Shanghai is very busy, large, and has a population of approximately 22 million people. Flying from Busan, South Korea, just an hour and 10 minutes flight, and arriving in Shanghai, I would find a bus from the airport to People’s Square, near my hotel. The bus costs only 20 yuan to get to my destination and another 11 yuan by taxi to the hotel. I found a taxi pretty easy, depending on how busy the street is and how many people are waiting for taxis. The corner is a better place to wait.

I gave the taxi a card with the name and address of the hotel, in Chinese, and 5 minutes later I arrived at the 3-star Magnificent Plaza Hotel. Most of the staff spoke decent English, the room was quite spacious, some stained carpet, large bed, and toiletries in the bathroom, for a great price of $ 43 per night. It also included a mid-descent western buffet breakfast, a Chinese fusion breakfast, and a couple of computers in a room for free internet use, as well as some treadmills. It was good for me.

First stop, a Chinese restaurant, whatever it serves as I am very hungry and want to try some local food. I find a fancier place, and have a good sweet and sour pork and excellent spring rolls, a large kettle of green tea, and bottled water. The waiters constantly fill my glass and my cup of tea, excellent service and food. I pay about 20 US dollars (100 yuan) and thank you. This is a relatively high-end moderately expensive meal in Shanghai. You can pay much more for especially western foods like steak, for example, or very cheap for local dive-type restaurants or cheaper street food. I mainly choose some low, medium, cheap and very suitable places to eat, as well as KFC and Starbucks. Starbucks offered a place to rest between site visits and to get out of the August heat.

My first attraction was the Oriental Pearl Tower, an enormously tall tower and a wonder to see the city. You can see it from the view finders and the round watchtower setup, as well as from the hard plastic floor. The middle level of the tower contains a huge revolving restaurant and at the bottom an excellent museum, mostly of wax figures in historical Chinese settings. The tower and museum took me about 4 hours to see, and it cost us roughly $ 30 for the entrance fee.

For taxis, the hotel staff provided me with small cards and translated some destinations into Chinese. I went to the Bund, the old city center, where the buildings are still used for banks, high society social clubs and others. From the Bund I took an hour ferry upriver and back. The huge river runs through Shanghai, of the name I am not sure. I get a good look at the Bund from the river and across from the new skyscraper business district, as well as the Oriental Pearl Tower.

I spent 5 days in total, and it was a fantastic trip. It is very crowded and a bit tiring, not some kind of relaxation by the pool or in a beach vacation spot, but it is very interesting. I met some random ESL teachers and business people living in Shanghai from other countries. Most tend to speak the local language if they have been there for several years.

I met some very nice locals, who took me to a great traditional Chinese restaurant, a kind of huge spicy soup, with fish, peppers and noodles. Then add meat like lamb and veal to boil in the soup. It was delicious. We also tried a traditional tea house which was very interesting. We try many fine and exotic teas. The hostess, while in our private room, explained the history and meaning of each tea, in Chinese, which she translated my new acquaintance into. The price, however, was relatively expensive, as we paid 350 yuan per person, 3 people. Maybe once in a lifetime.

I found some of the service staff, like the attractions, a bit rude or not as friendly as you might expect. Language may have something to do with it, they seemed to be in a robotic mode, not smiling and moving quickly in everyone’s mode, even towards the locals. But the tour guides manning the elevators in the Oriental Pearl Tower, for example, speaking Chinese and translating into English, were very friendly. For the most part, the locals were very friendly.

In a very metropolitan city I also went quite unnoticed. A German businessman living in a small rural town explained that Shanghai was the exception to not feeling so much like a foreigner, as it would get more appearance in rural China.

The day I left, I was glad to get back to Korea, although overall it was a great trip. I took a taxi to the local express train, perhaps pronounced as Moglev, although I’m not sure of its exact name. It cost me 50 yuan and it took me less than 8 minutes to get me from the city to the airport for my return flight on Saturday at 9am. There were many signs and information in English at the train station and in much of the city. I recommend a trip to Shanghai or even Beijing, the most traditional Chinese city.