Kingsley in China Day 7

After an event-filled evening in Chengdu (some tour members were now looking a little frayed at the edges due to their diligence in ensuring the educational was a continuing success story…), we caught an early flight from Chengdu to Shanghai.

The group attended a welcome dinner at the Shangri-La Pudong Hotel (more on this fabulous hotel below) after a tour of the city centre of Shanghai.  Highlights included visiting Yu Garden, 5 acres of fully restored classical Chinese Gardens, and Nanjing Road, which has the reputation of being China’s No. 1 street for shopping.

We had a great time walking around Yu Garden, it is actually a grand old Ming dynasty residence and garden combined.  Yu Garden is a photographer’s paradise – if only there weren’t so many people there!! It is a big favourite with the locals as well as the tourists, just like ‘The Rocks’ in Sydney.  Many Chinese couples visit for romantic snaps so Yu Garden has played it’s part in the population boom!

Outside the garden is what can only be called a bazaar, with further crowds (ie an extended version of Circular Quay and the Opera House on a Sunday!) where shops of every description abound.  After wandering around for a while we all met outside the one western landmark in the bazaar – Starbucks!!  On the walk back to our pick-up point near The Bund, there was an uninterrupted flow of street merchants offering us all sorts of watches, pens, attachable shoe roller-balls and more – the bartering was intense!

Nanjing Road is vying to be the equivalent of Oxford Street in London. Here you will find expensive imported goods and accessories and more foreign signage than probably any other area.  A small plaque in the wall of one building identifies the ‘Shanghai No. 1 Department Store’.  It was once China’s largest store and the first to install escalators. Across from this store is the fabulous ‘French Concession’.

After the Opium Wars in the Nineteenth Century, the British developed the ‘Bund’ along the riverfront, and between the Bund and the walls of old Shanghai (Nanjing Road) was the French settlement or ‘concession’.  There is still enough left of it today so that when you first set foot in this area you will understand why Shanghai was once referred to as the ‘Paris’ of Asia.  I’m sure that another well known Paris would have topped the celebrity request list in the 1920’s and 30’s had they been in town…..!  Definitely do not miss this area on your visit to Shanghai.

So, what to make of Shanghai? Well, for starters, apart from the obvious Chinese signage everywhere, I’d say it just doesn’t look Chinese! Admittedly, I have had only the briefest of visits, but it seems to me that the development in Shanghai has been so far-reaching in scope, that the ‘Old China’ can most likely only be found out of town.  When you think about it, this is true of many European cities as well – you don’t ever really find a fully medieval city, but you can find a medieval town or village. (OK I know someone out there is now going to say “Ah!! You haven’t been to …”, but I’m happy to wear it!)

That’s not to say that there are not some hidden gems within the modern city of Shanghai, such as Yu Garden, but do not expect to take many photos in Shanghai that look Chinese!  Though the Chinese themselves view areas like the Bund and the French Concession as permanent reminders of 19^th Century European colonialism, they have now become landmarks in the landscape of modern Shanghai tourism.

There is much to see and experience in Shanghai, and I will leave the listing of all these goodies to the tourist info providers.  Following are my impressions of the city in no particular order, along with info from general moling of both the chinese people in our group and locals we have met:

1. The urban sprawl is unimaginable – building after building. However, there appears to be order to it all, the buildings are all different shapes & sizes, and there is reasonable space between the many high apartment blocks that seem to dispel feelings of overcrowding and congestion.  The best way I can put it is to liken it to a city like Canberra, but on a much larger scale, over a much larger area and with apartment towers, not single houses!
2. The Shanghai Urban Planning Museum has a full scale model of the city which is apparently pretty damn awesome.
3. There are lots of Police, but they do not dominate the landscape.  Many of these are ‘on the beat’ and they can be found stationed at many street corners – they are definitely not there in any sort of threatening way, the focus is on good policing as you would find in any western country.  Funnily enough, the Chinese are happy to wander about any time of the day or night, down dark alleys and along boozy nightspots because they know that someone is always on the beat, something we would love to do in Sydney….!!  If a city of 14 million can be happy about security….
4. That’s not to say there is no crime, you certainly have to watch out for the usual fare – pick pocketing and the like. Usual rules apply – don’t flash the moolah in public spaces etc!  There are some very slick manoeuvers employed such as the inscrutable group snatch where suddenly a group of people are all caught in a ‘mini crush of people’ and two or more people are left with holes in their handbags and shopping bags!!  So no better or worse than many places you have probably visited.
5. There is a golf driving range surrounded by huge high nets and city skyscrapers – just have to do it one day!
6. The whole city is on a flat river delta, ie there are no hills.  Incredibly, before more recent times, a manmade hill in the rock garden at Yu Garden used to be the highest point in town!
7. Shanghai is more about industry and economics and good times, having the largest port in China, for those seeking a more traditional Chinese focus in their city visit, head to Beijing.
8. Shanghai is probably a good picture of how other Chinese cities such as Chengdu will develop in the future.
9. Car horns are used extensively – for all sorts of reasons, most popular being the “I am here” horn to avoid being hit by any other form of moving traffic, closely followed by the “What the #@$% do you want me to do now” horn (for eg now that you have blocked me in totally) and the “General Horn” where its there and the driver feels like using it out of habit or for some other reason.  The unending game in the group was to determine said causes.
10. Streets vary from the more narrow in the older parts of town to the super-wide in the newer areas, however, the same rules apply – er… there are no rules, but traffic lights are generally obeyed.  Staying in lane has not caught on as a concept.  “Spot the gap” and “Pull out in front of moving truck or bus” are very popular moves.
11.  There are parks and gardens around the city but not too many.
12. With a population of over a billion, its hard to believe that only 100,000 pedestrians were killed last year in China.  From what we had experienced, we all thought the figure would be much higher!!  This is the only fear factor we have experienced in China.  Tourists from countries like Australia face a double-whammy, right hand side of the road driving AND people, bikes, carts & cars zig-zagging and ducking and diving all over the place. BE VERY ALERT when crossing a road.
13. Washing is everywhere! Nearly every apartment has some sort of hanging apparatus outside their 20^th story window and/or balcony with items flapping in the breeze.  If a sudden high wind hits town it must literally rain washing on the city!
14. Some roads are almost like the back lanes of European cities – narrow streets, tiny high balconies, powerlines along the buildings, washing out to dry. But these appear to be in an ever-diminishing minority as the new suburbs develop.
15. There are a myriad of flowerboxes (kilometres worth) along the elevated freeways that twist between the buildings in the central part of Shanghai, and there are people everywhere who have a broom to keep a designated part of an area and or road clear of rubbish.  Little things like this do make you realise that you have the contrasts of cheap labour and economic gluttony side-by-side.  There was also some begging, I suspect there may have been more but for the police presence.

