your first stop after dropping off your bags (day or night) should be the Bund, a short walk away (Metro Line 2 - East Nanjing Road). If you love skylines, this is one not to be missed, especially at night (bring a tripod and do slow exposure photography as the boats go by).
Looking away from the skyline, you’ll see a line of posh bars and restaurants lining the street. Be sure to check out Bar Rouge at Bund 18, which has an excellent terrace for enjoying the skyline over drinks. Check out their calender for performances here and wear your sunday’s best. Pre-booking may be required.
A visit to the art enclave of Tianzifang (Line 9 - Dapuqiao) is a must do in Shanghai. You will see many of the shops and boutiques off of Taikang road and is constructed in the western/chinese fusion Shikumen architecture.
Also nearby is the Liuli China Museum, home to a variety of diff. art exhibitions. At the time of my arrival, there was an exhibit on glass art which was extremely interesting.
If you have good weather, check out the outdoor gallery and installations at Jing’an Sculpture Park (Line 13 - Natural History Museum) in the center of Shanghai. This place features a rotating exhibition of art and statues throughout the year and is close to the newly opened (circa 2015) Natural History Museum as well.
If you don’t want to stray too far to see a rather authentic chinese temple, look no further than Jing’an Temple, right in the middle of the city (Lines 2 and 7 - Jing’an Temple Station). It’s so unusual to see an ornate temple such as this, surrounded by busy roads and skyscrapers, but it doesn’t lose its appeal. It’s origins go back all the way to 247 AD.
Sometimes you meet great locals who will give you advice on where to go and what to see. Other times, you may meet more unsavory characters who wish to scam you. Read up on this scam before you take the advice of strangers when it comes to trying tea.
Aside from this, if you want to sample tea on your own and maybe bring back a tea set for home, head on over to Tianshan Tea City (Lines 3 and 4 - West Yan’an Road). Here you will find stall after stall of diff. teas with people very knowledgeable about the subject. I was able to find a nice tea set here to send back home for my parents to enjoy.
If you don’t mind heights, I suggest you make your way to the Shanghai World Financial Center and take in the view from above the city at their skydeck (Line 2- Dongchang Road). Tickets for going to the 100th floor are slightly more expensive than the 94th floor. A similar strategy to that of the Shard in London. The higher floor has you walk across a glass floor (not for the faint of heart) but the views are stunning. This is best seen around sunset/night time.
As the most populous city in China at over 24 million, you could spend ages here and still not have seen everything. But for a limited time, you can be sure that these sites give you a taste of what the city has on offer.