Zap_Brannigan Posted September 7, 2010 Posted September 7, 2010 I will probably going to Shanghai for a 3 day "vacation". I will be alone mostly. So what to do in Shanghai if one is not that much interested in sightseeing? Since i've heard stories about Chinese restaurants using donkey meat in "chicken fried rice" from a friend, i am scared to eat in China. Will probably eat in foreign restaurants.
Gunner_Mania Posted September 7, 2010 Posted September 7, 2010 Don't take the taxi into the city. Take the Maglev train. that in itself is worth the experience. (I am presuming you are flying to Shanghai Pudong airport). It will take you to the city centre and then you can take the metro from there to wherever you are going. Go to the top of The Oriental Pearl TV Tower. If you are the sort that eats anything that crawls or walks on 4 legs or flies, go to one of the restaurants where they have pot pourri - or something like that, where you will have a hot broth and you can chose from one of the live sea creatures in the fish tank or raw meat to cook in your broth:P
Texy Posted September 7, 2010 Posted September 7, 2010 I will probably going to Shanghai for a 3 day "vacation". I will be alone mostly. So what to do in Shanghai if one is not that much interested in sightseeing? Since i've heard stories about Chinese restaurants using donkey meat in "chicken fried rice" from a friend, i am scared to eat in China. Will probably eat in foreign restaurants. 3 days? vacation? alone? ...........go get a "massage" what you waiting for?
Zap_Brannigan Posted September 7, 2010 Author Posted September 7, 2010 3 days? vacation? alone? ...........go get a "massage" what you waiting for? Are you talking about happy endings? Isnt that a thailand thing. Besides i have a gf and wouldn't cheat on her. Its a business trip for 4 days but i got lots of time in hand and i will be going with a couple of colleagues who are much older than i am and we are not interested in the same things.
yoda Posted September 7, 2010 Posted September 7, 2010 Easy way to spend time in china...get into one of them traffic jams :hehe: Well, you don't want to sight see, not sure why. May be you can visit some of the historical places.
Zap_Brannigan Posted September 7, 2010 Author Posted September 7, 2010 Easy way to spend time in china...get into one of them traffic jams :hehe: Well, you don't want to sight see, not sure why. May be you can visit some of the historical places. I dont like sightseeing esp. buildings. I feel no connection to seeing buildings or cultural monuments, esp. a culture i dont respect. I did find out that there is something called a world expo going on at the moment. Dunno what it is but will check that out. I am going to India just before this, so i wont have to shop for anything in china either.
The Outsider Posted September 8, 2010 Posted September 8, 2010 I dont like sightseeing esp. buildings. I feel no connection to seeing buildings or cultural monuments, esp. a culture i dont respect. I did find out that there is something called a world expo going on at the moment. Dunno what it is but will check that out. I am going to India just before this, so i wont have to shop for anything in china either. http://www.gorp.com/weekend-guide/shanghai-outdoor-w2-guide-cid4314.html usually has some good recommendations.
Gunner_Mania Posted September 8, 2010 Posted September 8, 2010 I dont like sightseeing esp. buildings. I feel no connection to seeing buildings or cultural monuments, esp. a culture i dont respect. I did find out that there is something called a world expo going on at the moment. Dunno what it is but will check that out. I am going to India just before this, so i wont have to shop for anything in china either. Shopping in China was fun. They don't understand English, I dont' know Chinese, but there were so many innovative products, for the first time I saw Yahoo branded hardware. They get their calculators out and type in the price and I used to ask it for half the price. Right outside genuine showrooms of Sony, Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Cartier etc there would be guys selling 'authentic' fakes for throw away prices.
Zap_Brannigan Posted September 8, 2010 Author Posted September 8, 2010 Shopping in China was fun. They don't understand English' date=' I dont' know Chinese, but there were so many innovative products, for the first time I saw Yahoo branded hardware. They get their calculators out and type in the price and I used to ask it for half the price. Right outside genuine showrooms of Sony, Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Cartier etc there would be guys selling 'authentic' fakes for throw away prices.[/quote'] I am gonna get a fake rolex just for the laughs!!
