Arrive Tuesday 23 October – Depart Sunday 28 October
Tour Guide: Miki Tours: http://www.mikitours.net
Shanghai the most expensive city in China, only Hong Kong more expensive.
TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER
Arrive at Shanghai Hongqiao rail station at 3.47pm, met by Miki Wei our tour Guide and driven to our Airbnb apartment situated at 368 South Henan Road, Huangpu District.
Arrive at apartment settle in, un-pack, go shopping for bread, milk, eggs to the local Tesco!!
Evening
Walk to M on the Bund restaurant, 7th Floor, Nissan Shipping Building. M on the Bund is an up market classy restaurant, with great views across the river and skyline.
http://m-restaurantgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/July-2018-summer-a-la-carte-menu.pdf
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g308272-d858293-Reviews-M_on_the_Bund-Shanghai.html
After dinner go for a walk along The Bund. The Bund is a mile-long stretch of waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River. On the west side of the Bund are historic buildings of different architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance. On the Eastern side of the river is modern Shanghai with its mass of tall skyscrapers. It’s at night when the Bund really comes alive when all the buildings are lit up.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/bund.htm
WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER
Morning
Good Morning Shanghai’ – Private Bike tour with:
http://www.culture-shock-tours.com/good-morning-shanghai
Start with fresh coffee and delish pastries in the French Concession. Cycle through enchanting streets on beautifully restored, vintage Chinese bicycles. Taste delicious and authentic Shanghainese breakfast from the most popular street vendors. Join the locals in cultural activities in the historic community park and challenge yourself to learn some basic Tai Chi moves! Discover Shanghai’s hidden gems – Art Deco villas from the 1920s. Learn to shop like a local at the traditional, open-air, wet market. Enter the Old Town to discover charming places, people and traditions
Afternoon
Meet Miki Wei our Tour Guide. Have lunch at Fu Chun, 650 Yuyuan Road. Sample the Xiaolongbao (Shanghai style soup dumplings) arguably Shanghai’s most famous dish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ns2Z5KGHHg
Fu Chun offers quick counter service with Xiaolongbao steamer baskets constantly rotating out of the open kitchen. Order a lóng (笼, steamer basket), which usually contains eight glorious dumplings. While it’s steaming ask for an order of ginger (生姜, shēngjiāng). Fill up a dipping dish of vinegar and put the slivers of ginger into the sauce to flavour it.
When the basket of soup dumplings arrives, WAIT! If you bite right into one the soup will squirt out and can leave an unsightly burn on your face. Use your chopsticks to dip the XLB into the ginger-vinegar sauce, then place the dumpling on your soup spoon. This is in case the skin splits – you don’t want to lose any of the precious soup. Gently take a bite out of the top (or the side) and let the steam escape. Then carefully suck out the succulent juice of the xiǎolóngbāo. Cue the swan song and pop the xiǎolóngbāo in your mouth whole, savour and repeat.
Walk to the Propaganda Poster Art Centre on Changning Qu. This is a museum which exhibits posters from the Maoist period of communist China, especially from the Cultural Revolution period.
https://www.chinatravel.com/shanghai-attraction/shanghai-propaganda-poster-art-centre/
Visit the Jewish Ghetto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Ghetto
In the 1840s, Jews who had made fortunes in Iraq came to Shanghai . These were joined at the beginning of the twentieth century by Russian Jews fleeing anti-Semitism.
Between 1937 and 1941, 20,000 European Jews seeking refuge from Nazi Germany joined them. During this period, more Jews found sanctuary in China than in any other country in the world. The area that had once been called “Little Vienna” for its thriving community became known as the Jewish Ghetto and was made the designated place for stateless refugees. Between 1943 and 1945, it was one of the poorest areas of Shanghai.
Walk down Zhoushan Road, formerly known as Chushan Road. This was once the commercial artery of Little Vienna. But after the massive influx of Jews from Germany the lane became famous for the sheer number of Jewish families crammed into each flat. Sometimes housing 30 to a room with bunk beds and curtain dividers, families lived in these circumstances for years until the US liberated Shanghai in 1945.
