This trip we are en-route in Shanghai for a few days, a vast city we’ve not visited before. Depending on who one asks Shanghai’s population is 25 to 30 million. That’s a lot. London’s population is nine million. Obtaining a visa to visit anywhere in China is onerous, necessitating a personal visit to the Chinese Embassy in London or Manchester – unless one only wishes to visit for a few days when no visa is required at all, one just needs to show a confirmed onward flight within 72 hours of arrival when one presents at Immigration. Remarkable. Of course, when we presented we hadn’t completed all the right forms and our Immigration officers also sternly wanted to see our individual names on our outbound travel schedules, which we’d printed-off at home so no problem. Then we were ordered to follow another officer who told us to ‘wait here’ whilst she walked off with our passports. She was gone ten nervous minutes whilst she did goodness knows what with them. We were thankfully given them back by another uniformed official and ushered towards the baggage reclaim hall where our bags were some of the last on the belt. With two trolleys of bags we headed to Customs expecting to be challenged again but we only had to put them through an x-ray machine and we were out of the vast sparkling-new huge Shanghai airport building to be met by our driver, ‘you can call me Phil’.
I thought Hong Kong airport was big but Shanghai airport really is enormous. The airport is busy but because it’s so big it doesn’t feel so, unlike Heathrow, or actually, any other airport I’ve ever visited. The queues are small because the number of officials waiting to process you are so many. Unfriendly, curt but efficient, we were soon waved out and are on our way. Welcome to China, we don’t think.
Phil’s car is brand new, electric and air-conditioned, welcome because it’s 29 degrees at 9am. It’s an unknown-to-me Chinese make, an executive MPV and we quickly load our luggage and we’re on our way, about an hour to our hotel, Phil tells us. He speaks very good English and quietly points out landmarks in the distance as we drive on pristine smooth roads and flyovers. We see the third tallest building in the world whose top is in the clouds today, the twisted Shanghai Tower. Whilst the car doesn’t actually drive itself it pretty much does everything else with radar navigation, head-up display, two large dashboard screens, mysterious warning pings, leather everywhere, etc.
We arrive at our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, and are quickly checked-in but our room isn’t likely to be ready until 1pm. We’re very tired and with nothing to do but wait we sit in the coffee lounge with a bottomless pot of tea for two. We’re lucky, a room on the 19th floor comes available for us within an hour. Phil warned us and we quickly confirmed neither of our phones nor indeed any of our technology works. I felt a little silly not having better-researched visiting Shanghai with a Google and Apple phone. Even though my Apple laptop connects to the hotel wifi and seems to send email nothing else seems to connect. My VPN software which I was depending on also can’t connect. The Great (fire)Wall of China beats me. We agree to pay Vodafone and O2 roaming charges to get connected but still nothing works. The hotel provides free wifi but our devices report ‘limited connection’. You can say that again. Still nothing works. I know cash and credit card payments are unusual in Shanghai and I’ve set up Alipay on my phone to pay for everything like a local but without a connection I expect trouble ahead. We sleep.
We’re understandably weary but a little walk to stretch our legs will do us good as will a beer and a glass or two of wine, we think. We find we’re located on a very large smart pedestrianised shopping street that is very busy indeed. It’s now dusk, all the shop lights are on, thousands of shoppers are out and about and it’s very atmospheric. We will look properly in the morning and duck into a bar with two large TVs, one showing highlights of last week’s Manchester City v Arsenal game, the other an Australian rugby league match between Melbourne and Sydney. Our hostess speaks English and I ask to pay for our drinks before she pours them in case I cannot later. Amazingly, Alipay works first time.
We have seven jet lag hours to quickly acclimatise whilst we explore a small part of this vast city but we get to breakfast in good time, a normal international buffet and I’m keen to try some of the unusual local dishes. I find nothing but the not-unusual noodle bar to my taste so I’ll stick to eggs tomorrow.
After a post-breakfast jet lag nap we venture out onto Nanjing Road, the pedestrianised shopping street of last evening. Crowded with shoppers and tourists again we enjoy the stroll and pop into a crowded food superstore where we recognise about half of what’s for sale but notice how many assistants are behind the counters. A little further on we come across a red double-decker sightseeing bus and we buy two tickets and get on. We’re handed the usual cheap earpieces through which multi-language commentary is given but we find it so boringly narrated and difficult to understand that we both give up after ten minutes. The 90-minute route is interesting enough and we’re taken along the famous Huangpu riverside, called ‘the Bund’, from where one has the best views of Shanghai’s main business district including the huge Shanghai Tower and the unique Oriental Pearl TV tower.
“The Bund is perhaps Shanghai’s most iconic sight and the city’s most famous mile. A symbol of colonial Shanghai, the Bund is lined with legation buildings, banks and hotels in a typical early 19th century architectural style, not dissimilar to the structures seen along the Thames in London or the Seine in Paris”, says the guide.
We’re ready for something to eat and decide to treat ourselves to afternoon tea in one of the iconic Bund hotels. Very lovely savoury and sweet treats, mini-grand piano and string quartet as well as a choice of four different teas served in silver tea pots. We are very much appreciating Shanghai’s colonial past.
We walk back along Nanjing Road to our sports bar where we’re welcomed back like old friends.
Click the link below for some photos.
Wish you were here.
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