Yes, Shanghai…One of the biggest and most lovable city in China. It blends ancient world and modern world into one single place.
Mission: Explore Shanghai
It is interesting and honestly quite challenging to explore this mega city using Google Maps! Firstly you need a VPN to visit China. China gov has blocked most of the outsider roaming data service. Secondly, Google Map itself. Nobody using Google Map in China except tourist like me, maybe.
Way to Hotel
I can easily spot on direction to my hotel from Pudong International Airport, nothing much obstacle. I just order a taxi and everything is smooth. I reached the hotel and welcomed warmly by a robot, yes a robot! and it will deliver your order to your room, if you call a hotel room service. I didn’t want a hotel food so I use Google Map to search the surroundings for restaurants looking for local culinary experience. And this is my first meal in Shanghai.
I never had this kind of noodle before. It is a white and wide noodles so fresh and unique.
Going to the Mall
The roads are big, not much traffic. So many bicycle, privately owned and also rented one, and it has its own lane so you can cycle safely and worry free. And MRT service also good, some looks like old but still in good shape. I can dodge myself easily using Google Map to find nearest MRT station, but it takes quite a walk, it is the scale of the city. Now I understand why so many bicycles. Another thing to mention is cashless, I saw an office canteen on busy time there are so many people but not much queue, everything is quick and cashless. Good work! And my last impression is a grey sky, air pollution is a serious matters dude. So tired, a big dinner is a must, a tender lamb meat and cold Chinese beer, we call it a day.
Nanjing Road and The Bund
A must visit place when you are in Shanghai is Nanjing road and The Bund. Nanjing road is open space, friendly walk for passerby, stretched from East Nanjing road to West Nanjing road up to The Bund on the edge of Huangpu river. Around the area, the buildings are like French or maybe some European style buildings this is where 2 worlds Eastern and Western, ancient and modern world blends into one. You can have a sight-seeing and enjoy the atmosphere by walking along the road. And if you want to spend some dimes, there so many expensive and high end boutique along the streets. This is Manhattan of the China yet also Paris of the East.
A mango ice will redeem your tiring day!
Starbucks Reserve Roastery
Another location nearby Nanjing road is Starbucks Reserve Roastery. It’s so exciting, one of the biggest Starbucks in the world, the architecture of the building is also fascinating. If you are a tea or coffee lover you have to visit this place. Yes tea, they have so many collections of tea too. This is like Charlie’s chocolate factory, yet this is all about coffee. You can see coffee roast and grinding here, then it runs on conveyor belt for packing and delivery. They also sell coffee utensils like cups, mugs, tumbler and merchandises. And not to forget is to treat yourself a cup of coffee with some cookies. They have distinguished coffee menu that only served in Reserve Roastery, you cannot find it in ordinary Starbucks coffee shop. So don’t waste it!
Tianzi Fang
This is a narrow alley street where you can find a lot of souvenirs and crafts to bring back home. The area is located within residential French concession area in Shanghai. I was a little in trouble to find such a place, I wasn’t sure, I keep looking at Google Map but it shows the place it is. But where? So I asked the locals and they appointed me the way to an apartment and there it is. So unexpected, the area doesn’t look so attractive from outside and never expect this is a tourist spot. It feels original, it feels traditional, it feels like getting back to the past. But at the end it is worth it! This is like finding an ancient gem in such modern city.
Oriental Pearl Tower and Sky Scrappers
Across the Bund is where all modern architecture and high rise buildings located at. This is a magnificent view. China has grown a lot that I could ever imagine. I didn’t go up to Oriental Pearl Tower but just having a leisure walk around the area, a close distance sight seeing on beautiful pink Oriental Pearl Tower, a visit to one of the largest Super Mall in China and then a hot bowl of noodles to comfort my belly. It is quite cold and windy weather.
Last but not least: Bullet Train
I decided to go back to airport using high speed bullet train. What an experience! I saw all the cars in the highway like in slow motion. The train hit 300 km/h easily, it just took like 25-30 minutes to the airport compared to taxi that will take like 1.5 hours to 2 hours. Amazingly Google Map features for speedometer works really well. It matched with speed meter on the train. You could see on the image below Google Map speedometer shown 298 km/h, not bad at all. You know what I want to see next in Google Map? Temperature and Elevation! That would be a great addition.
There are tons of other places to visit, you choose modern or ancient. But I have limited time this visit and surely I will come back to explore more. On my list was actually Yu Garden but it was raining heavily. So maybe next time with another plan to visit water town Zhujiajiao. Good bye Shanghai…See you next time.
Thanks Google Map, Mission Accomplished!
Feedback: I hope Google Map has ability to add places in China in future. There are so many spots are not yet recorded on Google Map. This must be quite fascinating task for local guide like me wherever we go exploring we can also contribute to local community, unexceptionally China.
Notable Thanks: Thanks to Google Translate. I can easily ordered my food and had a little chit chat around with locals by using Google Translate. Thanks Google, you make life easier by breaking all boundaries and connecting more people no matter what nationalities we are, who we are and where we are.
plus those pics of food are making miss more their dishes XD