(Image source: Sinoway Travel)

Want to take a day trip or weekend trip by train?

(Only in Chinese) Find out the timings and prices online and even buy tickets in advance (they deliver, but I have not personally tried):

(Also in Chinese) Or download the iPhone app 智能列车时刻 to check the train schedules:

If you’re taking the high speed train (高铁), you’ll be able to order from Ctrip (available in English) as well.

When buying tickets from the ticket counters, remember to bring your passports and request to have seats next to your travel companions!

Happy travels!

Buy clothes, shoes, bags, jackets, hats, and all sorts of accessories at Qipu Road (七铺路), which sounds like “cheap” said with a Chinese accent, Shanghai’s famous and infamous wholesale shopping area. More popular with local retailers who sometimes get their stock here at wholesale prices, these shops also offer single item sales. Don’t let the chaos stop you, there are good quality clothing there for a fraction of the price in retail shops. Warning: Bargaining powers needed.

Although the whole Qipu Road stretch is full of malls packed with hundreds of small shops, you will easily spend half a day in one mall alone (if you’re a shopper). A good mall to start with is the Qipu XingWang Clothing Market (七铺兴旺服饰市场), which joins with the adjacent Shanghai XingWang International Finery City (上海兴旺国际服饰城) in an enclosed bridge at the 2nd and 3rd floors. So if it rains, you can go from one building to the other using the connecting bridge in these two buildings.

The connecting bridge between the two buildings on Qipu Road

At Qipu XingWang Clothing Market, this is how the building is structured:

B1: Shoes, luggages, Bags. You’ll be able to find imitation branded shoes and bags here as well.

1st Floor: Very local clothing and accessories. Always start bargaining from 30% of the asking price.

2nd Floor: A mixture of local and export clothing. Start bargaining from 30-50% of the asking price.

3rd Floor: This is where I’ve found the most good quality items, even branded originals at a fraction of the retail price. Prices are a little less elastic here, and the sellers here are not that interested in bargaining with you than the lower levels. You can find Japanese, Korean, and many American brands on this level. Whether they’re imitations or the real thing, that’s up to you to judge and mind.

4th and 5th Floors: I usually don’t bother. Kinda random wholesale clothes, supposedly export quality.

Tips:

1. Go on weekday mornings to avoid weekend crowds, and bargaining is more successful, especially if you’re the first customer of the day (believed to bring them luck or something)

2. For export clothes (3rd floor), knock off about 20% of their asking price. E.g. if the seller wants 100RMB, ask for 80RMB. For items in the 1st and 2nd floors, offer them 30% of their asking price, and don’t add on to your price easily. Even if you do, maybe add 5RMB.

3. Don’t follow the touts. They get a cut from the sale made at the shop they bring you to, which means the price you pay is marked up even more.

Opening Hours: Opens early in the morning and close about 5-6pm.

Getting There:

Take metro line 10 to Tiantong Road Station (天潼路), exit 1.

168 Qipu Road, 七铺路168号

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One booth is called Ding Gua Gua (顶刮刮), and another one called Gua Gua Le (刮刮乐), next to Metersbonwe. They are about 200-300 metres apart on the Pedestrian Street.

Gua Gua Le (刮刮乐)

A 20RMB Scratch & Win card

There are 10-30RMB cards. Different cards have different winning methods. Some require you to scratch and see if you match the same numbers or icons to win the designated amount of money, whilst others require you to move across a number of icons according to the number of moves you scratched. If you land on a prize then you win the amount of money stipulated.

Good luck!

The Ah Niang Noodles Shop (阿娘面) at Sinan Road is only open during meal times for about 2.5 hours each time, and the snaking queue outside it everyday is testament to how popular it is. The process of queuing, getting your order taken, finding a seat, and finally getting your bowl of noodles is about half an hour to an hour, depending on the time you arrive and how many other customers were thinking of having Ah Niang noodles for their meal too. Going near the end of the mealtime seems to be a better bet as the crowd dissipates.

The snaking line outside Ah Niang Noodles Shop

Popular choices are the yellow croaker fish (or Huangyu Mian 黄鱼面) for 22RMB a bowl, and noodles with crabmeat and roe (Xiefen Mian 蟹粉面) for 39RMB a bowl. Try mixing in the preserved vegetables and shredded pork side dish (咸菜肉丝浇头) for added flavour (only 4RMB).