Walk down the lanes to see the small house now occupied by Chinese families but once inhabited by Jews. The circumstances don’t appear to have improved much for people who still live in these flats. They are subdivided down to each room, with no showers, no running water except in the communal kitchen and honeypots to empty in the morning.
Visit the Jewish Refugee Museum housed in the Ohel Moishe synagogue. In the adjacent Zhoushan Lu you can see residents playing carrom (an old Shanghainese game that’s a cross between snooker and Chinese chess).
Evening
Meet Miki Wei and walk to Shouning Lu, Huagpu Qu – a well-known food street.
https://www.shanghaipathways.com/shouning-road-night-food-market
Shouning Lu is a food street full of outdoor sea food street vendors. The street is most noted for the large vats of fire truck red crayfish stewing outside and the grills filled with bay and sea scallops smouldering under piles of garlic.
Crayfish – can order mild, medium or very spicy so order mild or medium not spicy. You order crayfish by the jin (500 grams). One jin is enough for two people if you are not ordering other dishes.
Be sure there is sweet vinegar on the table not only to cut out a bit of the heat but to add a delicious layer of flavour to the bits of meat you fish out.
Beyond the crayfish, it’s worth trying two different types of scallops: big (suàn róng dàizi) and small (suàn róng shànbèi). Both are grilled directly in their shell with a mound of fried garlic sweetened with a dash of sugar that really brings the flavour out of the scallop. Sup up the extra garlic in your scallop shell with an order of grilled bread and condensed milk (nǎiyóu mántou) or whole grilled eggplant.
A few grilled lotus root skewers (ǒu piàn) and grilled bananas (xiāngjiāo) will round off a full meal. You can also find stalls selling meat (chicken wings/8RMB), lamb skewers , vegetable kebabs.
At the Taiwan Style Tea Shop at number 49 have a refreshing lemon and kumquat drink (16RMB), made with fresh lemon juice, its perfect for washing it all down.
Take a Taxi to the Char Bar, Hotel Indigo, 29-31/F, 585 Zhongshan Dong Er Lu commands stunning views of both sides of the river.
THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER
Meet Miki Wei and travel to Suzhou by car (72 miles). This is a water city west of Shanghai, known for its canals, bridges and classical gardens.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/suzhou.htm
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/lingering.htm
Visit the Lingering Garden, Suzhou. This is one of the four most famous classical gardens in China. First built in 1593 during the Ming Dynasty by a retired official named Xu Tai. Since then changed hands a number of times. In 1930 nearly demolished, then taken over by the government
Visit the Tomb of King He Lu on Tiger Hill, Suzhou.
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bd93hSmAW8
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/tiger_hill.htm
In 496 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC), He Lu, King of the Wu State perished during the war fought against the Yue State.His son buried him on the hill and three days after the funeral a white tiger came and sat upon the grave as though guarding it. From that time on it has been known as Tiger Hill.
Attractions on the hill include: At the summit the 7-storey leaning Cloud Rock Pagoda: the Sword Testing Stone and Sword Pool: Lu Yu Well: Verdant Mountain Villa: and Wanjing Villa
Lunch at Riverside Restaurant Pingjiang Road, Suzhou
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/pingjiang-road.htm
Pingjiang Road is a historical street built in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279).The road runs alongside a gentle river, features arched stone bridges, antique flagstone lanes and white-and-black houses where locals people’s traditional lifestyles are maintained.
Travel to Tongli Water, an ancient water town, built in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279). It is surrounded by five lakes and crisscrossed by canals and 49 bridges the majority of which are a century or more old. It has been given the nickname “Venice of the East”. Go for a Gondola ride on the canal.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/tongli_town.htm
Evening
Dinner – Lanzhou Lamian noodle restaurant. Watch the staff make the famous Lanzhou Lamian (pulled)noodles
https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/shanghai/2012/lanzhou-lamian/
Order hand pulled beef noodles (niú ròu miàn)or Stir Fry tomato and egg knife cut noodles (fānqié chaˇo dàn dāoxiāomiàn). Or try the chopped noodles ( dīngdīng miàn) served in a Chinese sauce that recalls ratatouille, these noodles are cut into inch-long pieces, making for a delicious twist on macaroni that can be eaten with a spoon, for the not-so-chopsticks-inclined
Walk to Peoples Square to watch people dancing.
