China - Blogabond

First of all, i need to warn you that the city of Shanghai needs no introduction. The largest city in China has grown as a result of its location on the banks of the Huangpu River. It is now leading the way for China to become a first world country. It has over 17 million people and every year the number of affluent people grows seeing a slight shift from communism to capitalism. I have been to Shanghai many many times and it's so interesting to see the city changing every week. Arriving from the Pudong International Airport is very easy. The 430 km/h magnetic train (¥50 single, ¥80 return) makes the 30 kilometres trip in 8 minutes, and arrives at a line 2 metro station (¥4 single) not far from the centre. The metro is modern and safe, but rather infrequent and no platform information is displayed. Good signage on the other hand seems sufficient for foreigners like me to find their way.

Highlights:
Yuyuan Garden (Chinatown):
Visit the Yuyuan Garden for a typical old Chinese style building complex and the only Ming Dynasty garden remaining in Shanghai. This is a lovely colourful area, for us foreigners signifies China; the red buildings with their characteristic Chinese shaped roofs. There are lots of shops and stalls selling so many different things; teahouses and restaurants are also available. In terms of sights, there are many pools, pavilions, rock gardens and bridges, which are great to see, especially the Zigzag Bridge. It is said the reason why it was built that way, was to ward off evil sprits, as the Chinese believed spirits could only travel in a straight line. Also in the mid-lake pavilion is the Huxingting Teahouse, it gets very busy around here, so do arrive early.

Nanjing Road:
This is a huge shopping street/area, much like London’s Bond Street. It is said it is the most expensive and stylish shopping area in China and runs from The Bund for 5 kms. At one of the major crossroads, is an elevated section which is designed to facilitate crossing the busy intersection, but now serves as an area for more shopping.

The Bund:
There is always a lot of people strolling along The Bund and is a little bit of Europe in the heart of Shanghai. It’s a pretty concrete walkway and leads on to Huangpu Park. The park was famed for once having a sign which read ‘no dogs or Chinese’. The road side of the walkway is lined with lovely 1920/30s buildings which are reminiscent if the days gone by when international financial companies ran Shanghai; on the other side is brown/gray waters of the Huangpu River. It is quite popular to do a boat cruise.

Xintiandi (French Consession):
My favorite spot is the French Concession or Xintiandi in Chinese. This section of Shanghai was once controlled by France and it shows. Restaurants and hotels all have a European feel and charm. Compared to the rest of Shanghai, the area is upscale and expensive. This is the place where only rich and famous people live; if you're seen here, most likely you will be mistaken for a celebrity. Staff in restaurants and hotels will usually speak English or another European language. Prices are shown in yuan (Chinese money), Euros, or American Dollars, so this makes Xintiandi a well-accessible section of Shanghai to many foreign tourists.

Shanghai Museum:
Probably the second best museum in China after Xi'An. The Ancient Bronze exhibit is particularly impressive. Audio guides is available for a minimal fee. Entrance is free.

Food:
Food is everything in Shanghai. It's part of living in Shanghai and without Shanghai's expansive array of food, Shanghai would still be a little fishing village not even on the map.

Best Way to Get Around:
If you intend to stay in Shanghai for a longer time the Shanghai Jiaotong Card can come in handy. You can load the card with money and use it in buses, the metro and even taxis. You can get these cards at any metro/subway station, as well as some convenience stores like Alldays and KeDi Marts.

Metro:
The trains are fast, cheap, air conditioned and fairly user-friendly with most signs also in English, but the trains can get very packed during rush hour. Fares range from ¥3 to ¥9 depending on distance. Automatic ticket vending machines take ¥1 or ¥0.5 coins and notes. Most stations on lines 1-3 will also have staff selling tickets, but on the newly-completed lines 6, 8, and 9 ticket puchasing is all done by machine (in both Chinese and English) with staff there only to assist in adding credit to cards or if something goes wrong.

Taxi:
Taxi is a good choice for transportation in the city, especially during off-peak hours. It is affordable (¥11 for the first 3km, 2.1RMB/km up to 10km, and 3.2RMB/km after) and saves you time, but try to get your destination in Chinese characters or available on a map as communication can be an issue. As Shanghai is a huge city, try to get the nearest intersection to your destination as well since even addresses in Chinese are often useless. Drivers, while generally honest, are sometimes genuinely clueless and occasionally out to take you for a ride. The drivers are very good about using the meter but in case they forget, remind them. It's also the law to provide a receipt for the rider but if your fare seems out of line, be sure to obtain one as it's necessary to receive any compensation.

