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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

shanghai ...things to do ..

If you are on a business trip to Shanghai  you should visit the Bund .  This is a place  where the Huang Po river divides the city into pudong and Puxi districts .  All the famous landmarks of shanghai like the oriental pearl tower , shanghai financial centre buildings (many of them of the top 10 highest buildings in the world ) are here . At nighttime its a beautiful view to see all the lighted buildings(images in facebook)  on one side of the river which have a modern architecture and the colonial architecture buildings on the other side. You can either cross the river in a ferry for 2  rmb  that is around 16 rupees or gofor a  river cruise for 50 Rmb. never take a walk under the river which costs 60 rmb but u see only lights as water is murky. You can see the shanghai bull (remember shanghai index is one of major asian share market indices) . Have cold protective clothes here as the windchill effect will take temperature near zero in winter time . If you go in evening time you can  cross the river and ride up one of the towers to see shanghai from high up .

Nanjing road is just next to the bund and easily accessible by metro station . This place has got a pedestrian only area where you can just walk and see on either side the modern china  with all the shopping brands of the world . Like someone told about another city you can buy everything except mom and dad , in shanghai everything is available at this 6 km stretch from east nanjing to west nanjing . From a chinese curio to designer watch everything is available . Now two things to avoid here are the infamous tourist traps --- dont go with a friendly chinese girl at nanjing road  .Check out tourist traps in virtual tourist or lonelyplanet for details .And secondly try to avoid buying fake watches from nanjing road ...Except for branded shops bargaining is the norm so if you enjoy bargaining shanghai is your place .Do you need chinese for bargaining  ...No .. The answer is a calculator  ...Do you need to buy a calculator and take with you  ?  No need this is not a maths exam .. the shopkeeper will bring one and u start bargaining the shanghai way  ...high tech  ...And remember  there is "last last last price  "  which may still be not the last price ..Its interesting and funny  ..at least for me  . 

If you want to buy bargain price chinese curios the place is the market below the metro station at science and technology museum . This is also the place where people go to buy  the fakes  so also called the fake market  . The chinese curios are not fakes especially the chopsticks and chinese fans  (  have you ever heard of a branded chopstick or a chinese fan  ?? )  . Here  a presentation quality  chopstick set which costs 600  rupees can be  had  for  150 rupees  .  Chinese fans which cost  400 rupees can be had  for  100  rupees  . 
Now  this place has more than 200 shops many of them selling fakes of many of  the great brands  ..Out of curiosity i saw many  but  didnt buy any  . This place  is  great  for buying chinese curios  but also  just to see  the chinese ingenuity  and bargaining skills . See it to believe  it  .,....
One girl is calling me "  Sir  no charge  for  looking  ...  You know Shah Rukh ?  Namaste "  and  remember  this is Shanghai where many  people dont know english  and secondly  she has rightly concluded with 100 percent accuracy that i was from india without  me uttering a word  ..."

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