Huang Yu Mian 黄鱼面 （22RMB)

Xie Fen Mian 蟹粉面 (39RMB)

The Ah Niang noodles shop is cleaner and bigger than your regular greasy spoon, but not quite what we’d call a restaurant. Nevertheless, there’s an unspoken system in place. If you’re eating with another person with you, it’ll be more time efficient if one of you joins the line to order while the other joins the crowd inside the restaurant itself to pick a strategic spot to stand around waiting for eating customers to finish.

The three steps to enjoying your Ah Niang Noodles:

Step 1: Mix in the side dish and enjoy your Ah Niang noodles

Step 2: Finish the delicious noodles

Step 3: Slurp up the delicious soup

Address: 36 Sinan Road, by Nanchang Road 卢湾区思南路36号(近南昌路)

Open Hours:

Breakfast: 7 – 9.30am

Lunch: 11am – 1.30pm

Dinner: 5 – 7.30pm

Shanghai Ah Niang Noodles 阿娘面

After experiencing 5 winters in Shanghai, I have to say my trusty down jacket has single-handedly been the only jacket that kept me relatively comfortable in the face of the brittle cold winters.

Just last year, Bosideng opened their flagship store on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai. Previously, there were only little Bosideng corners at departmental stores. The down jacket designs are no longer as plain and old-fashioned (think: for grannies and grandpas) as they used to be. They have done a good job redesigning their apparel to make down jackets look pretty trendy, thus repositioning themselves as upmarket and fashionable. The store is big and variety is aplenty.

Bosideng being more trendy

Bosideng down jackets

There are different series under the Bosideng group, namely Bosideng (波司登), Snow Flying (雪中飞), Kangbo (康博), and Bingjie (冰洁).

There was an October National Day holiday promotion (60RMB off for every 200RMB) at the store, but even after the discount, it’s still cheaper to buy online either from the official Bosideng online store, or from taobao. You might want to try out the down jackets at the store, and once you find one in the style and size you like, take down the item number and find it online to enjoy savings.

Address:

1st-3rd Floor, 463 Nanjing East Road (on the Pedestrian Street) 黄浦区南京东路463号曼克顿广场1-3楼(近置地广场)

Other than online dating sites like zhenai.com (珍爱网), jiayuan.com (世纪佳缘交友网), and baihe.com (百合网); there are also many variety shows on television that allow singles to handpick their dating partners on their own, or women even let their mothers handpick for them. For a look at good ‘ol parents matchmaking for their children, visit the matchmaking market at People’s Square Park (人民公园) on weekends.

“Male. Single. Born in 1980. 1.8m. Only child. Masters degree. Shanghainese. Has house. Working in Fortune 500 Company.”  – One of many signs found in this popular marriage market in Shanghai.

Where can I see this unique phenomenon?

Just inside gate 5 of People’s Square Park, 75 Nanjing Xi Lu., across from the Grand Theater and beside the Modern Art Museum. Take Metro line 1, 2 or 8 to People’s Square station, take Exit 9 to the ground level and turn left.

If you do decide to stay over for a night, the chalets at Sun Island are clean and spacious. You might want to consider doing your own BBQ as well.

Although there aren’t that many activities to fill your entire weekend, there’s plenty to go around with friends and/or family to just sit back, relax, and take a break from busy Shanghai.

Have a meal at Sun Island’s “Recreational Food Street’, practice teeing off, or just soak in the Wave Pool (the machine-created waves are activated every 30 minutes or so).

On some Saturdays, Pier 93 has an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet dinner for just RMB 108.

This is the statue that greets you as you enter Sun Island Resort.

Address: 上海市青浦区沈太路2588号, Qingpu District, 2588 Shentai Road

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Taking a day trip to Chong Ming Island is best done with a rented car. The island is big and getting around isn’t as easy as in town. You’d have to depend on cabs who may or may not run by the meter. And that’s if you can get one. Renting a car allows you the freedom to go from one place of interest to the other, and you’ll have more control of your time with a car. Toll fee is about 50RMB one way.