Visit the Fairmont Peace Hotel, 20 Nanjing East Road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Hotel
This is the former Cathay Hotel opened in 1929, built by landowner and opium trader Victor Sassoon. He lived in the penthouse, housed inside the hotel’s copper roof, which has since turned green with age. It was the place to stay, see, and be seen in old Shanghai. Like so many buildings, it fell into disrepair following the Communist takeover in 1949. It was renovated in 2010 and reopened as the Fairmont Peace Hotel with its original jazz bar, tea lounge; restaurant, shopping arcade, and ballroom were restored to their former glory. Not to be missed is the small but impeccable gallery on the mezzanine level chronicling the hotel’s history.
FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER
Morning
Breakfast – Get a Shandong Jianbing from a street vendor.
Visit Jing’an Buddhist Temple built 780 years ago this is one of the most famous temples in Shanghai.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/jingan-temple.htm
The temple was burnt down in 1972 completely rebuilt and opened again in 1990. Meandering through the temple’s three main halls, one of which has an impressive Buddha statue, you’re overcome with the wafting aroma of incense. Visitors can light a bundle for a few yuan, and throw small change into many of the temples lesser shrines and statues
Visit the Muslim Market, 1328 Changde Lu.
The market is a showcase of culinary delights from the city’s Muslim community as well as other vendors selling traditional jewellery, precious gems and more. The market is great for people watching as this is Shanghai’s biggest regular gathering of Uyghur people. Wide range of stalls with a mouth-watering range of seasonal delicacies. For lunch try a seasoned cumin lamb skewer or lamb kebab (yáng ròu chuàn) and freshly baked Nan bread (náng)
Afternoon
Taxi to Duolon Lu Culture Street
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/duolun-road.htm
This is an outdoor museum of 1920s-style architecture and a monument to the city’s literary history. It was here that the League of Leftist Writers was founded in 1930 and the street was a hub of a movement of revolutionary thought that included Chinese cultural celebrities.
Cars are now banned, making it a fine pedestrian mall of historic homes, bookshops, teahouses, antiques and curio shops selling everything from art to Mao memorabilia.
Life size bronze figures of some of the road’s former patrons are poised at intervals around the beautifully paved road and add some extra historical perspective
At no. 59, find the 1928 Hóngdé Tang Church – The church was built in a Chinese style as the Great Virtue Church. It’s grey-brick interior adorned with pictures of the Stations of the Cross and simple wooden pews; upstairs is a lovely hall with a wooden ceiling.
The League of Left-Wing Writers was established down a side alley on 2 March 1930. Today the three-storey garden house built of bricks and wood serves as a political museum, worth a look for the architecture alone.
See the 59ft (18mtrs) high Xi Shi Bell Tower. It was named after a famous prose of Lu Xun, Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Duck (Zhao Hua Xi Shi). There is an old bronze clock embedded in the marble-laid tower. At the top of the tower, there is a robotic device chiming and telling the history of this Cultural Celebrities Street.
If you need a drink try the Old Film Café (next to Xi Shi Bell Tower) where you can sip coffee while watching old Chinese movies from the 1920s and 1930s
Taxi to Laochangfang, 10 Shajing Road, Hongkou
http://www.lacasapark.com/la/2011/11/the-last-slaughterhouse-on-earth-1933-shanghai/
This this four-story building was built in 1933 in pre-Communist Shanghai to house the Shanghai Municipal Council Slaughterhouse. It was designed by British architects, built by Chinese developers in British concrete. It is an architecturally unique Gotham- art deco building and the last remaining one of its design in the world. Great place to take a ‘arty’ photos and maybe fly the drone
Evening
Private ‘Night Eats Tour’ with:
https://untourfoodtours.com/product/shanghai-night-eats/
SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER
Morning
Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect Market, South Xizang Road, Huangpu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2DZZdnLjXQ
A small market packed with caged kittens, dogs, singing birds, chipmunks, croaking frogs, turtles, noisy crickets, worms, numerous types of insects and stacks of fish tanks.