The personal disappointments for the group involved all those goodies that had to be left for another time! This included:

1. The Bund, now a symbol of the east and the development of Shanghai with its mult-national architecture (though a number of party moles in the group, er… as in ‘good-time’ moles, did try to relive the 1920’s spirit of the Bund nightlife!)
2. Taking a cruise along the Huangpu River, along which Shanghai originally developed (The river is still at the heart of the new Shanghai today)
3. Zipping up the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (across the river from the Bund), which is the highest TV tower in Asia at over half a kilometre high. This is the ‘Centrepoint Tower’ of Shanghai, with views, shops, restaurants & accommodation. The tower would not look out of place amongst the imaginary spacecraft created for a Science Fiction movie!
4. visiting the Jade Buddha Temple to see the jade statues reputedly brought from Burma.

We did a drive-by of the major attractions but this was really just to tease us into returning another day to Shanghai – which I must add, worked to perfection!!

Pudong Shangri-La Hotel

Those in the industry experience many hotels and resorts with varying degrees of comfort and service.  Once in a while, one comes along that raises the bar.  The Pudong Shangri-La is simply giving us all an amazing experience.

Every comment within the group has been positive, quite amazing given the diversity of people within the group.  Without going to overboard (c’mon, this would be un-australian!!), I have to say that this Shangri-La wins on all counts!

Firstly, the position. It is located along the Huangpu River, with a fabulous view across to The Bund, and is a short walk to both the Oriental Pearl Tower and the ‘Super Brand Mall’, an absolutely huge Westfield type shopping centre with everything from banks to sports goods, fashion, gifts and food.

This is ideal for people who have afternoon / evening flights from Shanghai Airport, and allows them to avoid that ‘wasted time’ feeling when you have to hang around a hotel after check-out.  The hotel is on the right side of the river to start your transfer back to the airport, which means minimum travel time from the city. So (unless you hear a bad weather report) save the tower and shopping centre for a grand farewell!

All the city attractions are just minutes away across the river (it’s a little like living at Milson’s Point in Sydney) and you can reach them by ferry, underground (bus if you are adventurous!!) or a short taxi ride.

Whilst this is all good, it is the hotel itself that is outstanding.  A lot of hotels try and differentiate on all sorts of on-site facilities and add-ons and lose sight of the fact that in many cases it simply comes down to the room and the level of service.  Yes, the Shangri-La has a superb health club and more, but it has excelled where it matters (well, at least to me!)

When a guest arrives, they are taken to their suite personally and every item in the rooms is explained, from opening the automated curtains to operating the TV in the bathroom.  Mirrors are everywhere (The mole often stood and admired his fur…).  The bath and shower are easy to operate and there is even a pad and pencil on the toilet cistern (I could bring up the old joke about the Mathematician but probably best not!).

The room has a big flat screen TV, and there is a great desk and chair next to it, with a fax in the drawer and an internet access point in the wall. One wall is completely glass, floor to ceiling, with stunning views over the city (I am on 24^th Floor).

The winner for me personally is the big big comfy bed.  We are talking major heavenly land of nod experience here, I have never slept as well on any holiday.  I will suffer separation pangs even thinking about leaving it.

The bottom line is that unlike any hotel/motel/resort I have ever stayed in, this room actually makes me feel as comfortable and happy as a joey in its favourite pouch.  Yes, it is a 5 star hotel and you have certain expectations as a result, however this has nailed it where it matters, regardless of rating.

All this said, I love the glassed-in full size pool and the steam room is unbelievable. A couple in our group also opted for a ‘Chi Journey’.  These are treatments based on traditional Asian healing philosophies and cover a wide range of goodies including the 3 hour ‘Traveller’s Retreat’ to overcome jet lag and take away all those aches and pains. The particular industry professional who undertook this one for the team came out as one from a monastery, very keen to sample the delights of the Bund.

One final word, otherwise I’ll turn into a Shang Salesman (which would no doubt delight their Travel Trade Sales Manager!), breakfast is a killer!  The set-up here has to be seen to be believed and I can not recommend this place highly enough- it is worth the dosh to stay here.

Report by Kinglsey Mason in China for TravelMole