Now’s a good time to visit the island and catch some hairy crabs (it’s in season), but of course if you’re not interested in that, June – September is the recommended time to explore the third biggest island in China.

Two good places to check out in Chong Ming Island are Dongping Forest Park (东平国家森林公园) and Dongtan Wetland (东滩湿地公园). They are about 50km apart though, so the car ride will be about an hour. I just keyed these places into the GPS and got to the destinations fine. Not all roads are smooth on this island, so do watch out for those uneven surfaces while driving, especially when you’re not on the highway.

Dongping Forest Park (东平国家森林公园)

Things you can do in Dongping Forest Park:

• Cycling (10RMB/hour)
• Tandem cycling (20RMB/hour)
• Grass skiing (30RMB/30 minutes)
• Zipline (30RMB/pax)
• Karting (20RMB/round/pax)
• Horse riding (20RMB/round/pax)
• Paintball (60RMB/30 pellets)
• Rock climbing (20RMB/pax)
• Boat rides
• Amusement rides mostly for the kids

Taking a stroll through the forest park already provides a refreshing experience for city dwellers. The most important item to bring along with you would be a mosquito repellent though!

Entrance fee: 70RMB

Address: Beiyan Gong Lu, between Jianshe Lu and Panlong Lu 北沿公路, 建设路蟠龙路间, 8 a.m.-5 p.m

Dongtan Wetland (东滩湿地公园) 

Located on the very east of the island, Dongtan Wetland is famous for being a bird-watching reserve. But you don’t have to be a bird lover to enjoy this serene space. Grass swaying and singing, birds overhead, unending vastness beyond… just take it all in.

Entrance fee is said to be 70RMB. But I went in after 5pm and it was free.

Address: Dongwang Lu, Dongtan, next to a windmill 崇明东滩东旺路, 风车旁, 9 a.m.-5 p.m

Nothing else quite makes thousands of people go “whoa” at the same time like fireworks shooting through the sky, painting the skyline with gold shimmers. We’re not talking about the cacophony of random fireworks we have to endure during the 15 days of the Lunar New Year. It’s the annual Shanghai International Music Fireworks Festival! Different countries showcase a spectacular pyrotechnic display entertainingly synchronized with different pieces of music.

Where:

Century Park, Pudong

Schedule:

30 September 2011, 7.30-8.30pm: China & Sweden

3 October 2011, 7.30-8.30pm: Korea & Greece

6 October 2011, 7.30-8.30pm: Portugal & Germany

Tickets:

Tickets to the event can be purchased at the entrance(s) of Century Park.

Standing Tickets: 70RMB

Seated Tickets: 260RMB

VIP: 800RMB

Tip:

If you’re buying a standing ticket, go at least an hour early and reserve a good spot in front of the barricaded railings. Pick a spot without a big tree, and don’t worry about the blinding lights from the lamp posts. They’ll be turned off when the show begins.

Fancy having imported beer delivered to your doorstep, à la Sherpa’s delivery system?

In the spirit of Oktoberfest (albeit a belated one), I ordered some bottles of beer from a new beer delivery service in town, Cheers In. It came just in time with the shaokao I ordered (another post for another day).

The ordering process is simple — sign up for an account, choose your beers by filtering results by country, alcohol content, dark/light, and budget. Add the beers to your cart, and order away! It’s intuitive to order from Cheers In’s website, and I’ve found it to be a better ordering experience than Sherpa’s. Description of the beers are available when you click on it, along with great images of them.

I ordered about 5 bottles of beers at about 6.30pm, and they arrived at my doorstep at 8pm, chilled! They were also sent in a recyclable bag  – plus points for going green.

Being the price conscious halfpat, I compared prices of beers in Jing’An City Plaza’s Fresh Mart with those on Cheers In and I’m happy to say that the difference is minimal. There’s only a 10RMB delivery charge (no minimum order) for every order, and the delivery fee is waived if you order above 200RMB — which would be very easy if you’re hosting a party at home.

Cheers In’s beer delivery service definitely fills a gap in Shanghai, has a wider variety of imported beers than the supermarkets, and is very reasonably priced. They also have their brick and mortar store in Xuhui district.

Some features I hope they have in their next versions include a section on what their best-selling beers are, or recommended beers; as well as a search function.