Our last stop is the most well known city to Americans of all we visited; is home to 29 million people, and is the cultural, economic, and educational hub of China, Shanghai. Located on an offshoot of the Yangtze River and the China Sea, it became famous in the West as one of the five port cities in China forcibly opened by Europeans during the Opium Wars of the 1800s. In the last 40 years, the city population has grown significantly, as well as its skyline. It’s name translates to “On the Sea,” and is the largest shipping port in the world.
It was definitely the most modern and advanced city, with the most English speakers, as well as English speaking and Western travelers, we visited while in China. It was a nice place to end our travels in China, as there were also many more Western food choices (beyond fast food) so we could vary our diet a bit. We stayed in the western part of the city, near the Hongqiao Airport and Railway station, but we actually flew into the main Pudong Airport, which is on the complete other side of the city and on the water.
After we landed it was about an hour drive across the city, and it felt like Chicago, or any large metro area in the US, with a big skyline, and many, many buildings that seem to go on forever. We decided to do a tour our first day, and it started near People’s Park. We arrived early, and walked around the large buildings in the area and in the park itself. Once the tour started, we learned that the area was originally the playground of the British elite, with bars and brothels and shopping.
The brick color building above was once the tallest in Shanghai, and now is a hotel. Many of these tall buildings are also fancy hotels. The clocktower above is a throwback to Big Ben in London, and it is not the only one in Shanghai that looks like Big Ben, as the Brits really missed it apparently, when living halfway across the world.
Our next stop was the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, which is full of shopping, from famous Western chains like Lego, Adidas and Armani, to (unknown to us) Chinese and Europeans stores. There were a lot of people, and we had to make sure to follow the yellow umbrella (as you’ll see in a few of the pics below) that our guide was carrying.
We eventually took a turn down a side street and were able to get some local snacks and drinks, and proceeded on toward another Big Ben-esque clocktower (last pic above).
Our final stop was the Bund, a historical district and street that is full of colonial-era buildings built by the British and French with buildings that look like they belong in European cities, and is the most expensive area for tourists.
Across the street is the riverfront, which faces the Pudong area, with all of its modern skyscrapers and buildings. We learned that all of Pudong skyscrapers had been built in the last 30 years, what a change!
Our tour guide recommended a drink at a rooftop bar nearby named The Captain; so we did, and watched as the evening turned to night, taking in the bright lights of the Pudong skyline.
Once back at street level, we were greeted by the lit up buildings of the Bund.
We made our way back to Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, still packed with people.
We were determined to take the train back to our hotel, as a Didi would cost way more, and we had wanted to try it. It was a bit of a madhouse in the station, but we found the ticket machine, and after a bit more difficulty, finally bought our tickets. We put our backpack through the metal detector, which didn’t seem to be detecting much of anything, as there were so many people, and boarded our train. The train was quite clean and nice, though packed. We decided to make one final stop on our journey, as we had to change trains anyway, at the Jing’an Temple, that we had heard was very pretty at night. That was absolutely true, and we found a spot to sit and rest at Jing’an Park, across the street.
It was stunning to sit and take it all in, after such a long day of seeing so many cool places around Shanghai. More to come!
Phil's WayPastCool 