Zap_Brannigan Posted October 19, 2010 Author Posted October 19, 2010 It’s not what you expect after seeing all the movies and news about China emerging. But I guess it is similar with India in that manner but the downtown was beautiful, something India could never touch. The downtown looked even more beautiful at night and bit like Tokyo with electronic advertising on entire buildings. I will try to see if I have some night time pictures from colleagues. I went to the tower on the left. The line to go up and down the elevator was long and chaotic but it was worth it just for the glass floor and the view. I didn’t go to the expo but I went to what they call the circus but it was more like Chinese cirque du soleil. That was brilliant. The music and the atmosphere were great and their final act consists of bikers riding in a sphere thing you have seen in movies, except there were 8 bikers inside the small sphere. Anyway, it’s like china is fighting between the old and the new. Everything looks new but the people are still stuck in the past. You will see a lot of naked bellies, a lot of spitting on the road and no regard for walk signal and lanes but they have the infrastructure down. Even when the walk signal is green, you better watch out while crossing the street. True story – When I was standing in the line to take the elevator to the top floor of the tower, the line was organized in a single line with no supervision, probably because most were non-Chinese. Once I got near to the elevator, the Chinese guard just asked us to crowd near the elevator door and it became a chaotic mess getting in. Similar theme while getting out, everything was fine till a Chinese guard makes it chaotic. In short, although I would never go to Shanghai for a vacation, it was interesting for a couple of days.
EnterTheVoid Posted October 19, 2010 Posted October 19, 2010 ^ The last picture reminded me of 'Sydney Tower' --- Went there waaaaaay back in '97 sometime. Sydney, imho, is the best city in Australia.
Zap_Brannigan Posted October 19, 2010 Author Posted October 19, 2010 Downtown is a mix of old and new. The new, as in the pictures above, is quiet beautiful. But just a few meters away, there will be these really old, dirty buildings. You could see really badly dressed people, with really bad teeth who drive buick and Lexus which sticks out because you dont expect someone like that driving a luxury car. There are lanes on every road, traffic signal in every intersection, yet hardly few follow the rules. The most bizarre street i saw was crowded with thousands of people which employs 6 traffic police just to make people stop walking on the intersection when the vehicles cross. Its too chaotic, kinda like T-nagar when everything, vehicles and humans use all the space, the street and pavements. There are numerous signs and posters on how to be polite with foreigners and general etiquette(probably due to the expo), but you will see a lot of spitting and men not covering their belly. Its almost as if they are saying, we will take your money,your big buildings and and cars but not your etiquette. This is just the inner city. The outer side of the city is as improvised as India but with better infrastructures.
fineleg Posted October 19, 2010 Posted October 19, 2010 Downtown is a mix of old and new. The new, as in the pictures above, is quiet beautiful. But just a few meters away, there will be these really old, dirty buildings. You could see really badly dressed people, with really bad teeth who drive buick and Lexus which sticks out because you dont expect someone like that driving a luxury car. There are lanes on every road, traffic signal in every intersection, yet hardly few follow the rules. The most bizarre street i saw was crowded with thousands of people which employs 6 traffic police just to make people stop walking on the intersection when the vehicles cross. Its too chaotic, kinda like T-nagar when everything, vehicles and humans use all the space, the street and pavements. There are numerous signs and posters on how to be polite with foreigners and general etiquette(probably due to the expo), but you will see a lot of spitting and men not covering their belly. Its almost as if they are saying, we will take your money,your big buildings and and cars but not your etiquette. This is just the inner city. The outer side of the city is as improvised as India but with better infrastructures. Yes sounds like Ranganathan Street, T.Nagar!
EnterTheVoid Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 I did something similar to this last year. They had a section with a glass bottom that protrudes out of the skyscra.pe.r some 100 storeys from the ground. Didn't do it last time but definitely going to this time :) Also, if you can afford it, they can give you a private helicopter ride of the city
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