Shanghai Heat Wave: August 1-9, 2013

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Shanghai was suffering under a record breaking heat wave when we visited at the beginning of August 2013. Temperatures rose as high as 42 celcius every day, so we tried to enjoy Shanghai at night and sleep during the hottest time of day. Despite the heat limiting what we had the stanima to do, Shanghai is my new favourite city. It has all the class of Paris, but without the pretension so it's a much more relaxed and chill city. Sort of like Buenos Aires, only Chinese and a bit like travelling to a city of the future. It's crazy tall skyscrapers and archetecture reminescent of space in Pudong juxtaposes suprisingly well with the colonial French buildings found across the Huangpu River on the Bund. Shanghai has an extensive, modern transit system rivaling anything found outside of Asia, and high speed trains connecting it to the rest of China - they've even built a Mag Lev from Pudong Airport. So getting around is super easy and cheap, but Shanghai is also a very walkable city with many beautiful parks and tree lined streets.

We had some trouble finding our hotel, the Astor House, when we first arrived, mostly because the hotels.ca map we were referring to was incorrect. Luckily I had my Hong Kong University roommate who was from Shanghai write down the hotel name and address for me in Mandarin characters in case we decided to take a cab from the airport, so I was able to show it to some people on the street who pointed us in the right direction. We had decided it would be silly to pay for a cab when the transit system is so good. We were tempted to pay extra to experience the Mag Lev, but it ran along the same route as a regular metro line and didn't even go right into the city so we preferred to avoid the additional cost and transfer. The Mag Lev sure would have saved us a lot of time though.

We were lucky to get a great deal on the Astor House, a beautiful, historic hotel in an amazing location right across the Wusong River (Suzhou Creek) from the Bund. After checking in, we ventured out to find something to eat. It was night time, and after we crossed the Garden Bridge and walked by Huangpu Park the smell of flowers filled the air. After spending a week in Bangkok's concrete jungle, the air of Shanghai, especially as we passed this fragrant park, was a welcome relief. Although it was incredibly hot the whole time we were in Shanghai, the air quality didn't seem too bad and all the tree lined streets and green space made the heat much more bearable than had we been back in Bangkok.

We were so hungry we decided to eat at the first restaurant we came across, Good Fellas (7 Yanan Dong Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu). Still being in the same clothes we travelled from Bangkok in, we hesitated to go in at first because it seemed like a fancy Italian place - and it was, but in a reasonably priced, non-pretentious good way. As we perused the menu outside, we were welcomed in by the waiter so our dress wasn't deemed too important. We had a nice meal with a bottle of wine, and afterwards the owner who had been sitting at another table came up and invited us to a party down the street. He told us the code word to use to get in cheap, and when I hesitated saying I didn't think I'd get in given my attire (yoga pants and running shoes), he assured me it wouldn't be a problem. Maybe foreigners can get away with that sort of thing in Shanghai, because most locals dressed very well, even in blistering heat.

The following day, we started off taking the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel to Pudong, followed by a visit to the Shanghai Municipal History Museum located in the basement of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. I was especially impressed with the Pudong elevated walkway, which not only provides some great views, but also allows people to walk between buildings well out of the way of vehicle traffic. After the museum, we headed over to Morton's Steakhouse in the IFC Mall for a Happy Hour that included half price martinis and free filet mignon sandwiches. When we went to the Shanghai World Financial Center, site of the world's tallest observation deck, hoping to catch the sunset we were informed ticket prices would be half off if we waited until after dark. So that's what we did. Later we headed over to Beedees at 433 Dagu Lu hoping to catch some good live music. We caught the end of the set of a solo acoustic act that was ok, but the bar was pretty empty so we only stuck around for one beer since it was apparent there wasn't going to be any more live music that night. We began walking back towards our hotel, and stumbled upon a live band playing at a street corner, and then another band at a random bar that was packed. We enjoyed it there for a bit, where we heard a rendition of Hotel California of course (because you can't go anywhere in the world without hearing that song) before walking the rest of the way back to our hotel for a late end to the night.

Day Two we slept in and took our time before venturing back out into the heat for a delicious lunch at Islam Restaurant not far from Astor House, then to Zhou Enlai's Former Residence. It wasn't long before we required more air conditioning and refreshment at Boxing Cat Brewery, followed by an exploration of the beautiful Fuxing Park. Next we took the metro to Shanghai Circus World to buy tickets for that night's performance. There wasn't a lot of choices we came across in terms of restaurants in the area, so we settled on a small spot in a strip mall, one of the few restaurants we encountered in Shanghai where the wait staff didn't know any english, and there was no enlish on the menu. Luckily the chef at least knew the word for beer. I pointed to a photo on the wall and they brought out a spicy stew with all sorts of narly pig parts and rice. The circus performance was pretty crazy, I think at least one of the acrobats came close to death when he stumbled juggling fire sticks while balancing on the outside of a giant spinning metal hamster wheel. We finished off the night at Xintiandi.

