After a smooth yourney from Bejing and a good night's rest, it was time to explore Shanghai.
On our first full day in Shanghai we decided to sleep in a little, still feeling the jet lag. After we got up, we took the time to make sure we looked our best, because we arranged to meet a photographer later that day. In many tourist places around Shanghai you can find these photographers walking around with large cameras and Ipads. They will offer to take your picutures, edit them right away and then sent them to you. Some of the photographers will let you per hour, after which you can have all the pictures taken. Some of them will let you pay per photo, where you only pay for the pictures you like. We chose to do the latter, but we had already arranged to meet with a photographer via Wechat. A tip is to look on Rednote for photos or photographers you like and message them to see what their rates are and if they are able to meet you somewhere. We settled for 30 rmb per picture, which is a little les than 4 euros.
After we found our photographer we set off to see the city and take some great photos. The photographer knew all the good spots and even helped us with the posing. This resulted in some great pictures. We ended our photosession at the Bund from where we decided to explore East Nanjing Road and do some shopping. This is the main (tourist) shopping street with all the popular stores like the Popmart Flagship Store. You can be sure that we found some nice things for both ourselfs and for friends and family back home.
We ended the day with a dinner at a local fish restaurant and going to a rooftop party. It was an all white-party at SPAGO located at the St. Regis on the Bund. The drink list was not very extensive, but the vibes were great. We even got to meet new people and new friends. If you are looking for a place to dance, socialize and enjoy the nightlife, this is the place for you.
The next morning or rather early afternoon we set off to explore some popular cafees we had seen online. One of them was a cafe where that have a matcha with latte art in the form of tiny sheep. The drink turned out very cute, but it was a lot sweeter than we are used to so we didn't end up drinken really any of it. For us, it was more for the aesthetics then the taste. It was a good reminder that one shouldn't believe everything we see online.
But later that day we had something excited planned, a one hour bootride on a private yacht. To be able to do this, we had also made previous arrangements via WeChat where we had negotiated a price of 300 euro for one hour of sailing on a prive yacht through the bay of Shanghai. Luckily, the yacht was not hard to find, but there did seem to be a problem with the wind. There was so much of it, that the captain wasn't sure if we would be allowed to sail at all. After some waiting and 20 anxious minutes we were told that we had permission to sail, yes. We were just in time to watch the sun set and the lights going on. It was amazing to see the Shanghai Bund all lit up from the boat. We also that the opportunity to take our previous photographer on board with us to take come great pictures.
After the boat ride, we closed the day of by going to a Thai restaurant. It is one called Pepmon located on the top floor of a shopping mall nearby the doking station. We were there slightly late but there was still live music when we arrived there. And it was a nice change for the Chinese food we had the previous days. It does showcase the good variety of food or cuisine you can have in Shanghai.
On the next day we did surprisingly much in one day. We started off with a visit to Anfu Road. This is a popular shopping street in Shanghai where the colonial influence is very visible. There were also some cute cafe's there, like Marzo 13, famous for hanging small bear plushies on their cups. and I must say that the coffee from this cafe was actually good.
After doing some strolling we set off for the wholesale market. We got there just before 5 so it looked like they were closing down for the day. But just as we were buying something at one of the small shops a local man approched us to ask if he could help us find something. At first we were apprehensive, but the man turned out very friendly and most importantly helpfull. He took us to some of the underground parts of the wholesale market where he helped us look for the items we wanted. In these small shops it definitly took some barganing (special thanks to my Chinese speaking friend ~ coulden't have done it without your help), but we walked away with some great pieces. The man who helped us did say that he didn't expect any (monetairy) compensation, but we decided to give him something for his time, since without him we likely would have found or entered these almost hidden shops.
As it was already evening when we left the wholesale market one would expect a more quite evening, but we were not done yet. We had set our sights on a popular futuristic restaurant. It is one called Wharehouse 3 and they have several branches throughout Shanghai. We had actually made our way over there the day before, but the waiting line was long; probably because it was a sunday. So on this Monday we wanted to try our luck again. And we were lucky indeed as it took a bit over 15 minutes waiting before we could make our way to the restaurant. Once there, we ordered several dishes. The presentation of the food definitly matched the restaurant vibes and it tasted good to. We also ordered a drink we though looked good, but the taste unfortunatly wasn't all that good or rather not what we were expecting. If you are every in Shanghai, do try out this restaurant and let me know what you think.
The last item on our agenda this day was a visit to the Louis Vitton Flag Ship store. And they take the idea of a 'flag ship' store quite serious as the store is indeed shaped after a ship. We did'nt go inside, as we were there a bit late, but it was nice to see the iconic store with the lights on. Right next to the LV store is the Starbucks Roastary. It is one of the biggest stores in the world compleet with its own roastary. Here is was a big plus coming a little before closing time at 11pm; we had more than enough time to look around without to many other people there and we could enjoy some good (decaffinated) drinks before we made our way back to the hotel for a good nights rest.