Visit Shanghai city March 24, 2019

The Bundt with the towers behind us

Today is our first day in Shanghai. The tour company arranged for us to take a full day city tour.

First we had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the Radisson dining room. Lots of choices including American coffee, eggs, bacon waffles etc.

We arranged for a private tour so we could set the pace at each visit. First  was a drive on Nanjing Road, the main commercial street in Shanghai. Lots of tall buildings with the names of large companies on them. From here the driver took us to the Bund, the waterfront promenade with the Huangpu River on one side and historical buildings on the other.

Bundt promenade

Shanghai Tower

 This is the Shanghai tower https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/oriental_pearl.htm

The Bundt  is one of the must see things in Shanghai. The driver let us off and the guide led us to different spots on the Bund pointing out historical buildings and some history of the city.
Lots of people out- tourists and locals.
One place we saw was the Fairmont Peace Hotel. I had read it has a famous jazz band and afternoon teas.

Peace hotel interior

We looked across the river and saw the Shanghai Tower - second highest tower in the world.  https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/tower.htm.

Shanghai  tower on right and Pearl tower on left

We spent about an hour walking the Bundt and taking photos.

Next stop was the Jade Buddha Temple. It was a short drive from the Bundt.

One of Shanghai’s few active Buddhist monasteries, this temple was built between 1918 and 1928. The highlight is a transcendent Buddha crafted from pure jade, one of five shipped back to China by the monk Hui Gen at the turn of the 20th century. 

The Temple complex includes  the Hall of Heavenly Kings, holding the statues of the Four Heavenly Kings who look upon the four cardinal points. Directly opposite is the twin-eaved Grand Hall, the temple's most significant building, where worshippers pray to the past, present and future Buddhas. Also within the Grand Hall are splendidly carved luóhàn (arhats), lashed to the walls with wires, and a copper-coloured statue of Guanyin at the rear. Passing through the Grand Hall is the gated tranquil courtyard, where stairs lead up to the Jade Buddha Hall. The absolute centrepiece of the temple is the 1.9m-high pale-green jade Buddha, seated upstairs and carved from one piece. Photographs are not permitted. Further into the complex is the Reclining Buddha Hall, which contains a small reclining white jade Buddha from Burma that's displayed in a glass cabinet. The Mahavira Hall was renovated and reopened in 2019; it was raised by a metre and now stands at 18.2m tall and weighs in at 1000 tonnes.



After an hour of visiting the temple Rebecca our guide said she was going to take us for lunch. She took us to a restaurant near our hotel-not close enough for us to walk to- and she started ordering a few dishes and I ordered Kung Pao Chicken. That chicken dish was the best I have ever eaten anywhere. If we could have walked here from the hotel we would have eaten every meal here.

After the delicious filling lunch it was time to visit the 400 year old Yun garden. My impression was that is would be located on the city outskirts.
Wrong. It was in the center city and surrounded by a large complex of tourist shops-the Yuyuan bazaar. 
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/yuyuan-bazaar.htm

We walked through the shopping complex to reach the garden entrance.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/yuyuan_garden.htm

Once we entered we experienced quiet from the city noise. The visitors were quiet and we were able to visit all the buildings in the garden. It was really beautiful.

After visiting the pavilions and halls we went to the bazaar and did shop shopping and sightseeing.

Since we were done with the tour early we asked Rebecca if we can go visit the new Starbucks Reserve. She said it was by a upscale shopping center.
Away we went and the driver left us off close by.

There was a line to enter and we had to wait around 5 mins to get in. The place was huge. 
The main floor had pastries and merchandize for sale. Second floor sold tea and accessories.
We bought some pastries and coffees and had a coffee break. Afterwards we bought two small souvenirs- a magnet and coffee cup.

We went back to the hotel to rest.
Around 6pm we walked down to the promenade across the street to find a place to eat and to walk in the pedestrian mall. We found typical American restaurants ie McDonalds and KFC.

Our hotel is in the center with the round top

Small train to take to get to the Bundt

Checking one mall for restaurants we found the Blue Frog and went there for dinner. I had read online that it was a good restaurant serving Western food.

We had cocktails and ordered dinner. The drinks and dinners were great. The service was wonderful and the waitresses spoke some English and were eager to speak to us.

Afterwards back to the hotel. Tomorrow we go to Shanghai Disney Land.

March 22, 2019 We leave San Francisco for Shanghai on United

We booked the flights to China and the return from Japan on United Air business class because of the length of the flight and it left in the evening planning to sleep during the flight.