On Foot:
I always prefer walking in Shanghai, especially in the older parts of the city across the Huangpu from Pudong but be aware that this city is incredibly dynamic and pavements are often blocked due to construction. With many roads also being closed off in some sections, expecially along the Bund, crossing the road can be difficult, if not impossible in some places. Look for subways as these are usually open despite the roadworks.

Bus:
If your Chinese is good enough and you're trying to go somewhere the metro doesn't without resorting to taxis you can use the public bus system. The bus system is much more extensive (and always cheaper) than the metro, and some routes even run past the closing of the Metro (well, more like "start running past the closing of the Metro"- route numbers beginning with 3 are the night buses that run past 11PM).

Bicycle:
If you can handle the fumes and menace of Shànghǎi’s vicious traffic, biking is an excellent way to get around town, especially if you occasionally link it in with public transport. Come sunny summer, cyclists sport a wide array of sun shields, from wide-brimmed hats resembling lampshades to vast sun visors that could pass for welding masks. Bikes have been banned from major roads for several years now, so you may have to join cyclists surging pell-mell down the pavements of busy streets. Remember you will be on the lowliest transportation device in town, and buses, lorries, taxis, cars and scooters will ceaselessly honk at you, in that pecking order (just ignore them)

written by

davidtann on December 25, 2009 from Shanghai, China

from the travel blog: CHINA - Shanghai

tagged China, Shanghai, Pudong and ShanghaiBund

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Day 1: Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Flight to Beijing, China

Our Asia Adventure begins! Hunter and I are taking another “trip of a lifetime” to round out 2009. It was a pretty last minute trip, planned just a few months prior ,when we realized we had the time and money this year to make a trip to Asia a reality. We always wanted to see that part of the world, because it is so different from the US and Europe, and after discovering a Princess Cruise that toured six Asian countries over the winter holidays, we knew we found a way to realize this vacation goal!

We are booked on a 17-day / 16-night Southeast Asia Explorer cruise on Princess Cruise line that departs December 18th from Shanghai, China and makes the following stops: Okinawa, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Hong Kong (overnight stay/2 days); Hue, Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Singapore; Ko Samui, Thailand (beaches); Bangkok, Thailand. Disembarkation is in Bangkok. Hunter and I added on an extra 5 days in China so we could visit the Great Wall, because after all, what is a trip to China if you don't see one of the great wonders of the world? And so we are flying to Beijing for 3 ½ days before flying to Shanghai for 2 days before boarding the cruise.

I did extensive planning for this trip, over the weekends in October and November, as there are 10 cities to plan. We wanted to minimize the number of Princess-led excursions to save money and see more, and so I researched transportation and key sights to see in every port. TripAdvisor.com and CruiseCritic.com were extremely helpful for their message boards. Someone on TripAdvisor even looked up Taipei train schedules for me!

Packing was very difficult for this trip, as we need clothes for 30 degrees (Beijing/Great Wall) and for 91 degree weather (Thailand). We somehow managed to get all of our formal cruise wear and winter and summer clothes into one 22-in roller board, one 28-in duffel bag, and one 28-in Samsonite suitcase, plus two carry-ons, one of which is a giant beach bag and holds the video camera inside.

Hunter and I decided to get some immunizations pre-trip and met with the Passport Health Center in Virginia Beach to see what we needed. We got the first dose of Hepatitis A vaccine, a Polio booster vaccine, and a DPT which was overdue (every 10 years). We also got the seasonal flu vaccine the first weekend in October and I was one of the lucky ones to get a H1N1 vaccine.

I think I covered enough of the pre-trip details, so let the adventure begin!
Our 12pm flight from EWR was scheduled as on time and when we arrived at the gate, we saw a VERY long line. We assumed it was for people without seat assignments as they made an announcement that the flight was oversold by 7-8 seats and they were looking for bumping volunteers for a $800 travel voucher and a confirmed seat out on the one Continental flight tomorrow. Definitely not! We need all the time we have in Beijing! The crew started boarding us around 11:30am for our 12:15pm departure and we got to board early because of Hunter's status. We took up most of the overhead bin space and lamented at our tight seat quarters. I later put my carry-on bag in the overhead bin so we could have more leg room. Continental only gave us a pillow and blanket and free headphones – no sleeping mask or booty slippers or earplugs AND they charged for alcohol!!! I thought alcohol was free on international flights!