August 4th was a really clear day for perfect photos of the skyline along the Bund. We walked all the way down to The Cool Docks and entered Kebabs on the Grill hungry and dripping with sweat. While lots of people were out braving the heat on a clear day along the Bund, the Cool Docks district was pretty empty. We enjoyed a great Indian lunch, and later bought tickets for a Huangpu River Dinner Cruise. A storm rolled in and it rained throughout the cruise, but the meal was fabulous and it was a good time. The rain stopped shortly after the cruise ended, and we strolled around Shanghai Old Street and then over to Yu Yin Tang Livehouse, billed as the oldest underground live music venue in Shanghai, for folk night. It was a little wierd to see two young children in a smokey bar with loud live music and a very drunk and belligerent man near the front. But the caretakers of the children, who seemed like they were maybe the children's grandparents from the countryside coming to see a younger relative sing folk songs, didn't seem too concerned so I guess that's normal. We unfortunately didn't get to see a show at Shanghai's other big live music venue, Mao Livehouse. But we did visit the Mao Livehouse in Beijing.

The next day we walked up to 1933 Old Millfun, which used to be Asia's largest slaugherhouse and has now been converted to a quiet spot with boutique cafes and open air bridges. We also checked out Duolun Famous Cultural Person Street and Sichuan Road North, before returning to 1933 for some Happy Hour drink specials at Red Square Restaurant, and then dinner at Noodle Bull. After dinner we went to the roof of the buidling for a dusk view of the surrounding area.

On August 6 we had to switch hotels. We didn't have to be in Qingdao until August 9, and had figured we would probably check out Hangzhou (West Lake, 185 km SW from Shanghai), Suzhou ("Venice of the East", 81 km NW of Shanghai), or maybe even spend a couple days in Nanjing. With the temperatures being reported even hotter in those places than in Shanghai, we decided to just stay put. Besides, we were loving Shanghai so much we wanted to see more, but were being slowed down by the heat. You could only stay out and walk around in it for so long before needing a break, which meant we visited more cafes and bars than usual when we explore a new city, but did a lot less roaming of the streets and visiting outdoor sites. The following are places on my list we never got to despite having 7 full days:

-Jing'an Sculpture Park

-Dajing Ge Pavilion - near Yu Garden, the only surviving portion of Shanghai's Old City Wall

-Jade Buddha Temple

-Shanghai Climb, Lupu Bridge - 907 Luban Lu, peak of the world's second largest arch bridge with viewing platform 110 meters over Huangpu River.

-Xujiahui Park

-Gongqing Forest Park

-Longhua Temple and Revolutionary Martyr Cemetery

-Shanghai Botanical Garden

-Bicycle Tour on Chongming Islands or nearby mountains

After having breakfast in the lovely Astor House Peacock Lounge, we packed our things and took a taxi to Donghu Hotel . We were in Building 7, which wasn't nearly as nice as Astor House, and the pool they had advertised is inside a separate building and you have to buy a swimming cap in order to use it. But Donghu Hotel was in a very nice part of the city, close to lots of good restaurants, bars, and clothing boutiques. After settling in, we went to Jing'an Temple, followed by the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. We enjoyed two for one drinks at YYs, a basement bar decorated with revolutionary posters at 350 Nanchang Lu, and later had a really good dinner at Sichuan Citizen, right across the street from our hotel. At one point, there was a dispute between restaurant staff. A man hit one of the women servers, and after a couple milliseconds of other staff surrounding them in desbelief, the woman hit him right back and stormed off. I love that she hit him back, as for me that sort of symbolizes the spirit of Shanghai. Hopefully she didn't get in trouble for it later.

On August 7 we went to Yu Garden and Yu Yuan Tourist Mart. So beautiful, yet so hot. We went to the Site of the First Congress of the CPC (Chinese Communist Pary), where I think we may have been the only non-Chinese visitors, and some of the exhibits weren't translated into english. Some great photos though. We had lunch at another fancy, yet non-pretentious restaurant, Good Hot Pot in Xintiandi. The service at this place was impeccable. They put all your ingredients into the pot for you, stir it around for you, and then plate it for you, which was good because we really had no idea how the Hot Pot thing was done. This came in very useful later that night when we went to another Hot Pot restaurant, Hot Pot King at Huaihai and Fuxing. This place was much less fancy, and the wait staff pretty much ignored us probably because they couldn't speak english. We eventually managed to order, but then were on our own in terms of cooking the food. We looked around to see what other tables were doing, and boy was it spicy! The beer helped it go down nicely. We had more beers at Shanghai Brewery on Dongping and Hengshen Rds, and listened to some live jazz music at The Cotton Club, right next door to Hot Pot King.

Our last full day in Shanghai we ate again right across the street from the Donghu Hotel at Element Fresh, where we also ended our day with two for one cocktails. Then we went to the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center. It was a long walk but I was determined to find it, and it was worth it. Unfortunately photography was prohibited, but there are some good photos on their website. We went into a cute store called Madame Mao's Dowry at 207 Fumin Lu. I maybe would have bought an apron or something if the prices had been listed. After returning to our hotel to freshen up, we went to the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Walkway and the Bund for sunset. We finished our last night in Shanghai at another amazing yet non-pretentious restaurant, Beyond the Clouds (233 Nanjing Rd.) specializing in Yunnanese food.

The food was certainly a highlight of Shanghai, but one of the things that started to annoy me was how much food Chinese people would order, and then not eat. I think it must be a status thing, look how much food I can pay for but have no interest in eating. Also, all the selfies young women would take of themselves with their phones everywhere. Shanghai has so much going for it, hopefully such vanity and wastefulness won't bring it down.

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