Zheng's Comments

Suggestion to Friends' Shanghai Trip

I usually take my friends by a route I called �highlights of Shanghai�. The route is good according to their feedbacks. However, the route does need some stamina and local knowledge. Anyway, most of the places are not too far away.

Start from people�s square at early morning. Before 7:30AM you can see a lot of local people doing exercises on the square. Because the people�s square is a key traffic interchange, you can see a lot of people during rush hour. That�s a part of the life in Shanghai.

Than you can go to Shanghai museum, one of the best museums of ancient China in the world. You can spend at least half day in the museum.

Depart from people�s square; you can go to old Chinese town for lunch. It is about 1.5km to 2km to the old Chinese town. You can buy a lot of Chinese souvenirs there and do not forget to bargain. Nearly everything can be bargained. There are several good restaurants in the old Chinese town. The most famous one is �Lubolang�. U.S. president Clinton and a lot of other diplomats and celebrities had dinner there. In front of Lubolang, there is a famous ancient Chinese garden called �Yuyuan garden�. You can take a visit for 0.5 to 1 hour after enjoyed your lunch.

You can experience the noisy, happy and tranquil (inside the Yuyuan garden) China in the old Chinese town. Then we can go to Pudong.

Take a ferry at �Shiliupu� (Pier 16 in Chinese), the closest ferry station to the old Chinese town. It is about 1 km from the old Chinese town. The ferry is a wonderful place both for the scenery and for the local lifestyle. It is recommended to take ferry around 4:00PM, just a little bit before the rush hour. You can see a lot of people, bikes, scooters, motorcycles on the ferry. And you can see people selling hot food on the ferry, like five spices egg, dried tofu, corn, etc. It is really nice to have one spicy egg in cold weather. You can enjoy the scenery of the Huangpu river.

About 15 minutes, you can reach Pudong. Out of the ferry station, you can see the new Pudong in front of your eyes. You can either hire a cab or walk to the center of Lujiazui. It is about 1.5~2km from the ferry to the center of Lujiazui.

Now it is dinner time. There are a lot of restaurants in Lujiazui. You can go to Jinmao Tower (the highest building in Shanghai) for a buffet dinner or to the restaurant in the Oriental Pearl Tower. From these two restaurants, you can enjoy the Birdseye view of the city. And you can enjoy the views at the same time having your dinner. It is not necessary to go up of these places if it is not clear.

After dinner, all the lights are on. You can walk along the bund of Pudong for a while then go underground to take metro line 2 (in the direction of people�s square). Just one stop, you will reach Puxi. Go out of the station, you are on Nanjing road, the pedestrian shopping street. People, so many people, that might be your first impression after you come out of the station. It is highly recommended to go along Nanjing road in the direction of Pudong (Oriental Pearl Tower is your landmark), 10 minutes walk you are on the bund. The bund at night is a must for Shanghai trip.

Then you can take a taxi or use metro line again. It is better to use metro lines because you won�t be ripped off. Take metro line 2 and transfer to metro line 1 at people�s square. At stop South Huangpi Road of line 1, you can reach Xin Tiandi, there are a lot pubs, clubs there and you can enjoy your night life. Or you can stop at Hengshan Road station of line 1, come out of the station, you are in the old French concession and there are plenty of pubs and restaurants there. Enjoy the rest of day there.

I call this route �the highlights of Shanghai day trip�. If you don�t have much time, the route might be suitable for you. The route is rated high by my friends� feedback.

BTW, it is highly recommended to have one �Shanghai Public Transportation Card�. You can get in the metro line stations. It is a prepaid contact-less smart card. You pay 30 yuan for the deposit of the card itself and you can recharge at most of the metro stations and convenient shops around the city. The card can be used on 99% of the public transportation vehicles, like the cab, metro, bus, ferry, etc. I am proud of the project. Actually, I was one of the team members who designed the chip of the contact-less smart card. Anyone want to recruit me? J

Posted by Zheng at 2005-03-11 14:23:48. More

Suggestion to Friends' Shanghai Trip

I usually take my friends by the following route, however the route does need some knowledge of Shanghai and Chinese characters.
Start from the people's square in the early morning , the best way to there is taking metro line 1 or 2.
You can spend at least half day in Shanghai museum.
Walk from people's square to Yuyuan garden (Shanghai old Chinese town) via Xin Tiandi （You can have your lunch in Xin Tiandi or somewhere in old Chinese town). A good Chinese resturant in Yuyuan is called Lu Bo Lang, President Cliton has visited and had dinner there.
After you enjoyed noisy, happy, tranquil(inside the Yuyuan garden) China, started from there to the ferry accross the Huangpu river. The closest ferry to old Chinese town has relocated to about 1km from the Yuyuan garden. It is called Shiliu pu(Pier 16 in Chinese) ferry station. From there, you can take a ferry accross the Huangpu river. The best time from my perspectives is around 4:30PM, just a little bit before the rush hour. At this time, you can see the ordinary people in Shanghai. You can see people selling five spices eggs on the ferry. You can have one, of cource. It's really nice to have one hot egg in cold weather. So many people, bikes, motorbikes, etc. You can enjoy the scenery of both sides of Huangpu river.
Now you reach Pudong. Out of the ferry station, you can see the Lujiazui in front of you. You can catch a taxi cab to the center of Lujiazui or just walk if you want. It's about 2km from the ferry to the center of Lujiazui. Time for dinner. There are a lot of places to eat around the center of Lujiazui. You can go to Jinmao tower for a buffet dinner and enjoy the night views of the city. Or you can eat at Oriental pearl tower restaurant or somewhere else. It is suggested to go to these two places for birdeye view of the city but not obliged to.
After dinner, the light on both sides of the Huangpu river are on. You can walk along the bund at Pudong, then go underground to catch the metro line 2 to the direction of people's square. One stop, you will arrive at Nanjing road. This is a walking street with a lot of shops. It is highly recommended to walk back to the bund on Puxi.
From there, you can catch a taxi or go underground to catch the metro line 2 then transfer to line 1. At South Huangpi road stop of metro line 1, you can go to Xintiandi for night clubs and pubs, at Hengshan road stop of metro line 1, you can go to a lot of good pubs. Spend a good time in the pubs. And you are finishing a day trip of Shanghai highlights. It is recommended to have a Shanghai Traffic Card. All the transportation fees can be paid by that prepaid contact-less smartcard. I was a member of the design team for that chip inside the card. :))

Posted by Zheng at 2005-03-11 13:51:43. More

Thanks for your Comments

Hi, Jianshuo:

I have browsed your weblog for a long time. It gives me a lot information I needed. I found that you moved to a new house in Pudong and it has a beautiful garden. I am wondering where it is and how much per square meter for that apartment? Since the real estate is going crazy in Shanghai, it is more and more hard to find a good place. I bought an apartment in HongKou district in the year 2000 and cost me 570,000 RMB for 146 square meters. It is a good deal from today's perspective. After we got our daughter, my parents in law moved in and help us to raise the child. The apartment becomes a little bit smaller (the residents number is from 2 to 5). I'd like to find some apartments of 170 to 200 square meters. It is better to be "Fushi". Besides, I pretty much like a garden like you have right now. Can you give me some more information on what I needed?

BTW, I don't bother travel a little bit far as long as the infrastructure is OK for car.

Thank you!

Zheng

Posted by Zheng at 2004-10-11 15:14:23. More