Our flight started off on a rocky start as I was looking for the outlet that I had seen on SeatFinder.com as Hunter really wanted to plug in his netbook. I couldn't find it on the armrests and so I pushed into a panel on the wall, thinking maybe they were up in there, by the seat lights. I was wrong! When I pulled on a section of the panel, out popped all three oxygen masks! I couldn't get them to retract up, so the flight attendant had to call maintenance to come out and fix it. It was a tense 5 min as Hunter and I watched, hoping he could fix the paneling so we wouldn't get booted off the plane or delayed. Luckily, he did fix it, but that wasn't the end to our problems.

The plane pushed off at 12:20pm from the gate as a full flight. Hunter and I were one aisle behind the bulk head and I had the middle seat. About five minutes into taxiing on the runway, the pilot announced that we had to go back to the gate as one of the passengers who gave up his seat still had checked luggage on the plane. It was supposed to take 20 min to pull the bags from cargo, but that turned into almost a 2 hour delay. Then the pilot came on and said that there was a passenger on board with a connecting flight in China that would be missed and this person didn't have a Chinese visa to stay in the country and needed to be re-booked on another flight. The crew then asked if others were in that situation, and luckily no one was. After a 2 hour 15 min delay, we were taxiing back onto the runway and up in the air. At least they let us cut the runway line!

There were 3 stewards for our section of the economy class cabin, and 3 for the back section. One handed us a menu pretty quickly:
Dinner: Salad w/ 3 cocktail shrimp and lite ranch dressing, choice of Beef Stir-Fry or Pollack fish with rice and bok choy, a cookies and cream brownie and a dinner roll.
Mid-flight snack: Pulled BBQ pork sandwich and a haagan-daaz vanilla ice cream cup
Pre-Arrival snack: Fruit salad, roll and a choice of a swiss cheese omelet/turkey sausage and potato gratin or Shanghai Noodles (dim sum) w/ pork and veggie potstickers. Both came with an almond cookie.

Hunter and I continued to read our magazines for a half hour before starting one of the 350 movies offered on individual consoles. However, only a few were “New releases” but there were three we wanted to see: Transformers 2, 500 days of Summer, and Up. There was also Julie & Julia and My Sister's Keeper. Surprisingly we only had time for one movie! After reading, we turned on Transformers, paused it during dinner, and then finished it up before bed. Hunter and I were each going to have a different meal, but the steward mistakenly gave us both the fish. But it was pretty good.

Towards the end of the movie, we each took two Tylenol PM tablets and then used the restroom before bed. Hunter fell right to sleep but I tossed and turned for an hour and a half before finally getting up and buying 2 bottles of red wine. I had asked the steward during one of his hourly water runs, but he forgot to come back, so I had to walk to the back of the cabin to get it. Once I guzzled a whole bottle and turned on the Classical music albums, I fell asleep. I slept a good 2 hours straight before being woken up for the mid-flight snack, and then I had another half bottle of wine and fell back to sleep for a straight 4 hours. It was then time for breakfast. I wasn't too hungry and ate the potato part of the omelet while Hunter ate his whole dim-sum. After eating, we whipped out our netbooks for the first time – we didn't even need the outlet which the attendant had pointed out was on the bottom of the seat, near the floor! Hunter did some programming while I typed this journal entry.

The steward handed out immigration forms to complete, along with a health questionnaire. We completed those and then read our magazines while the plane descended. We arrived 1 ½ hours late, which wasn't too terrible. The pilot said he had permission to increase the speed. The flight was 13 hours long and because we slept over 7 hours, it actually passed quickly! However, overall I was not impressed with Continental's seats or quality of service and would not recommend it for international travel. But our tickets were free (120,000 miles each) and it was a direct flight eastward over the north pole (Greenland, Russia and Mongolia) so I can't complain too much!

(Continue to next travel blog for Day 2 - arrival and first evening in Beijing)

written by

mohicanfan on December 12, 2009 from Beijing, China

from the travel blog: Beijing/Shanghai and a Princess Southeast Asia Cruise - Dec 2009

tagged China, Beijing and Asia

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