It all starts in Shanghai

SHANGHAI:  4th - 9th January

When you think of modern cities in China, Shanghai is certainly one of the first to mind. As a Tier 1 city full of skyscrapers and with a blend of culture from both the East and the West, we had to visit during our time here in China - so Jody and I made it our first destination for our Spring Festival holidays!

Our trip began with a morning train to Beijing, then a 12-hour high-speed train in the evening down south to Shanghai. Jody and I ended up with seats a row apart, but the man who sat next to me asked me where I was from and we ended up having a good conversation via WeChat, where I could utilise the WeChat translate option if there was something I didn't understand - he was a vice president of a company based between Beijing and Nanjing and told me he used to be a poet, which I could believe with some of the new, obscure vocabulary words I had to look up! It was a good chance for some language practise, but eventually the train pulled into Shanghai Station and Jody and I made our way outside, ready to see what Shanghai had to offer us for our first time there - turns out, what it had was lots of rain! We took a quick subway to our accommodation, checked in, then our first order of business in Shanghai was to head to an international church, taking place in a very fancy hotel a half hour bus journey away - then it was time for lunch before spending the day walking around the city. We saw the Bund for the first time, and went for a coffee but ended up in a fancy shopping mall containing a Miniso (a popular, cheap shop we all love selling loads of things from cosmetics to power banks to stuffed toys) that was Marvel-themed and filled with fun paraphernalia. We saw a bit of the famous Nanjing Road, then in the evening it was back to the Bund to check out that nighttime skyline - definitely not underrated, it was amazing to look at! While we were there the sky slowly got darker with more and more lights across the river coming to life, and as we were walking along, the clock hit 6pm and all the lights of the buildings alongside the road suddenly lit up, with an audible gasp and an "Oooh!" from everyone around us. It really was something - I've attached some pictures, so you can see for yourselves! Stirling High School, what do you know about the Bund already? Do you know what its Chinese name is? How about the Chinese name of the river itself?

The following day in Shanghai was thankfully a lot sunnier, with a blue sky and very few clouds. We planned to visit a park/garden area called Yu Yuan, so after some dumplings for breakfast we walked down alongside the river to reach a lovely public garden area, with people sitting around enjoying the good weather - it was a very hot day, especially considering it was January 6th! We walked through the park and found some small market stalls selling things for tourists, then walked through more of the lovely Old Town area before having the idea to check out one of the skyscrapers - it was a lovely day after all and we didn't know if the clear skies would keep, so why delay seeing such a wonderful cityscape from so high up? We looked up online how to get a boat across the river, but ended up just getting the subway instead to the Financial District (LuJiaZui, in Pudong) where the most impressive buildings are. The tallest skyscraper, the Shanghai Tower, seemed to be closed that day so instead we went to the foot of the Shanghai World Financial Centre, bought our tickets, then took two very long lifts up to the top. We got there at sunset, so we were on the 94th floor to see the last of the sun’s rays settle over the city before fading away, and were on the 100th floor to see all the lights of the buildings around us come to life. I video called my mum from here who was very impressed even at the pixely image, and Jody and I spent a while up there before finally heading back to the ground to get some dinner - my first time having 小笼包 (famous Shanghai ‘xiao long bao’) in a restaurant, very tasty!

The next day brought the return of the cold, rainy weather - nevertheless, this was the day we had planned to go to the Former French Concession area, which is quite a large section of Shanghai which still shows much French influence today. We made it to a street that I had heard was famous for its coffee, and had a nice brunch of coffee and French baking in a lovely wee café. We then carried on walking through the streets in this area, but halfway through this the rain started up again and before long we'd given up and were on the subway back to the hostel, to dry ourselves out and relax for a few hours instead. In the evening we went out for a meal and had dumplings and sushi, then took another walk near the Bund (with it being so close to our accommodation, it was hard to keep ourselves away) before turning in for the night.

The following day was Temple day! We set off after breakfast to have a look around Jing'an Temple and then go inside the Jade Buddha temple, which was a very interesting place.

Then we went to People's Park hoping to see the Marriage Market, which Jody had never heard of but which I was very curious to see for myself. This is where parents of yet-unmarried, adult children come to sit with a sheet of paper advertising their children to potential suitors, stating factors such as age, education, profession, height, and often with a list of qualities that they're looking for in potential matches - such a thing would never fly back home, but is it really that different from online dating if you think about it? I'll let you decide that for yourself! Anyway, we couldn't find it so we spent a while walking around the park instead - we found a group of retired men and women having a social gathering near a pond, with music playing on a traditional instrument and some light dancing. We sat opposite the water from them on a bench and clapped a little when they were done - and then they started to play Jingle Bells! We applauded them after that and waved before we headed off again - if we had more time in the day perhaps we'd have joined in, but there's always next time.

Then in the evening it was dinner at a nearby restaurant, where the waitress was talking to us about what we were doing here in China, and questioning us about what our parents did for work, how our study here was funded, and more - we fared quite well, but the accent difference between people in Tianjin and Shanghai was quite noticeable here, particularly with the way of pronouncing the 'sh' initial as 's' instead (which makes it quite awkward when you try to buy something you think is four yuan, but it turns out they were saying ten instead (with four being 'si' and ten being 'shi'!). After that, it was off to the Bund once more to take some proper photos with the lights all lit up, before heading back to the hostel for the final night there.

With my Shanghai Dragons scarf - I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to represent 上海龙之队!

A late start on Thursday let us pack up all our belongings and check out of the hostel before starting our day, which was the least eventful of our time here - the weather was quite miserable, and with our heavy bags there wasn't much we wanted to see or do. We walked around some department stores near Nanjing Road before heading up the street itself, but by the time we reached People's Park again at the end it was pouring with rain, and all we wanted to do was get on the subway and head to the train station for Jody's train back that night.

With quite a few hours still to kill, we found a nearby Starbucks and shopping mall and then went for some food before it was time for Jody and I to part ways - she went through the ticket check into the Shanghai main station to return home, then it was time for me to head back to the subway, as the first stage of my solo adventures began with a 4am train at a different station across the city. But first, there was something I still had to do… I got the subway to a stop on the other side of the Shanghai river, cycled for half an hour through the night-time streets until I reached the river edge, then found a place to sit across from the Bund. The man I had met on the train on the way to Shanghai recommended that the best thing to do was to have a beer at the river side, so I spent half an hour sitting at the side of the Huangpu river with a Tsingtao, looking across at the golden lit buildings along the Bund with the skyscrapers of that iconic skyline right behind me.

Then it was just a matter of getting the subway to Shanghai South train station, and waiting until the early hours of the morning when it was finally time to board the train to my next destination - Hangzhou!