Day 1 (Sat) - Shanghai Pudong/ Tian Zi Fang/Bing Jiang Da Dao
A whirlwind 4 days in Shanghai. As the city crossed from winter to spring -the weather was somewhat erratic - 27 degree celsius on Sat when we touched down and the temperature dropped to below 10 degree (I suspect the temperature was around 5-7 degree on Sunday)
Ritz Carlton Pudong
The iconic Oriental Pearl Tower - Dong Fang Ming Zhu
Taken from the 52th floor restaurant at Ritz Carlton - the hotel lobby is on 52th floor.
The circular bridge in the town centre of Pudong New District
Tian Zi Fang
Many quaint shops, art galleries, restaurants, pubs....along a few alleys.....it's touristy but is a nice place to visit for tourists and locals alike. Some shops have residents upstairs - laundry (including undies and bras...) can be seen hanging right over our heads as we walked through the alleys. Take the subway to Da Pu Qiao Station.
Shikumen - reminiscence of old Shanghai.
Scent library - interesting - different scents are concocted for cities like Singapore, New York, Tokyo...other concoction like scent of rain etc
Very popular Shanghai bean curd - they serve both sweet and savoury - we tried the savoury one - yummy!
Toilet restaurant
Night view of Pudong New District at Bing Jiang Da Dao - a waterfront promenade in Pudong overlooking Huang Pu River and The Bund on the opposite.
The boat ride from Pudong to Puxi cost only RMB2 (not the boat seen in the pic - that's a tourist boat to tour Huang Pu River, which cost much more of course)
Day 2 (Sunday) - Zhou Zhuang Water Town/Nanjing Rd Pedestrian walkway/The Bund
Zhou Zhuang is 1.5 hour bus ride from Shanghai - located in Suzhou. We took the tour bus from the Shanghai Tour Bus Centre near Shanghai Stadium subway station. RMB155 per person - include return trips plus entrance fee cum tour guide. The guide provided useful info on the history of the town. There were a few trips to ZZ on that Sunday. We took the 9.45am bus and the bus left ZZ around 3pm. Advance booking not necessary but if you arrive in Shanghai earlier, apparently can call to make advance booking and they deliver tickets to your hotel for a small fee. We wanted to go Tong Li - another water town in Suzhou but as there was only one trip that day and was fully booked - we went to ZZ instead. ZZ is more popular -we thought we would go to Tong Li to avoid the week end crowd at ZZ but it turned out ok.
The boat ride along the canal is recommended - RMB100 per boat for max of 6 persons to a boat (about 20 mins). The lady paddler sang us Chinese folk songs - we tipped her.
Double (Twin) Bridge and Zhou Zhuang were made famous by Chinese renowned artist Chen Yi Fei. His paintings on ZZ and the Twin Bridge were exhibited in Manhattan - the beauty of ZZ created a stir and ZZ has since been touted as the No.1 water town in China and the "Venice of China". There are other water towns in Suzhou - Tong Li, Xi Tang, Wu Zhen are quite popular. Zhu Jia Jiao is another water town nearer in Shanghai. All of these places are accessable via the Shanghai Tour Bus Centre.
This is the other "twin" bridge
Opera stage
There are 2 mansions of 2 rich merchants in ZZ - Mansion of rich merchant - Zhang
Mansion of another rich merchant - Shen Wan Shan. Being a shrewd businessman, Shen was wealthier than the emperor, Zhu Yuan Zhang. The emperor approached Shen for funding. Unfortunately, the emperor was jealous of Shen's wealth, framed and banished him.
Master bedroom
"Peeping window" for the young mistress to see her potential husband through the window from upstairs
View from"Peeping window" from the 2nd floor into the living room on ground floor
Zhou Zhuang specialties - the famous pig trotter, shrimps, fish. Shen Wan San served pig trotter to the emperor Zhu when he visited and the emperor liked it very much. It has since become the dish to serve one's VIP guests.
Water tomb of Shen Wan San
Very popular Yang Dumpling "Xiao Yang Shen Jian" - we went to the branch at Huang He Rd -the shop is just opposite to Jia Jia Tang Bao - another very popular joint that serves Xiao Long Pau. We adjourned to Yang Dumpling for takeaway after our dinner at Jia Jia Tang Bao......
Nanjing Road Pedestrian Walkway
Shopping belt - can get your SH titbits and goodies here
The Bund - the icon of Shanghai
You haven't been to SH if you have not been to The Bund....The Bund is best visited at night where the dazzling lit-up historic buildings are just breath taking.
Day 3 (Mon) - Xintiandi /The French Concession /Fu Xing Garden
Historic hotel - Garden Hotel Shanghai
Another historic hotel
Pudong - Near Ritz Carlton - taken from "Circular Bridge"
Day 4 (Tues) - Nan Shi /Yu Garden/Shanghai Old Street/Shanghai History Museum
Nan Shi (South thoroughfare)
The hugely popular Nan Xiang restaurant serving Nan Xiang Xiao Long (dumplings)
Yu Yuan (Yu Garden)
Beautiful Plum flowers
Shanghai Old Street
Shanghai History Museum
At the basement of Oriental Pearl Tower - entrance fee RMB30. It's amazing that I managed to squeeze in a one hour tour round the museum before leaving for the airport.....
