PUDONG - The Financial Center of Shanghai and China
Pudong is the financial district of Shanghai. It is in my opinion the most incredible piece of land on Earth. Walking around is like being projected 50 years forward. There is the biggest concentration of highest steel and glass sleek skyscrapers. You feel dizzy just looking at them from the bottom. The tallest and most famous buildings are one close to each other: the Jin Mao Tower (#34 in the world, 421m), the World Financial Center (aka Bottle Opener, #12, 492m), the Shanghai Tower (#2, 632m). The iconic and kitsch Oriental Pearl Tower, recognizable at first sight, stays in front of the bank and introuces the spectator to the spectacle. Super-luxury malls and hotels with swanky rooftops, yacht wharf and swimmingpools. I would reccomend to come here at least once in a lifetime. A night walk in the financial district of Shanghai is an unforgettbale experience, more spectacular than the City of London or Lower Manhattam in NYC. Just another league.
THE BUND - The Art Deco Boulevard
On the other bank of the Hangpu river, facing the skyline, there is the Bund. It is a boulevard of Art Deco and Neoclassical buildings, a great heritage of the colonial past of Shanghai. The city was an important international trade center since the end of the opium wars in the XIX century, and the Bund was the financial center of that time: customs, banks headquarters, luxury hotels and fancy restaurants are still standing nowadays. Must visit: Bar Rouge, club with terrace in front of the skyline; Vue Bar on Hyatt, the ultimate panorama and best view of the world, while putting your feet in a jacuzzi; Peninsula Hotel, just for a beer of course; Waldorf Astoria, dreaming to be rich in the next life.
Old, New, Luxury and Future
As in many Asian cities, very old, crumbling houses and street blends with the ultra modernity. Time by time entire neighborhoods in the citycenter will be razed to the ground to give space to modernity. The Magnetic Levitation train (Maglev) will take you from the Airport to the city in just 20 minutes. It is the fastest train in the world. Shopping malls are everywhere, huge and insane. They need to satisfy the hunger for consumption by the new ultracapitalistic generation of Chineese. Be sure to get inside the Jin Mao Tower to see the amazing Grand Hyatt Hotel and take a drink at Cloud 9.
An amusement park
Cheap food, cheap taxi, cheap drinks... The best place to go for a semester if you are a student with limited budget. Clubs want to promote themselves by attracting the "Cool Western Big Eyes Big Nose" people. There is a reverse racism in China. Being western in China is like being a model in Milan: expect free entrance in fancy club and all-you-can drink. Tables will be waiting for you with Champagne and bottle of vodka (relly bad quality tho, at least that). Clubs are amazing: lights, neon, lound and good music, strippers, dancers and shows everywhere, shank tanks in corridors, pissoirs with glass walls for a nice view. Once our, street food is waiting for you. You live like a star.
But the best activity is Karaoke, hands down. Chineese are crazy about karaoke, and I can understand why. Rent a private room and spend the night with your friends drinking and singing like a star with the best hifi and light equipments.
My SH Soundtrack:
- Ghost in the Machine - BoB
- Don't Need Nobody - Ellie Goulding
- Aftertaste - Ellie Goulding
- Lay All on Me - Rudimental, Ed Sheeran
- Lay Me Down - Sam Smith
- Good Thing - Sam Smith
- Make It To Me - Sam Smith
- Omen - Disclosure, Sam Smith
- Magnets - Discosure, Lorde
- #Beautiful - Mariah Carey, Miguel
- Roses - Chainsmokers
- Don't Let Me Down - Chainsmokers/
You fall in love with a city if you have the right company to live it. I was so lucky to find special roommates and meet these guys. Rachel, Audrey, JP & Mi (who will get married soon, a lovestory born in SH), Thomasz, Anni & Till, Alba, Claire, Scott, Anne, Cristian, Cristal, Minty, Honza, Eric, Margot, Romain, many many others...