Today was a bit of a weird day, because our flight back home -from where I’m typing these lines- departs at midnight. It’s the only direct flight there is! So on the one hand we had to do that annoying thing where you check out of the hotel and leave your luggage but then have to come back for it later. On the bright side, it’s an extra day in Shanghai to tie up loose ends!
My main plan for the morning was to check out the French Concession, a huge district in West Shanghai full of tree-lined avenues and colonial houses from the 1920s and 30s, from a time when the district was semi-autonomous.
Because the district is so big, it’s difficult to choose what to see exactly; for example, both my guidebooks give recommended walks that are perpendicular to each other, while the sight of Wukang Mansion (a small, red brick version of New York’s Flatiron) is like two metro stops away.
In the end, I made my own walking route, starting from Xintiandi, then straight to Fuxing Park, one of Shanghai’s oldest parks (built in 1909) where the signs are still in French as well as Chinese and English. It doesn’t hold a candle to Chengdu’s People’s Park, but it’s a nice leafy oasis in the middle of the city.
From there, we went up Sinan Road, and here finally I could see the French heritage in full display. There are many old houses in this avenue that look plucked straight out of any French town you wish to name; and I don’t mean in a Disneyworld, fake stereotype kind of way, I mean they literally look like normal, everyday houses from the early 20th century that I walked past on my way to work when I lived in France. It’s a weird experience to see them with Chinese drying racks or next to other Chinese buildings!
The most notable house here is Sun Yat Sen’s Residence, now a museum, but I didn’t care to go in and it seemed to be under construction anyway.
After the residence museum, we continued up Sinan Road until we ran into the Cathay Theater, a tiny but picturesque cinema with a classic Art Deco sign that wouldn’t look out of place in Chicago.
I drew the itinerary so that it would end in Middle Huaihai Road, just a couple of modern shopping blocks away from a mall holding our lunch spot: a branch of Din Tai Fung, the famous Taiwanese restaurant chain that I had tried only once before, in Portland!
It’s famous for its take on xiaolongbao, so I ordered two different kinds (the traditional pork one, and the one with black truffle). They were both delicious, perfectly cooked, with just the right amount of broth inside (I recommend eating them in one go because trying to bite them can result in soup squirting everywhere), subtly aromatic. But, for me the real star of the show were the spicy wonton, which were just as delicious and expertly cooked but also came bathed in a mouth-watering chili oil. They are only slightly spicy but SO flavorful. I wish I was having them right now!
(A friend told me if you order them for takeout, you can then use the leftover oil for cooking. Blew my mind! How do I get them to open a branch in Barcelona?)
After lunch, my next and last pending item was to visit Jing’an Temple, a big Buddhist Temple in the eponymous neighborhood in Shanghai. It is notable for being huge, with three or four storey buildings on all sides, but also because it offers a curious contrast between its admittedly sumptuous traditional architecture, with golden animal statues on the eaves of the tiled roofs, and the glass-paneled skyscrapers around. Unfortunately, the main building was all covered by scaffolding, which diminished the impact, but it still made for an interesting visit.
There is a big bronze recipient in the center of the courtyard, and people try to toss coins into it, with an amusingly low success rate, so the whole visit was scored by the sound of coins hitting the metal vase or the stone floors and the laughter of kids running after their bouncing coins.
One last thing: on the way out, we snuck inside Pane, a hypertrendy shoe store just one block away. There was even a short queue to get in! Beautiful sneakers, but not so much that I wanted to buy any. Just in case you’re tempted!
So that, finally, marked the end of the day, at least as it pertains to sightseeing, because from there we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage, kill time, then make the long metro journey to Pudong Airport. I was a bit worried about the crowds because today is the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which in China comes second only to Lunar New Year in the massive peak in domestic travels. Well, perhaps because it was so late at night, it wasn’t all that crowded at any part of the trip, so we made it to our flight in time.
Looking back, what an incredible experience this trip has been! I am starkly aware that I have only scratched the surface of what China has to offer -there are so many places that I still want to see- but I am so happy with how this trip turned out. I leave with the feeling that I have sampled as many different cultural experiences as it’s humanly possible to fit in two weeks: I have visited historic landmarks like The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, or the Terracotta Warriors, I have attended Beijing and Sichuan operas, I’ve seen pandas and red pandas, I have practiced what little Chinese I’ve learned, I’ve tasted Beijing, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Cantonese, and Taiwanese cuisine… I really feel like I have made the most of my time here.
Where shall we go next?
