Shanghai China

From Hangzhou we travelled back to Shanghai by train and spent a couple of days there before flying back home. Once again the hotel we booked was located on a pedestrian street (East Nanjing Road). Food, shopping, even street entertainment was conveniently close by. If you grew tired of walking, there were special sightseeing “buses” (actually electric-powered train-like compartments) that travelled up and down the pedestrian street. The section where our hotel was located reminded me of New York Times Square.

East Nanjing Road (Pedestrian Street)

Pedestrian Street

Street entertainment

Since we were staying for only had a couple of days, it seemed that the best way to see the city of Shanghai was to take the City Sightseeing Bus. For CNY30 one can hop-on hop-off at different points along the bus route (the ticket is good for 24 hours). There are two routes: one running in the Puxi area (the older city center) and the other in the Pudong area (the new financial/commercial district); one ticket allows you to get on both routes. Passengers are given a map/guide and earphones when they first board. You can connect your earphones to the jacks and hear commentaries about the different places of interest in the language of your choice (eight different languages to choose from: English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Chinese. I decided to complete both routes first to see what was there (it took half a day). 

City Sightseeing Bus

Sights along the Puxi route

Yuyuan Market

Sights along the Pudong route

I actually completed four rounds of the Puxi route and two rounds of the Pudong route during our stay. Unfortunately, my husband was experiencing vertigo and had to rest at the hotel most of the time; he was still able to complete a single round of both routes tho. Why four times for me? Well, I just had to go back (twice) to Yuyuan Garden in Old Shanghai for some shopping.

When we were packing our bags, I realized that I had much more stuff than when we arrived.  No worries, I just went around the many department stores on East Nanjing Road and bought a travelling bag (it was on sale too!).


For more information on Shanghai, you may want to check this out http://wikitravel.org/en/Shanghai#b