The noise they make within the tight confines of this fascinating market is quite distinct. In the middle of the day, you might catch some of the male vendors sitting in the middle of the market playing cards. When finished, one of them might try to sell you a frog dyed pink as a pet
Explore ‘Old Shanghai ‘. Old Shanghai is a triangle of land between Xiaonanmen metro station, the Lujiabang fabric market , 399 Lujiabang Rd and the Cool Docks, 653 Waima Rd.
This area is a fascinating slice of old Shanghai that goes largely overlooked and is shrinking by the day as the cranes and bulldozers move in. While development has already eaten into much of the neighbourhood – in some cases leaving a single, solitary old house marooned in a sea of rubble, or a road sign pointing redundantly at a new concrete wall – there’s still an atmospheric core in which to get enjoyably lost.
Winding, weed-choked back alleys, roofless houses, rag picking depots, small wet markets, stray dogs and the sudden, unexpected grandeur of a Catholic church rising up at 185 Dongjiadu Lu make for some great photo opportunities, especially when juxtaposed against the surrounding high-rises of modern Shanghai
Lunch – on the Old City God Temple Snack Street (lǎo chéng huáng miào xiǎo chī jiē). You can find all the local snacks here, including Nanxiang Steamed Stuffed Buns, Crab-Yellow Pastries, Fried Stuffed Buns, Chop Rice Cakes, Vegetable Stuffed Buns, and Cream Spiced Beans.
Visit Yuyuan Garden – this is an extensive classical Chinese garden located beside the City God Temple
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/yuyuan_garden.htm
It is the only surviving Ming Dynasty garden in Shanghai. It has become a city highlight due to its beautiful scenery, characterized by decorated bridges, colourful pagodas and intimate enclaves separated by “dragon walls” — partitions with dragon decorations on top. The magic Exquisite Jade Rock, said to have been one of Song Emperor Huizong’s private collection, is definitely worth seeing
Walk round Yuyuan Market, a lively market that specializes in traditional Chinese arts and crafts
Afternoon
Visit People’s Park to see Shanghai’s marriage market.
http://www.chinatourguide.com/Shanghai/yuyuan_market.html
Every Saturday and Sunday parents and grandparents convene in People’s Park to seek out promising partners for their offspring at Shanghai’s marriage market. Eligible twenty- and thirty-somethings are ‘advertised’ on A4 sheets of paper attached to the gates and potential partners, parents and agents alike peruse the candidates with a view to finding a suitable match. Details are respectfully swapped in the hope of paving the way for a happy and successful union
Walk round Peoples Square
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/peoples-square.htm
This is the geographical centre of Shanghai. People’s Square is an enormous public square in which Shanghai citizens hang out all day, every day. Residents stroll, practice tai chi, fly kites, grandparents sit, drinking tea and gossiping. Come evening, ballroom dancers hold group lessons.
The subway station below people’s square is the intersection of metro lines 1, 2, and 8. It is estimated to be the busiest metro station in China, handling some 700,000 people every day.
People’s Square is home to Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre go to the third floor. See a 6,500 square foot 1 / 500 scale model of Shanghai as Urban Planners expect to see it in 2020.
Evening
Have dinner at The Fellas Italian Restaurant, 7 Yan’an East Road an upmarket Italian with great views across the river and the Skyline. Then take the Ferry across the river and have a walk along the East bank admiring the views. Finish off with a nightcap in Bar Rouge, 7F Bund, 18 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road.
SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER
Morning – driven to Shanghai Pu Dong airport, catch the 12.45pm China Southern Flight (CZ3252) to Guilin arriving at 3.45pm.
Coleman Adventures- North Coast 500 