2023-10: Overnight Train + 2 Days in Shanghai + 1 Day in Hangzhou
Highlights: Overnight train from Guangzhou to Shanghai, Cirque de Solei in Hangzhou
Shanghai/Hangzhou was a part of our Mainland China trip, which can be summarized as follows: flight from Taipei > Hongkong > high-speed train (1 hour) to Guangzhou > overnight train (14 hours) to Shanghai > high-speed train (1 hour) to Hangzhou & back to Shanghai > flight back to Taipei.
Dialects Spoken in Shanghai: Mandarin, Cantonese when we don’t want others to hear us disciplining our kids.
Fun and FREE places we went (by timeline):
Shanghai 外滩 Waitan tourist attraction
Nanjing Pedestrian St. night market
Shanghai Fashion Outlet Mall & Pier Sightseeing
NYU Shanghai Campus Tour
前滩 Qiantan 太古里 shopping area
Hangzhou: Westlake
Hangzhou: Grand Canal 大运河
Some major expenses (converted back to USD from CNY) included:
Food 食 pricing reference that I could recall:
Zotter chocolate bars: $87.82
Hangzhou La Bottega for 3 adults + 2 kids: $49.522
2 冰糖葫芦 honey-covered berries on Beijing Pedestrian St: $6.84
Yokafe 有咖啡 latte: $6.43
小样生煎包 seared soup dumplings: $4.99
Bag of 大白兔 milk candy $3.26
Things to remember:
Get AliPay 支付宝 connected (passport, phone verification, & facial recognition check required) for:
ordering ride shares through DiDi (already connected in APP)
easy payment to street vendors, esp local ones who don’t take credit cards
booking train tickets, bike rentals, and hotels
transferring funds to friends (like Venmo)
Download Baidu Maps 百度地图 App to get around in China (since Google products won’t work properly there)
Guisu Homestay in the middle of Xujiahui was a fantastic idea, except we had to stay super quiet at night to avoid waking up the neighbors below.
Get suits & dresses tailor-made if staying longer.