As promised, here is the long awaited Shanghai trip blog post! Yes, I went on this trip roughly a month ago… Yes, I am severely behind on blog posts. Some things never change.
From September 13th to 16th, during the mid-autumn festival long weekend, I headed on my first trip of this exchange to Shanghai, China. It was a journey. If you know me, you know I am a somewhat obsessive trip planner. In Europe, I planned things down to the hour on excel spreadsheets including transit time which I had planned with Google Maps. You get the idea… As I’ve mentioned, I’m trying that whole “trust the process” thing, so when I hopped on this trip with nothing particularly planned, I was not feeling too hot. Both literally and physically (my 6:00 AM burger king whopper was creating a bit of a party in my tummy). Thankfully, I have some great friends who knew what they wanted to see and the trip was a success. Let’s get down to the recap.
September 13th
Rise and shine baby! I was up at 5:30 AM to get to the airport for our 8:00 AM flight. Since our passports were with the police station as we had just handed in our temporary residence applications, we were travelling with a flimsy sheet of paper that essentially said “you can travel with this within Mainland China, even if you don’t have a passport”. I believe that’s what it said, but it was mostly in mandarin.
Luckily, we made it through without any questions. Again, I think we made it through without any questions, but Chelsea did most the talking since she was the only one who knew more than two words of Chinese.
And if you were wondering the person who knows two words of Chinese is me and they happen to be “Wo jiao Mira” which is “I am Mira” in English. Is it time to add fluency in mandarin to my Linkedin?
Here’s a photo of the crew on our way to Shanghai! Left to right row 1: Chiara, Deep, Me. Row 2: Chelsea, Spencer. I was able to have a nice sleep on the way over, but was awoken in the end to watch Deep get absolutely crushed in Mine Sweeper by Chiara. I’m glad I woke up for it. We chose an AirBnB strategically located by a metro stop so we could quickly transit around Shanghai. However, our plan was stunted by the fact the card machine for the metro stopped working directly after I had paid for my card. Luckily, Chelsea was able to call the company and they were able to help us get cards. I’m not sure what I’d do without Chelsea, but what I do know is I’d be 20 yuan poorer
We got to our Airbnb just before 1 PM. Let me tell you about our Airbnb. This Airbnb truly showcased what living in Shanghai can look like and was both humbling and very surprising.
This was in a five story building that was quite weathered. Each floor had a hall with a communal kitchen. To give you an idea, here’s what the hall of our floor looked like:
The Airbnb posting made it look like a pretty large, spacious place. In fact, we thought we had got quite the steal. We learned the hard way that we had skimmed over the fact the upper floor of the house was 1.3 metres in height. MTV Catfished, if you’re still on air, I think we found your next contestant. Here are some photos of the place:
We then headed out to get a bite to eat of traditional Shanghainese food. Chelsea took us to this restaurant where we ate Xia Long Bao, which are a type of dumpling.
I learned that there is a right way to eat Xia Long Bao, and it’s not what you’d think. As I was taught by Chelsea, I will now teach you, my readers.
They are served like so:
There is also usually a dish with garlic and a dish you can fill with vinegar.
1. 1. Grab the dumpling by the top of it, as Chelsea is doing in the photo
2. 2. Dip your dumpling in vinegar. While this step is optional, you’re missing out if you don’t.
3. 3. Place your dumpling in your spoon. (This is one of the few times I’ve used a spoon in China!)
4. 4. Place garlic on your dumpling.
5. 5. Bite off the “tip”
6. 6. Slurp up the soup that is inside the dumpling. Feel it warm both your body and soul.
7. 7. Enjoy the rest of your dumpling! Savour it. You’ll be thinking of this dumpling for a long time after this meal.
Next we walked around the financial district and visited the Bund. I’ve always said I prefer things that are “made beautiful by nature” (waterfalls, mountains, etc.) than those that are “made by man” such as sky scrapers. It’s a reason that I’ve never particular had an itch to visit New York. But, I was swayed to think otherwise while looking at the skyscrapers of Shanghai.
We then walked through Yuyuan Old Street and Malls and crossed Jiuqui bridge. While none of us are huge shoppers, it was great to see the architecture and such a beautiful part of the city. We then headed back to the Bund to see it light up at night. The Bund was crazy busy. Imagine the streets of Vancouver during the Festival of Lights, and then times that by 100. Turns out, it is a very popular place to visit during the mid-autumn festival with your family. I’m not going to lie, when we got there we were slightly disappointed. It wasn’t very “lit up”. Just as we were about to turn around, it all turned on. It was awe-inspiring. Watching the buildings light up was an experience I had never experienced before, with videos playing on the side of them and patterns flashing. This was truly a sight to see.
To end the night, we headed to Nanjing Road. On the way, Chelsea and Deep stopped to get some famous bubble tea and I ran into something I hadn’t seen yet. Cheese bubble tea. Yes, you read that right. It’s actually more common than I thought here, essentially the top layer of the bubble tea is a cheese whip of sorts. While it sounds revolting, it tastes like the cream cheese on top of a cinnamon bun and is surprisingly delicious.
Since travelchinaguide.com can probably tell you more than I can, Nanjing Road is “China’s premier shopping street, the 5.5-km-long (3.4-mile-long) Nanjing Road, starts at the Bund in the east and ends in the west at the junction of Jing’an Temple and West Yan’an Street. Today it is a must-see metropolitan destination attracting thousands of fashion-seeking shoppers from all over the world”. The best part? The M&M World of course.
Did I intend on purchasing M&M’s when Deep suggested going in? No. Did I cave into the wall of multicoloured and special edition M&M’s? Absolutely.
That wraps up our first day in Shanghai.
