Plan to go there later this month with some mates to visit a mate of ours who lives and work there. He obviously knows the city fairly well, but mostly from a more (how to put this) flash and corporate point of view I reckon. Trendy rooftop cocktail bars and such. Not my cuppa, and that goes for the whole sickening mix of political dictatorship and "free" hyper capitalism more commonly known as "modern China". But I am still looking forward to experience it all by myself. Any trip advice, especially considering nightlife and such would be much appreciated!
First bit of advice: Go with an open mind, you might want to dial back on some of the judgements you've already made about China, or that's all you see.
I lived in Shanghai for 3 years, although left in 2010 so my tips might be a bit out of date, but here goes.
General: Taxis are the best way to get around most of the time (maybe not during rush hour of if you're staying on the "Pudong" side of the river- in which case the metro is pretty easy to use). No taxi drivers will speak english, the best way to get around is to have a local phone (or SIM card) and use a service called "Guanxi". Your mate will no doubt know about it, but basically you text the name of the place you're going to, and get a response with the address written in Chinese. Assuming the driver can read (90%+ will be able to, and they can always ask a passerby) you're there. There's probably an app to do this now, but make sure you have some way of getting those characters on a screen.
There are some really good listings magazines written for expats, that yes, cover the trendy cocktail bars / wanker nightclubs in Shanghai, but also the underground side of life. I'd recommend Time Out Shanghai as the pick of the bunch. Most (if not all) of them are free, and can be found wherever foreigners (i.e. you) gather- coffee shops, expat restaurants.
If you're looking for the underground scene- any bars listing live punk / rock nights are an excellent start. There is a good alternative rock scene in China, with plenty of touring bands going to Shanghai every weekend. On the electronic side, look in the listings for anything on at Shelter (bunker style club, goes till 6am most nights), events run by the Void crew (underground techno types), Bananas (probably long gone, but amazing party music), Heatwolves (hip-hop) or in a bar on Xingfu Lu.
N.B If you're looking for the "real" China when you're out, you might get pissed off at how many white faces you see in bars / clubs. Bear in mind that the Chinese don't really have a big bar culture (they do most of their drinking in restaurants) so most places have to attract a mixed crowd to stay viable. The alternative are the Chinese style nightclubs where each group has a minimum spend (£200 would be on the low end) to sit at a table, and play dice games all night while listening to souless techno. Feel free to check that scene out, I guarantee you'll only do it once.
During the day, I recommend all of the usual tourist stuff (it really is an incredible city, hard to go wrong doing a typical "Tourist top 10" of Nanjing Lu, People's Square, the Pearl Tower, ferry across the river, Yu Gardens etc. etc.) and also for something a bit off the beaten path- walk to the area north of the Suzhou creek to see old neighbourhoods that have (so far) escaped the new developments.
Without doubt, the thing I miss most about SH is the food. It's not the usual Chinese stuff you're used to - every piece of meat will have a bone attached for a start- but it's amazing. Things I recommend you should eat:
* Soup dumplings "Xiao Long Bao"- amazing, your mate will probably have their own favourite place to buy them * Fried Noodles from a street vendor * Late night kebabs from the Xinjiang / funny looking guys on the street (recently turned out they'd been selling rat meat for years, so it's possible it's actually lamb now). These guys also sell weed, just saying. * Peking duck - or as they call it there, Beijing Roast Duck. If you get a good place, the skin comes separately and melts on your tongue. * If you're stuck in a Chinese restaurant and you are despearately trying to make sure there will be something you can eat, then these dishes are standard everywhere and almost everyone likes them: Yu Xiang Qie Ze (fish flavoured aubergine), Scrambled egg with tomato, green beans with pork, "Hui guo rou" (twice cooked pork / back to the pot pork).
It's generally a safe city, the main dangers are:
* Rip-off merchants around People's Square / Nanjing East (anyone who comes up and tries to speak english to you here is selling something, e.g. a 90 quid tea ceremony) * Daytime taxi drivers that are not driving around when you find them, but just pulled up next to major tourist sites. They'll try and not put the meter on then charge whatever they think you can spare. * Having so much fun you never want to come home
OFF HAND
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Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:19 pm
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Thanks a million, mate! Really appreciate this. Top notch response and advice. Cheers!
