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Shanghai Travel Guide.
Shanghai travel can be incredible. This city is lined with delicious food, fascinating cultural sites and a people filled with hope at growing prosperity. I loved this city despite the fact that it was also one of the most expensive cities I have visited in Asia. There is a great deal of information out there on Shanghai yet when I first made my journey to Shanghai in January 2006, I couldn't find any decent information about Shanghai travel in either the overpriced Guidebooks or the Internet. It seems everyone has a stake in promoting $50USD a night rooms when many can be had for under $20USD. Shanghai is situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China. It is the largest city of the People's Republic of China and the ninth largest in the world. We last did some Shanghai travel in early January 2007 and remained there until the middle of July 2007. It was the middle of the night when the plane landed at Pudong airport. (Shanghai has two airports: Hongqiao domestic and Pudong International). It was cold as hell outside and the reception from the immigration officers was no less frigid.
I started my Shanghai travel by getting in a cab because it was so late at night the train (Maglev) into the city was shut down as well as the underground train system that the Maglev connects to. But having done the trip now 3 times from the airport to the city center, I highly recommend getting on that 430kph Rocket Train. It speeds directly into the city and connects you with Shanghai's vast underground Metro system. You can do Shanghai travel to just about anywhere in the City once you get yourself into the arteries of the underground Metro system. The Maglev (Or Rice Rocket as I like to call it) costs 50RMB ($6USD) one-way and departs from either end every 15 to 20 minutes on an 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. schedule. The cab into the Shanghai city center took about 1.5 hours and cost me nearly $30USD. And that price was apparently controlled by government policies! Compare that with the Maglev at $6USD one-way and a 7 minute and 21 second trip. Shanghai travel at its best! Few cab drivers speak English so if you intend to do some Shanghai travel then have a map and a written address to your destination handy. The driver will want to check it 18-40 times during the long ride. Anyway, once underway we headed for a hostel I had picked out in my 'Budget' Shanghai Travel Guidebook. It is called Captain Hostel and seemed very nice inside until they told me the price. $60USD for a single room and $10USD a night for a bed in a dorm filled with snoring, hacking Chinese (And that's only if you book weeks in advance. When I got there I was told there was no vacancy). I was shocked and only then realized how expensive accommodation was going to be. The other prices at The Captain Hostel go like a menu at the Hilton hotel with Paris as your housemaid.
I got the heck out of there and hiked along to another hostel that I had seen on the taxi ride in. It was a hell of a long walk and got a lot of Shanghai travel done on that first night. My bag was heavy and everyone wanted to have a borrow out of my wallet. (See Travel Scams in China) But it was fantastic in that new city doing some Shanghai travel in the middle of the night. I finally made it to the Mingtown Hiker Youth Hostel. It was a great little place with dorm beds at $6-8USD a night and single rooms for $14-17USD a night. They had wireless internet access in the rooms and it's a 5 minute walk to The Bund on the Yangze river overlooking the Oriental Pearl Tower. Mingtown Hiker Youth HostelNo.450 Middle Jiangxi Road, Shanghai 021, CHINA. Book a room in in advance if you want to be sure to have a place to stay upon your arrival. Book for only a single night in case you feel you might move around but searching for rooms AFTER you have arrived in Shanghai is not recommended. You don't want to be left as I was, searching the city streets for a room in the middle of the night. I wanted to be as close to The Bund during my Shanghai travel adventure. There are many other areas in Shanghai but The Bund really is at the heart of it all. But we all have our preferences as to where to stay in such a large city as Shanghai. Maybe you love the shopping or like to be near a temple or 2.
If this tiny map isn't good enough then Click here for an extremely detailed map of Shanghai. You will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and see this detailed map of Shanghai Travel. You can download the free Adobe Reader here. If you just want to see the map before you do any Shanghai travel, just click on the link. However, if you want to download the Map and print it out to view later, then right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" or "Save File As." Then select where you want to save the file on your hard drive. Once you have saved the file, locate where you saved it, and double click to open. In order to print, open the downloaded Shanghai travel Map, and select the "Print" option from the menu. Here are the nine Districts referred to as the Shanghai city core. learn more about them by clicking the link and decide for yourself where you would like to stay:
Cultural sitesThe Bund is the best place in Shanghai to stay while you do your Shanghai travel. It is where most things are happening and with the Yangze river nearby and the Museums and Shopping on Nanjing road, it is the closest place to Shanghai's best amenities. Also, the Bund is well dotted with Subway access stations and the subway can get you to anywhere in the city. I'll never forget our evening walks along Nanjing road and our strolls along the Riverfront with the famous Oriental Pearl Tower as our backdrop. The highlight of our Shanghai travel. As a museum of ancient Chinese art, Shanghai Museum possesses a collection of 120,000 or so works of art. The collection includes ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy. It is a must see for those interested in ancient Chinese artifacts but like all museums, this place became a blur to me as all the art started to look the same. But it is an impressive collection and I am glad I