Our flight left as scheduled at 2:05 pm. We arrived at the airport 3 hours early to allow time to check our bags and get to the gate.

Check in and security went smoothly and since we had time we went to the United Polaris lounge to wait for boarding time.
The lounge was beautiful and spacious. The hostesses were very nice and helpful. We were able to order some food from the menu which the hostess brought to our table.
We had access to wifi so we were able to send messages to our family, check email etc.

45 minutes before boarding time, we were told that we should get to the gate for check in. That procedure was quick and easy. The flight attendant showed us our seats and we buckled up ready for departure.

An hour after take off the beverage service started and then the dinner was served.
After dessert the crew lowered the lights and we started watching movies. We planned to watch one or two movie and then sleep. The flight was 13 hours 20 mins.  We did go to sleep 8 hours into the flight ( around 10 SF time) and were awakened 2 hours before landing. We were served breakfast and got our belongings together ready for deplaning.

Upon arrival at 6:35 Shanghai time we had to get our fingerprints checked inside the terminal.

Since we were over 70 the security guard said we did not have to do that and to go to immigration. We got in long lines and waited to go to a terminal where we put our fingers on the screen for the visa check and once cleared we gave a form to the immigration agent who checked our passport and then let us through to go to baggage claim.  Once we got our bags we went to arrivals and looked for our driver.
Once we found him and a guide we were led to their van, loaded the bags and were driven in 45 mins. to our hotel.
Goway tours recommended the Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World which was centrally located near downtown. (We had stayed at Radissons in London and Australia and were very pleased with them).

Since we were jet lagged we decided to eat dinner at the hotel in the Epicure on 45 (revolving dining room). We had great views of the different parts of the city as the restaurant rotated.
https://radissonhotels.iceportal.com/image/Radisson-Blu-Hotel-Shanghai-New-World/NotSet/16256-113952-m17817606.pdf

Wonderful meal and service.

Our adventure to China and Japan with stops in Korea- cruise and independent travel in March 2018- Itinerary and planning

When we were aboard the Celebrity ship in Jan 2018 we checked the future cruise desk for a cruise vacation to a place we never had been before.
The salesperson found a cruise in Mar 2019 that had two cruises from China to Japan and return.

Upon reviewing the itinerary we were excited to find that the cruise from China to Japan was one we had to take.  Reason being we could visit the Shanghai Disneyland and the Tokyo Disneyland  as well as spend 3 days in Beijing. Everything we wanted to see and do on the cruise.

We contacted our travel agent to find a tour operator for China and Japan to arrange hotel stays, tours and transfers to and from the airport and ship.

We ended up with Goway Tours and the itinerary seemed very good. However this changed once we were on the trip. We had to make adjustments during our trip and I will list those when I get to the appropriate day and post.

The cruise itinerary was really good- Sailing from Shanghai to Seoul, Beijing with a three day overnight, Jeju Island, Korea, overnight in Kobe, Japan; Mt. Fuji; and an overnight in Yokohama and then disembarking in Tokyo.

Once we had booked the cruise I immediately booked the three night excursion to Beijing ( details in future posts for those days).

Preparation for the trip was not too difficult but time consuming.

We started the prep 4 months before the cruise. We only needed Typhoid shots as we had all the others. see list here  https://www.tripsavvy.com/required-recommended-vaccinations-for-china-travel-1495144.

We had booked out tours with Goway so that was taken care of.
We had a travel agent help me book the hotels in Shanghai and Tokyo Disneyland's so we were set there.
Three months before the cruise we applied for out Chinese visas. We used a visa service in San Francisco ( I dropped off and picked up the passports in interests of time and not getting lost in the mail). It was a bit expensive for the visa and the visa service but the visas are good for 10 years.

I started reading about travel to both countries on the internet to see what else to bring with us on the trip. Main thing was to have at least 1 $100 in Chinese and Japanese currency for the car service, bellmen etc.

There were lots of Youtube videos about travelling to China that I saw and as well as the sights in Beijing.

Since most internet apps are blocked in China the advice was to get a VPN app and find an international phone plan to use with the app. More on this when we get to Shanghai.

One thing that we were concerned with was the flight to China and the return from Tokyo. Since we are now older and want more comfort we decided to take business class both ways.
Main thing was to find direct flights and we ended up booking United round trip.   Turns out the return was on ANA air because it was a codeshare with United.

The advantage with business class other than the comfortable seats and great service was being able to check two bags each free and access to the business class lounges at the airports.