Blogs from Huangpu, Shanghai, China, Asia - page 4

Hi Everyone, I want to tell you about my two-day visit to Shanghai. Whenever Shanghai is mentioned in Beijing it always seems to be with a sort of reverence, almost like some families relate to the rebellious offspring who has become a great success. Thank God for Wikipedia since not many of us know the details given here: Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and with over 17.8 million people. (Beijing is a paltry 11.7 million.) It is a major financial centre and the busiest container port in the world. Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River on the East China Sea, roughly equidistant from Beijing and Hong Kong. "Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th ... read more

The last day of the Spring Festival is marked by the Lantern Festival (gotta love a country that has a festival within a festival). In Shanghai, the Lantern Festival epicentre is Yu Garden (a wonderful tourist trap that is a must see while in Shanghai), where, thanks to their wonderful sponsor Pepsi, massive lantern sculptures are on display across the garden and surrounding buildings. A couple of friends and I decided to shell out our ¥80 ($13 - go big or go home), and join the crushing crowds to see the sculptures. I have to say, it was pretty cool. Each sculpture showed a different Chinese story (my friend Mingming identified a few, but my brain was in photo-mode so nothing was retained), they were very intricate and thanks to modern technology had moving parts, lasers, ... read more

Shanghai!!! After a succesful hail down of a taxi in the morning (we haven't been to succesful in the past...) we managed to get to the train station in Qufu well ahead of time. As train journeys go it was a boring dozy 5 hours. Luckily the train conductor came to tell us to get off the train as I'd miscalculated an hour (would have shot straight past Shanghai otherwise). Although we weren't in the bullet train (a chance we're sorry we've missed but hey) we still managed to travel around 250km/ph which is a personal land speed record. After dumping our stuff in the hostel we headed out to find some form of food as the cook was on spring festival holidays in the hostel and most restaurants were closed in the vicinity (it was ... read more

Good morning and Merry Christmas! This morning we said goodbye to our villa and our hosts (including the resort owner and Mr. Chen and Mr. Na who have been with us since Beijing) and climbed back onto the bus to head to Shanghai. At least traffic is a lot better today on Christmas.The trip that took us 4 hours into Zhangjiagang several days ago should now take about 90 minutes back into Shanghai. Shanghai is a bustling city similar to Beijing but more modern and Westernized. The pollution here is also quite bad as witnessed from the window of our 53rd floor hotel room. We arrived in the afternoon and decided we had time to do one thing today and chose to visit the Yu Yuen Gardens and Baazar. This is a famous spot for shopping ... read more

Once referred to as the Paris of the orient, Shanghai is a city that offers history, culture, modernity and sophistication all rolled into one. On the tip of the east coast of China, Shanghaihas been a strategic shipping port since the 18thcentury. Shanghai was an interesting place to visit. Having been to the ultra modern, hip, Hong Kong, super cool Tokyoand bustling Mumbai, I was unsure about what to expect here. Shanghai is most known for its futuristic skyline and iconic Pearl Tower. I am sure it is one of the most photographed skylines in the world. Like most cities, different districts reflect different periods of culture that helped shaped the city. The French concession is an old area of the town surrounded by tree lined streets, boutique shops and European architecture. A sought after residential ... read more