Finally in Asia…
In January I got famous Asian place as my next destination. It was not my first flight to Asia, but it was definitely the first flight to China – Shanghai. The city stands at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which flows into the East China Sea. With a population of about 24 million, they are ranked the largest city in the world in terms of the population. Today Shanghai tries to be sustainable development city – for a cleaner environment, more colorful sky, cleaner water, greener surroundings and more harmonious society. I didn’t expect that much, because of the people’s stories about China, but the city positively surprised me. Why? I will explain more in my story around city.
Night flight departure, 00.50. I waited in front of my E-gate and thought about an eight and a half hours long flight to Shanghai. I slept four hours before my flight, but I still felt it’s going to be a long journey. Estimated arrival in Shanghai at 3.30 pm, which means local time (Dubai time) at 11.30 am. For the first time I felt a strong jet lag (the slightest difference in time zones). The flight was actually great, but the time difference left a mark on my body. How did I notice this? Even though I was up all night, I felt quite fresh after landing and I was ready to explore the city.
January and Shanghai. If you assumed winter was here, you were absolutely right. The weather could be easily compared with Slovenian one (not with the coast one). Or even with European. There is no wonder I felt the cold when I walked through the hotel door. The temperature was around zero. Since I was the first in the hotel lobby, I waited for the others. In the end, only two came – both fairly new to the Emirates. Because we didn’t have time this afternoon, we decided to go to the nearest market. The hotel is actually located out of the city, so it takes an hour to get to the city centre of Shanghai. We took hotel shuttle bus and cold ride began.
1. Chinese Ya Tai Xinjang Market was open until evening, so we had hours to explore this space. To be sure, this is not an outdoor market. All the stalls and shops are indoors, near to the metro station. The locals were enticing us with special prices and discounts. Bargaining is a must with every purchase of a product. It is necessary to start with at least 10-30% lower price than set by the seller. Victoriya, the girl from my joining data, was more than excited about all fake products. The result of her shopping: two pairs of “FILA” shoes, winter hat and gloves, phone case, coat and “LV” handbag. Mohammed bought one pair of tennis shoes. And me? I do not swear on well-known brands, so I am not attracted to fake ones as well. I bought a phone case with tropical patterns (today it is the same as the day I bought it). Maybe I’ll change my mind about Chinese products.
After two hours of shopping, it was time to head back to our Crowne Plaza Shanghai Pudong Hotel. By metro. And I was leading. Is this even important? For the first time in my life I missed the metro station, so our journey back to the hotel took an hour and a half (instead of 45 minutes). Tired of the flight, shopping, and long journey back, we had a quick dinner at the Hotel. And after that we went straight to our hotel rooms. Agreed to meet each other at eight in the morning we closed our doors and jumped into a deep sleep. At least I thought that was the case.
I got up at seven in the morning, got dressed and received a message from Mohammed that he is not coming. Victoriya didn’t come for breakfast either, so I decided to go to the city alone. Winter morning was showing his teeth, but I was prepared for a cold day. I walked to the nearest metro station (Hangjin road) and went to downtown.
2. My first point was Nanjing Road. The 6 km long street is Shanghai’s main shopping street. We can find all kinds of consumer goods on this street. From Chinese souvenirs, jewelry, boutiques to big shopping malls. In the evening, we can enjoy our time at nearby cinemas, restaurants or pubs. If this street is a shopping street during the day, it turns into a nightlife at the night. As an interesting thing – I can mention that Nanjing Road is the longest shopping street in the world, attracting around one million people every day.
3. While walking down Nanjing Road, I stopped at People’s square. City buildings, concert hall, theatre and the Shanghai Museum can be seen here. I didn’t have time to visit museum. Maybe next time.
4. I stayed on that street for about an hour. Long Nanjing street led me to a 113 km long Huangpu River running through Shanghai. The riverfront is called The Bund and is a very popular tourist destination. The ever-vibrant part of the city offers a view of the modern city, where most of Asia’s tallest buildings stand. Here I got a picture of the Shanghai skyline with towers like Oriental pearl tower, Shanghai Tower, Jin Mao, Convention Center. Natural idyllic comparison between the modern and colonial silhouette of the city. It is also a great place to take a boat tour from river cruise terminal.
5. Time passed fast, so I quickly moved on. On the way to Yu Gardens I stopped in the French Quarter of Xintiandi. Similar to Nanjing Road, this area is primarily for shopping with a touch of old city vibe.
Yu Gardens were the last point of my day. The gardens from 1559, also known as the Gardens of Fortune, covering an area of more than 20000 square meters. After walking through the gardens, I came across Camille, an American girl who was accepted into the Semester at Sea study abroad program. That means she spent six months in the spring semester of 2019 on board of the World Odyssey ship. Her next destination was Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We got into a conversation and spent rest of the day together.
6. We walked from the Outer Garden to the Spring Hall and the newer and smaller Inner Garden. This is an idyllic combination of water surfaces, pavilions, greens and stone bridges. Artistically landscaped lush vegetation rounds out the painting. Along the way, we read the curiosity that a King Ming wanted to create a peaceful garden for his parents to spend their senior years. Time with Camille passed too fast. I would still love to talk to her and share the crazy adventures we experienced over all those months. But it was time to leave. We said goodbye to each other and wished all the best on our next trips.
7. Before I went back to our Hotel, I had Xiao Long Bao – soup dumpling. The stuffing itself consists of ground beef, ginger and wine. They are all wrapped in dough and served with soup. I’m really not a person who enjoys experimenting with food, but the soup dumpling was surprisingly good. Some day I will treat myself with one again.
After a nice drive back to the hotel, I made a bucket list – what else to do in Shanghai. There are only three things on it:
– Disneyland (I actually want to visit every Disneyland in the world)
– The Maglev train, which is the fastest train in the world
– Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is the sixth tallest TV and radio tower in the world
With the desire for new adventures, I fell asleep and woke up right at Wake-up call. What does that mean? My day in the city was more than excellent and I learned a lot about Chinese history. Ready for the flight, I looked around the room for the last time, closed the door and took the elevator to the hotel lobby.
