Shanghai (China)

We flew out of Singapore around lunchtime on the 6^th of July and, after a stopover in Kuala Lumpur (KL) airport, we arrived in Shanghai at around a quarter to one in the morning. (The flight from KL was freezing, but conveniently AirAsia had plenty of blankets and socks on offer for cold travellers, which you had to pay for, of course.) After our taxi ride from the airport, during which our driver got lost and generously gave us a cheap night-time tour of the Shanghai streets, we eventually reached our hostel (Blue Mountain Bund Youth Hostel) at around 3 am and tucked into our bunks in our 8-bed mixed dorms soon after. Our hostel was comfortable with a funky common room with a snooker table and outdoor terrace (and a foosball table), and the city centre and metro stations were easily accessible. We didn’t do much on our first full day, other than get our bearings in the city, but we did visit the ‘People’s Park’ (basically a large garden in the middle of the city where men gather to play cards and smoke) and take a walk around the main city-centre area. After a (seriously) good sleep on our second night, we visited an area known as The Bund, which is a part of the city beside the Huangpu River that runs through the city. This provided a panoramic viewpoint of the impressive Shanghai skyscrapers.

Street-side fruit stall

On Shanghai itself, just like Singapore, there were people everywhere we turned and it was hard to move around the streets without walking into someone (or a scooter or a bike, both of which also used the footpaths). Shanghai is not really known for its multitude of tourist sites (and there weren’t very many easily-discernible tourists there), but the real attraction of the city lies in its amazing skyline and lively backstreet culture. A walk along these narrow backstreets provided numerous pungent smells (including the very aromatic streetfood) and a cacophony of shouting, scooter beeps, food cooking, and people going about their daily lives.


Backstreet house

Side note: For some funny reason, we (mainly me!) got asked several times to pose for photos with excited-looking Chinese people. Of course, I dually obliged. In a couple of cases, people took pictures of us as we walked by without even asking us, which was even weirder.

Next, on to Beijing…

 

Men playing cards at the People's Park



Shanghai high-speed train station

Old town Shanghai



The Bund