Camoflauge as a Local Tourist in Shanghai

Trying to master the art of sleeping while seated with one eye closed at Shanghai Pudong Airport was not easy. One arm on the bag and a comfy seat in a dark corner of the airport at 3am in the morning where all my excitement after flying became a sleep deprive grumpy mindset. By 7am in the morning, the Meglev opened and I could finally head into the city proper.

The Shanghai Meglev which is a high speed train running on levitation technology base on magnets to make the whole train floats while moving forward. The ride was amazing espescially when the train does tight curve at 300km/hr where even sitting inside one can fill the curverture tilt to compensate the g-forces. As fun and cheap a thrill the Meglev was only a short 10 minute ride.

Meglev Pudong Airport Station

First Train in the Morning - Meglev Pudong Airport Shanghai

Naturally I was in Shanghai downtown way too early in the morning. Took the long way and decided to walk all the way to the hostel instead of taking the metro a few more stops. I guess I underestimated the map. A few stops is a really really far away but in a way I stumble upon the local Shanghai day to day life of wet markets and local routine.

Morning Walk just slightly outside Downtown Shanghai

Shanghai would be expensive most warn me but like KL, just a turn away and the local still need to live so its reasonably priced if one knows the layout. First bowl of noodles cost about RMB 25 (SGD 5) and so forth. Drop my bags off at the Hostel and I had 6 hours to burn before check in.

Naturally I hit the town for a walk while sleep deprived. Shanghai was really easy. Most places of interest is on google maps and hostels dont really give much more advantage. People in hostel are reserved mostly with many mainland locals here in Shanghai long term for temp work.

Locals Dance Practice at People's Park - Shanghai

Locals Dance Practice at Peoples Park - Shanghai

The Marriage Market at People's Park - Shanghai

Saw the famous Shanghai bund, then round back again the next day to see it at night, checked out People’s park and stumble upon the marriage market and while I was very courious, and got scolded for taking a picture up close. 

But then, how was I to know what the writing was about without using google len’s to translate. Later after some research on the web, I finally understand the notority of the place. Old folks writing up their kids biodata trying to find a match for marriage. In this day and age especially in downtown Shanghai it was definately a interesting sight and culture to witness.

Nanjing Pedestrian Street - Shanghai

Nanjing Pedestrian Street - Shanghai

The Shanghai Museum was closed unfortunately but the Shanghai History Museum which is a old historic Race Course building was open. Their collection was quite small and revolves around the people of Shanghai’s history and cultural development. In a way it was interesting yet not captivating even for someone like me that is of chinese heritage.

I spend most of my time in Shanghai just wandering around the streets getting lost. Google map and some other blogs on general things to do in Shanghai was my main source of information of what to explore. Not the best opening experience to a travel but Shanghai while dazzling can be lonely. 

I hit the Yuyuan Old town, Jade Buddha Temple, Jing’an Temple and Nanjing Pedestrian Street. I didin think too much about it and just thought to have a walk. I kept trying to find a land marker for the G318 which is the famous route from Shanghai to Tibet but no obvious tourist marker was found.

Yuyuan Old Town - Shanghai 

Jade Buddha Temple - Shanghai 

At one point I started hopping onto public busses without knowing where the bus will take me. Drop in 2 Yuan and no question was asked where I was going. Once I feel there was an interesting street to explore, I would just hop off and take a walk and repeat again by hopping onto another bus. Eventualy I ended up much in the outer fringe of downtown but was not that hard to hop back to the metro network.

Shanghai supprisingly did not cost me a bomb in term of expenditure. I avoided the observation deck or any attraction that require a ticket and just wandered around using all the local transport including the ferry to cross the bund which cost only RMB2. 

Local Ferry across the Bund - Shanghai

View of Shanghai from the Ferry Crossing

Random Bus, Random Street - Shanghai

Random Bus brought me to this eating place in Shanghai

There was a expensive tourist cruise option but I managed to find the public ferry. There was absolutely no challage at all to explore Shanghai, communication with people was also almost non-existance. For a city of 23 million people, it can be lonely visiting alone.

Traveled on: Nov 2023