visited. It is a very short walk from the Bund to The People's Square or 2 stops on the underground Train. Get off at the people's Square stop and you'll be right there. The Museum is located at: NO.201 REN MIN DA DAOSHANGHAI, P.R.C You can get there using one of the following Buses: Admission to the museum is 20 Yuan (2.62USD) but if you want to see the Shanghai Art Gallery and the Shanghai Grand Theater (All in the same place) then admission to all is 50 Yuan(6.56USD) The Shanghai Art Gallery, Theater and Museum are open from 9am to 5pm but they won't let you enter after 4pm. You can call them @ 63723500 (English Speakers Available). This wonderful Buddhist Temple is located on bustling Nanjing Road W., which was once known as Jing'an Temple Road. The Temple is surrounded by towering office buildings and luxurious shopping centers, offering an oasis of tranquility. I saw it on my first morning of Shanghai travel and it was a worthwhile trip especially to see the Jade Buddha, the largest in China. Constructed in 247 AD, it boasts a history of 1,757 years, meaning it was built more than 1,000 years before the official beginning of the city of Shanghai in 1292. Jing'an TempleNo.1686, Nanjing Road W. Shanghai. Admission is just 10 yuan(1.31148 USD) but it's free on the first and the 15th day of each month according to the Lunar Calendar. The Temple is open from 7am to 5pm and you can give them a call @ 6256-6366. Getting there is easy but too far a walk from The Bund. It's easy to find because you can't miss it exiting from any of the exits from the underground Metro station. Get on Metro Line 2 or take bus No.15, 20, 21, 37, 48, 113, 506 or 921. This is the largest and oldest of Shanghai's very few Buddhist monasteries. It is filled with Orange-clad monks pattering about the grounds and Chinese people burning incense in the mornings. It's a little out of the way if you're staying at The Bund but under 20 minutes on the underground Metro. Look for the Cabao Road Metro station and get off there. It's open from 7am to 4pm. The address is: 2853 Longhua RdLonghua Park, ShanghaiTel: +86 (0)21 6456 6085Can you read Chinese? If so then this is the link to the Official Website. But if not, read on and we'll keep everything English. The Jade Buddha Temple is yet another Temple but they are all worth visiting because of the tranquility and the peace in each. But also I found that the journey there was full of opportunities to see and experience other things. I admit that I never stayed more than 40 minutes here out of all the Shanghai travel I did but the place is cool and being that my wife is Buddhist adds an extra element of curiosity for me. The Jade Buddha Temple is near the intersection of Anyuan Lu and Jiangning Lu. You can't miss it for the exterior bright saffron walls. Get there using bus No. 19, 14, 36, 54, 63, 68, 76, 105, 106, 112, 113, 138, 206, 223, 506, 516, 550, 563, 738, 768, 830, 837, 866, 922. It is not as long ride but I took a cab and am glad I had a map because the taxi driver hadn't a clue (Or maybe he was just playing me). The admission fee is Yuan 15 (1.96721 USD) and you'll find it open from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Let's take a walk down Nanjing Road so you can do some Shanghai travel of your own: Living in Shanghai can be quite easy as long as you can get a decent job. And jobs are everywhere but unfortunately the wages are very poor. Teaching English is an easy choice with such abundance of schools to choose from.
It gets pretty cold in the winter months and it snowed while I was there. Travel Shanghai for long enough and you'll experience all four seasons, with freezing temperatures during the winter season and a 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) average high during the hottest months of July and August. Temperatures extremes of -10C (14F) and +41C (105F) are not uncommon so just a reminder but definitely not a prompt to load your suitcases with warm cloths. I recommend taking nothing but the clothes on your back because you can buy anything in Shanghai including slightly flawed original name brand clothes for a third of the price you'd pay back home. No matter where you're from! ShoppingXiangyang clothing and souvenir market: This market is THE place for finding everything from art to clothing to golf clubs. Most of what you'll find are high quality copies or flawed name-brands. The day after a landed in Shanghai I went through this market and bought pretty much everything I needed but soon became tired of bartering. The shopkeepers really do attempt to get every penny they can. It's as if they figure they've won the lottery the minute the rich foreigner enters their shop. T-shirts can start at $30USD and eventually coming down to $3USD. Most items were double what they eventually accepted from us so barter here or else the market will quickly become the most expensive place you've ever shopped. The market is located opposite the Xiangyang Park along Huai Hai Zhong Road. The nearest metro station is called the Shanxi Nan Road Stop. Check out one of the fresh produce markets in this video: Links to websites of interestCheck out this site for goings on in Shanghai including pub and restaurant reviews in Shanghai. A great place to find work in Shanghai. Shanghai classified ads for work, accommodation and personals. More than 1000 classified ads for accommodation in Shanghai. Cheap Airfares Leaving Shanghai This site has some of the best prices on airfare but it is all in Chinese. Use babelfish.altavista.com to translate and then be sure that your final price includes all taxes. Most of these online Air Ticket websites lower the price to generate interest and then hit you with taxes that are out of this world. They have a branch in the Jinguo Hotel at 439 North Caoxi Road, Shanghai. English is spoken here. Another cheap air ticket site worth looking at. Book rooms and flights all around China. Written in English, the prices are decent but much higher than those on Chinese written Websites. The largest online air travel website in China. Comparable to Expedia in the U.S. Leave Shanghai Travel and Learn of the Travels scams you'll get in China.
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