September 14th
We started this day with a trip to Qiboa, Shanghai. Once again, travelguidechina.com has my back on the history behind this place:
“As the only ancient town forming part of greater Shanghai, with a history spanning over one thousand years, Qibao is more than just a living fossil of ancient Chinese conurbation and urban planning. The town was built in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126) and grew into a prosperous business center during Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911). Qibao Ancient Town is the Chinese for ‘seven treasures’ and there are two popular theories about its derivation. The more reliable one says that the name originates from the Qibao Temple, famed for its good reputation. It was this that contributed to the growth of business and culture of the previously unknown town. The other theory seems more popular among the local people who tell folk tales about seven treasures. These were an iron Buddha made in Ming Dynasty, a bronze bell also dating from the Ming Dynasty but said to have mysteriously appeared from nowhere, a Gold Script Lotus Sutra written by an imperial concubine of the 10th century, a one-thousand-year-old Chinese catalpa tree, a jade axe, a gold cockerel and a pair of jade chopsticks. Actually of these seven treasures, the existence of only first four can be verified while only the Scripture and the bell have survived to this day.”
We walked through the town, walking through the shops, crossing the canals, and ultimately taking in the beauty. Chelsea and I even tried the street food!
We next headed to TANK Shanghai, an art exhibit, to check out their light show. Unfortunately, they weren’t showing that exhibit this weekend and we headed to find food close by. Deep and I both unsuccessfully chose restaurants that were closed – the perils of travelling during national holidays I suppose. We did however end up in the “expat district” of Shanghai where we stopped for some Western Food. I didn’t realize how much I missed garlic bread until I devoured two pieces and lasagna.
During this dinner, Spencer took us through fun trivia he made about China. He tested us on everything from the kilometers of road in China, to waterways, demographics, and even what our names are in Chinese characters! Spencer, if you’re reading this, I really appreciated you putting the time into making that. On another hand, I lost – very badly.
To end our night, we headed to the 84th floor of the Hyatt and enjoyed drinks from what felt like the top of the word. Surprisingly, the place was more or less dead! While our student budget outfits made us stick out like sore thumbs, we enjoyed the evening.
September 15th
Having such busy days earlier, we had a more relaxed day on the 15th. We visited the Yu Gardens and the City God Temple. Here’s what travelchinaguide.com has to say about both:
“Yu Garden, aka Yuyuan Garden, Yu Yuan in Chinese, is a classical garden ranking among the must-see attractions in Shanghai. It dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was owned by a government officer named Pan Yunduan. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan’s parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age.
Old City God Temple enjoys a high status in Shanghai, with an old saying: one who fails to reach the temple never reaches Shanghai. City God Temple was built to protect the safety of the people in the city, and the gods are regarded as patron saints in Taoism.”
The gardens were truly a sight to see. It turns out they are actually closed from September 19th – October 31st, which meant we timed this visit perfectly! It was hard to balance taking it in, while wanting to take a photo of everything I saw. It was interesting to see such a beautiful temple nestled into such a tourism heavy centre. Deep prayed to the prosperity gods, I decided to take it in. The incense reminded me of home at my Dhadi’s.
Deep and I headed to a Mcdonald’s quickly to book a few things for our upcoming trip to Thailand, which was quickly approaching. We then headed to the People’s Square. On our way there we ran into a Tim Hortons! They really leaned into the Canadian branding. In fact, their workers uniforms included red plaid shirts and all the door handles were hockey sticks! If that’s not enough to make you chuckle, the latte’s have maple leafs on them. It felt like Barney Stinson from HIMYM had crafted this exact Tim Hortons just to make fun of Robin.
After walking around the People’s Square, we said our goodbyes to Spencer, Chiara and Deep who left back for Shenzhen. Since Chelsea and I don’t have any class on Monday’s we headed to our hostel.
After grabbing a bite, we got the most interesting desert I’ve had yet in China. It was this jelly mango bowl concoction. I’m drooling just typing about it. If anyone knows where I can find this in Vancouver, please let me know.
September 16th
Thanks to one of the Labatt Employee’s I met this summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Anheuser-Busch APAC office while in Shanghai. On my tour I was able to learn more about AB InBev’s APAC operations, and how they differ from what I was used to in North America. It was really interesting and most definitely piqued my interest in working in Asia. It was a really great experience and I’m grateful for both the employee that connected me to the APAC office and the one who gave me the tour!
When I got back from the tour, Chelsea and I headed out to go to Tongli. Getting there was a journey, I was lucky to have Chelsea with me. Aside from planning the entire thing (thank you Chelsea!), she also had my back on the fact I had no cash, and directed us there pretty flawlessly despite it being an hour and a half and 2 train rides away from the city centre. Here’s the scoop on Tongli:
Originally named Futu (meaning a rich land), Tongli is an age-old but very well preserved water town with a history of more than 1,000 years. Located on the eastern shore of Taihu Lake, just 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Suzhou City, the town is 24 square miles (63 square kilometers) in area and has a population of over 33 thousand. True to its reputation, Tongli water town is a really wonderful travel destination where you can spend a marvelous holiday or experience traditional Chinese culture.
Tongli was one of my favourite parts of our trip to Shanghai. It was filled with culture and history. Each site we visited taught me something new, and the city itself felt like I had travelled back to time but was still living in current day. While everything was dated and traditional, it had all the comforts of a modern Chiense society. The food in the area was absolutely delicious (as is all Chinese food). If that’s not enough to convince you that Tongli was worth the visit, check out this cute dog we saw!
We left with some wontons in our tummy and headed directly for the airport. That was Shanghai! A solid trip if I do say so myself, with some very solid company.
