Land of the Dragon: Shanghai - Winter Break Stop 1

So after some initial debacles I was finally able to acquire a plane ticket to Shanghai and my train tickets from a travel agent in Beijing. I decided to scale down my winter travel stops because of a cold I caught during the last week of school so I only went to Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an and Haerbin.

Chinese Air Travel

I began my trip on a quick 2hr plane to Shanghai, which should have been relaxing and easy... but in China nothing is ever relaxing, or easy. It turns out someone decided the best place for the Shijiazhuang Airport was an hour outside of the city, and seeing as my plane was leaving at 10 i had to be up bright and early enough to hail and cab, get out there, and figure out how to check in. It wasn't very different from American air travel except I may have been only one of about 4 people who had been on a plane before. Which was quite frustrating.

Mingtown Etour International Youth Hostel

I'd give this hostel about a 4/5 stars. The location was perfect, the hostel itself was beautiful, but the staff weren't very helpful. Not that they were mean they just didn't seem to care that you were a customer or if your experience was pleasant or not.

Peoples Avenue

I stumbled upon this gem my first night in Shanghai. Its underneath the people's park and it's a shoppers paradise. They had a whole bunch of nice clothes stores as well as some anime themed stores, electronics stores, and the general Chinese nic-nacs that you see being sold in Beijing a lot. They were also selling these ridiculous phone covers, which I actually saw a few girls with the next day on the subway.

Shanghai Museum

Easily one of the top 3 museums I've been to in China. The building itself is architecturally really unique (like most of Shanghai) and the exhibit's were well lit, organized, and labeled. I had read online the the bronze exhibit was really neat and it did not let down for sure. The collection of currency and the seal gallery were also pretty impressive. My single favorite collection had to be the tibetan masks on the top floor in the cultural minority arts gallery.

The Bund

My main priority on my second afternoon was to locate the Bund. Obviously I had missed the minor detail that my hostel was actually located right next to the Bund... but it was really awesome to wander around and check out the different types of shops on the streets and take in the unique environment.

Pudong District

This was by far one of my favorite areas to just hang out in. The Pearl TV Tower is kind of obnoxious to look at but I found the rest of the Pudong district to be pretty cool. My favorite building by far is the Shanghai World Financial Center Building (the bottle opener). Plus it was only 2 subway stops away from my hostel :P

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium

Because where else would I be after being landlocked for 6 months? Pricey, but worth it.

Shanghai Subway

SO MUCH BETTER THAN BEIJING

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center

I didn't really have high hopes for this one but after vising I would say it's a must visit for anyone going to Shanghai. The model of the city blew me away and the short 360degree video on the future skyline of Shanghai is the best I've seen so far in China.

Shanghai Art Museum

It took me forever to find the entrance to this place and it ended up being a complete disappointment. They were WAY overstaffed and the staff were all talking and overall being disruptive. The collections were only so-so.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower: Shanghai History Museum

Probably my favorite museum in China. It was very well organized and really took you into old Shanghai. It was relatively cheap and didn't have hardly any traffic. Its in the basement of the Pearl TV Tower.

The Quest for the new SD card

In my infinite wisdom to buy a tablet computer and not lug around my big laptop for my winter trip I failed to realize I would not be able to clear out my camera's SD card every night... I got about 3 days in before I had to start searching for a new card, and everyone I talked to had no clue where I would find one or how much I should pay. Luckily one of my Chinese roommates was a regular visitor to Shanghai and pointed me in the right direction. Thanks to her I now know where the Shanghai version of the Shiz's Taihe is, and it is AWESOME. I ended up paying 90kuai for a new 8GB SDHC card.