You have dreamt of visiting the most modern of all China, ChineNanjing.com propose you a tour with pictures.
If you come directly from the airport of Pudong Shanghai or the central train station, you should visit the old District first. During the morning, the district is made of ancient alleys (some of them are quite narrow), in which a smell of Tofu and BBQ float in the air...This old district of Shanghai is centred on the Wenmiao Temple. A temple dedicated to the famous Confucius. Get in and look at the way the Chinese people prey by waving sticks. Many golden sculptures take place in the different rooms of the temple, it is necessary to see this place.
There is a numerous shops for tourists in these streets, the prices are corrects and I advice you to negotiate a little in order to get a better price. The negotiation is a habit in China when you want to buy, so you can also try to make best. The gift I advice you to bring back to home is a Chinese seal. For three dollars, a skilled salesperson will curve you a seal with you name translated into a Chinese pronunciation. Written with Chinese characters, it's really typical and exotic to post a letter with your own royal red seal!!
After eating some « ChaoTofu » one of the famous Shanghai foods, you can lunch in a « food centre ». Around a place filled with tables, there are many small shops with different dishes (noodles, dumplings, rice, ice creams...). You can choose many different dishes and bring it to the tables and lunch. You can think it is very casual and not special, but you wrong because the atmosphere in a food centre is amazing eat there and you will understand.
Now it is time to visit« Renmin Guangchang » (People’s Square), take a taxi and it will bring you there. Near to the plaza, there is a little garden where you can take a rest by looking at the skyscrapers of the centre of Shanghai surrounding this little place. There is even a little church built in the middle of brand new buildings.
Shanghai is known in all China for being interesting shopping place: yes, it is true all the Chinese like to make shopping there because the choice here is unbelievable. There are shopping malls for luxury articles , for young people, for people looking for fashion articles...In front of Shanghai People’s Square, Raffles City is a seven-stories shopping mall where you can buy international brands articles.
A other big center is in front of Nanjing Road, « Empirium » (in Chinese, they call it"the New World"). It's a more ordinary center but since some years it has lost a part of its customers because of the rising the Nanjing Road (NanjingDongLu) of Shanghai.
This enormous road stretches from the People’s Square to the riverside. It is one of the biggest shopping streets of all China. During the New Year events, the street is crowded with close to a million Chinese people.
In the two sides of the Nanjing Road, restaurants and various shops mall take place, where the brands of the world compete in order to been seen. Sometimes, the same brand has two or three shops in the road... For the rich people, luxury articles are selling here: gold watches, gems, necklaces. Therefore, you have understood that all kind of visitor can find something interesting because the choice is nearly infinite.
The entire road is filled with billboards and huge tv screens, a really lively place in this City of Shanghai: a kind of Chinese "Times Square". In the middle of this street, you can take a picture with the big notice "南京路步行街" Nanjing Road Pedestrian Road (NanjingDongLu BuXingJie).
Go ahead, and you will see in the background, the other riverbank with the tallest building of Shanghai close to numerous skyscrapers. In Nanjing Road, you can also buy the T-shirt with Shanghai - 上海 printed in the front. For five dollars, you can bring back a rather cool gift.
Making shopping among the crowd, has certainly makes you tired so come close to the riverside, I am sure that breathing some fresh air will be a big relief for you!
Now, you are at the end of Nanjing Road and in front of you the river of Shanghai its boats and in the background the Television Tower.
In front of this part of the city, there is the Pudong Island (District of Shanghai where the Pudong Airport is built.)
The landscape is wonderful and you can take pictures of the skyscrapers and especially of the television tower. From there all the buildings seem to be really next from each other.
The air of the riverside and a little breeze here is really comfortable.
Here many tourists like to stay and watch the numerous tourist boats that go along the river.
Walk along the riverside toward the South and you will see some Europeans buildings that are a part of the Shanghai history.
Here you can make a pause and buy some tasty BBQ with an ice cream and a Bud'. By walking a little, you remark that this riverside got numerous huge billboards like the "HBSC" one. So huge, that you can see it from far on the other side of the river. At its bottom, a small countdown shows you Shanghai have been chosen for the 2010 Universal exhibition.
Then, it is time to choose: The ferry that crosses the river and brings you to television tower district, or a tourist boat that makes a ride for a hundred yuans.
The ferry is a link between the centre of Shanghai and the Pudong district, you can buy a ticket for 3yuans and you will arrive at 500m of the famous Shanghai's Pearl of Orient Tower. In the boat, enjoy the amazing point of view, to be on the river between two illuminated and animated riversides.
Arrived in this new district of Shanghai, the landscape is amazing: there are skyscrapers everywhere and they do not look too close from each other...Among these high-rises, a golden building has transformed its windows into a big television, another is so high that the fog hides its upper levels, but the most visible is the television tower. International symbol of the city of Shanghai, its name is The Orient Pearl (东方明珠, Dongfangmingzhu).With is spherical architecture the tower can call claim the title of one of the biggest tower in the world.
The tower is illuminated with lamp animations, different colours and a lights play attracts the tourists’ eyes on the television tower.For the ferry station to the tower, a city bus brings you for only one Yuan, and it also make a ride around the buildings so you can see all the surroundings.Buy a ticket and you can go inside the big red Pearl and enjoy Shanghai from a quite high place. So wonderful!
For the tired ones, the metro station is just in front of the Shanghai Orient Pearl Tower so you can go back to your hotel or find a place to eat near the train station.From here, the view on the other side looks like in the pictures there:
The city and its boats its buildings: everything is part of splendid scenery where the different colors lights spots oriented towards the shy reinforce the idea of Shanghai as a leisure destination.
A very special hotel, which shows two glass-made globes with a world map on it, takes place here. The shape of China is painted in red and in the centre of the big globe, which convoys the impression of China to be in the middle of the world: The Empire of the Middle 中国.
If you want to dance or party after this Shanghai tour, the nightclubs and bars district is located in the south of the People Square. Take the metro and it's three station after Nanjing Road.
Shanghai is a big city; there are many hotels, but where are the best ones?
Tip from ChineNanjing.com: Next to the south entrance of the train station, some hotels brands got many affordable hotels: 10 € (or 15$). The service is also very correct and the rooms are clean and also comfortable.
Chine Nanjing.com wishes you "Enjoy your trip! »
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