Shanghai

The end of the trip – the metropolis of Shanghai. People say it’s like no other Chinese city, and it certainly had a more European feel in many ways – not least the hundreds of coffee shops everywhere – but it is still undeniably China, with electric scooters running amok, nobody standing politely in a queue for anything, and so on.

I did a lot of walking and not many main sights, having decided I’d seen enough temples and pagodas and what-not earlier on. I did do the Shanghai History Museum on arrival day, which was great; well laid-out and interesting, and QUIET, so it was possible to browse the exhibits and read all the information without jostling for space with other people. In the evening of day 1 I caught up with the two girls who had been our key organisers for the Asian Games, one of whom is studying in Shanghai and the other who was down for the weekend, and we ate fried dumplings and saw the lights on the Bund.

Day 2 dawned beautifully sunny and bright, so I took advantage of the weather to go up the Shanghai Tower. It’s China’s tallest building and the third tallest in the world, and also has the world’s highest observation deck at 562m or 118 stories. The views were superb. On the advice of friends I paid for the full package which took you to the 126th floor to see the building’s damper and the huge jade sculpture which sits atop the damper, which they’ve used to make a sort of music and light show. It was pretty cool.

Modern art was the theme for the rest of the day – a poke around the M50 contemporary art area, where a bunch of artists have colonised a former industrial area and put in galleries, and then on to the Jing’an Sculpture Park. There was a free concert in the park I hung out at for a little bit too. I had a bit of a food nightmare in the evening; Googling night markets suggested there would be one near my hotel, but when I arrived, it was non-existent and I spent half an hour wandering around until I found somewhere which would serve me some food. Apart from that, it was a good day.

The last day was, as last days can be, a little aimless. I went to the French Concession, the old colonial area where the French used to run their businesses, and did some last-minute shopping. I wanted to go to the arts and crafts museum, but it was closed for lunch when I arrived, so I had another wander until I managed to find a mall and a restaurant for something to eat.

Then it was generally more wandering up to Fuxing (French) Park and on to the modern, flashy Xiantiandi area, where I’d hoped to find some food but it was way too posh and Western. So the trip finished back in the Yu Garden area where I’d been on the first evening to graze on random snacks, and then to the hotel for a last beer on the rooftop.

By this point my payment app, Alipay, had decided I’d spent too much and declined to let me pay for the beer (luckily normal card payment came to the rescue). The holiday was clearly ended.

Practicalities:

• Shanghai’s metro is the best way of getting around although stations are not always close to sights, and there will still be a lot of walking
• You need a passport to buy a ticket for the Shanghai Tower. I just rocked up and walked straight in – queues were developing later, however I couldn’t work out how to book online
• If you see a branch of Yang’s Fried Dumplings stop and eat there