Shanghai July 2016

Shanghai, China, 07.09.2016

After a relatively uneventful stay in Hong Kong, I hopped on a Dragon Air flight thousands of miles to the north into China. I landed at Shanghai Pudong International Airport mid-day. Right off the bat, I had a different feeling in Shanghai. I somehow knew that city would fit me better than Hong Kong. Call it energy or intuition but my original feeling turned out to be correct.

I did make one significant mistake traveling into Shanghai that I wont repeat in future trips internationally: airport transport. I will never again let myself reach a new city without a plan to get from the airport to the hotel. Assuming there will be a tram or train is

probably a good assumption but the lack of knowledge of where to go and how to get there makes me feel vulnerable and that leaves me open to being conned. In this case, I know I paid double what I should have for a car ride from the airport and I'm lucky I made it in one peace.

If there is one overarching negative aspect to Shanghai that makes it stand out versus other cities I've seen so far, it's the overwhelming amount of grifters and con artists I ran into on the streets. Luckily I read up about the elaborate schemes in advance so I was prepared (outside of the minor hiccup at the airport). I was worried it might make me less likely to interact with people but I didnt have much issues feeling safe overall. A few annoying peddlers aside, I found the people of Shanghai to be warm and friendly. The language barrier is significant but I never felt shunned because of it. In some way there is a universal language of hospitality and I felt that in Shanghai. Maybe I misinterpreted it but I choose to believe the people for the most part were quite genuine.

I stayed at the Narada Boutique Hotel Shanghai Yu Garden in Shanghai. By happy accident, I realized by the end of the trip that I picked perhaps the best location to stay in Shanghai for a first time visitor. It was close to the Bund, to tons of great local food options, the Yu Gardens, Nanjing Road, and Xin Tian Di. I loved the hotel

and found it to be luxurious by comparison to the dump I stayed in on MongKok in Hong Kong. That's also the point where I realized I wont ever compromise on accommodations again. Lower price is great but not lower quality. I dont need 5-star but I need to demand 3 or 4 star if I want to be comfortable. Having a comfortable base of operations makes the trip so much less stressful for me. So either spend the money or stay home. Thankfully, in China, everything is cheap (including the hotels).

The first night in Shanghai, I did a foodie tour. Again, happy accident, that the tour started literally a block from my hotel. So I had plenty of time to tour the neighborhood. Right off the bat, I was struck by the relatively laid back vibe of the place. I've been to super large cities before but this was the first time I noticed a chilled nature to the people. Most people bike all over rather than drive so maybe that helped. The first night tour was fun and I got to interact with people in the group from all over the world, including some uppity Americans! The food was good but it was really more of a gimmicky tour than what I would consider a true "foodie" tour in the best sense. The skinning of the snake and then enjoying the snake meal was a nice touch but again, gimmicky. Unfortunately I didn't see anyone from the group again after that evening. One of these days I'll figure

out how to connect with someone deeply enough to get them to want to hang out more than just during group. That would be the holy grail of traveling for me: make a friend.

I'm writing this diary entry a year after I went to Shanghai so the exact order of things unfortunately is a bit foggy. I hope to write future entries real time so I can get things in fresher. I know I was in Shanghai for at least 5 days. A lot of the middle days sort of blend together. I ate most days breakfast in the hotel. Otherwise I just walked all over. I took the Red hop on/hop off bus and got to see wide swaths of the city. I found that I really enjoyed Xin Tian Di the most. That's the one neighborhood I made a point of visiting twice. It was upscale but retained some old school charm. I found a great bar over there that had decent Jazz (a welcome respite in a sea of Chinese culture). I remember feeling totally and desperately alone in Hong Kong and that feeling hit me especially hard my first night in Shanghai (or maybe my second night). Then something clicked and I realized I cant sit in my room at nights anymore. I have to be out on the town every night. So after that, I spent each evening either walking around Xin Tian Di, the Bund, or I had a food tour the last

night. I just found ways to keep busy somehow and thinking back on it, I have very positive memories and I don't recall feeling alone or even being alone (even though I was for almost the entire trip).

Somewhere in there I found some inspiration visiting a nearby Buddhist temple called Jade Buddha Temple. Just watching people light incense and pray was really a moving experience. I hope to visit more such places in future travels.

I also wandered on the subway a bit (probably a bit dangerous) but I ended up lost in some completely unknown part of town. I had no idea where I was so I decided to jump back into another subway station and stumbled upon a vast multi-level mall completely underground. There, I ended up having a great meal (somehow in a place where no one spoke English) and then bought some nice

clothes at some local boutique stores. Again, this mall was completely underground. What a crazy sight!

On my second to last day in Shanghai, I took a tour to Suzhou, a water village. That was really neat to see. Basically like a shrunk down version of Venice. We also visited a temple of some kind but I honestly cant remember the name. It wasn't all that interesting to me. We also went to a silk museum and store. I think wandering around Suzhou was the highlight. It ended up being a full day excursion, which was a lot, but probably a good idea at that stage of the trip.

My last day in Shanghai was the best day. That's because I took not one, but two excellent foodie tours with good guides. In each case I was the only tourist! So that was awkward at first but then I realized

each tour guide(s) spoke English well so I took the chance to build some rapport and I found both to be enlightening and interesting. Each tour guide gave me great insight into Shanghainese culture which I really cherished.

The best part of the last day, however, was the FOOD. I can't recall what everything was called but I know almost all of it was amazing. I had some kind of fried omelette sandwich egg thing for breakfast that they cooked on the side of the street (street food) and wrapped it up and gave it to me and it was delicious. I got to try some local fruits too. The best part is that Anne, my first tour guide, showed me how to properly eat soup dumplings. (Although I'm not quite sure which tour guide did actually show me, I'm pretty sure it was Anne my morning guide). That skill has served me well back home and later in NYC Chinatown.

The dinner was even more amazing. We had the best sweet and sour pork I've ever tasted and delicious beans of some kind, amazing amazing ramen noodles with mushrooms and so many great dishes. I really enjoyed walking the streets of Shanghai with my two nighttime

guides on one of their first tours. If I ever return to Shanghai I will definitely do the Shanghai Lander and Shanghai Foodie tours again! In truth, I loved Shanghai. Much more than I expected. I do think it's getting a "Black dot" on my office map at home. That indicates cities I loved enough to return to one day.

For the record, the great restaurants from that last night:

No 10 Jianguo East Rd - Soup dumplings and scallion oil noodles
No 279 Xizang South Rd - Stir-fried sword bean, sweet and sour pork and three freshness of the ground (eggplant ,potato and green bell pepper)
No 251 Xizang South Rd - Fried dough stick, pancake
No 344 Yunnan South Rd - Chinese burger

There are two restaurants that we missed because closed early:
No 90 Yunnan South Rd - Glutinous rice ball soup and spring rolls
No 89 Yunnan South Rd - Pan-fried bun (It's the best bun I've ever tasted in the city .This restaurant first opened in 1930s .)

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