Related Shanghai Favorites Tips

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Favorite thing: Shanghai is very modern in many ways and the bathrooms are no exception!

Fondest memory: But.....omg............Squat toilets are every where including some at the larger shopping malls. A tip for all is to roll off your required amount of paper before getting your balance and doing the bis, because most of them have the paper on entry so before you lock the door behind you, make sure your ready.........lmao!!!!!!! And always make sure you have some in your back pocket as well because if your caught short at one of the metro stations there will probably be no paper left and what will you do then ??

Favorite thing: Next time we will be spending the month of May-June in Shanghai as Shirley reckons this is the spring time. We have been in October-November which is the Autumn, really nice weather with a couple of hot days along with a couple of really cold ones and some light drizzle. We have been in September which is the end of summer and so very hot with some great tropical storms to cool things down.....thank you, thank you!! I can now report that June is so so very Hot with fantastic electrical storms and it is not even summer! Lucky me, managed to leave a week before Shanghai went over 40degrees with high humidity.....wtf..???
You may find a Restaurant or two to check out on my pages, but what ever you do, GO explore this magical city and have a great time!!...!!!

Favorite thing: I found it relatively easy to get free wi-fi but it does depend on where you travel. In China, the law requires the government to know the identity of everyone connected to the internet. This is ignored by many Chinese places like food cafes with free wi-fi. They just post the password for everyone to use.

However, in foreign places such as McDonalds and Starbucks, you must register using your mobile phone to use the free internet. Passport info is required to get a local SIM card for your phone.

The only foreign places I found in China that does not enforce the ID law are Apple stores. The one in Shanghai is in a main tourist area and I just walk in and connect my iPod to the Apple internet.

Many of the hotels / hostels also have wi-fi. It is usually free at hostels and less expensive hotels. You uesally have to pay extra at more expensive hotels.  Some Chinese hotels may only have wired Internet in your room which can connect to your computer. 

Favorite thing: Shanghai is such a fantastic city but do be careful of the tap water which is not always good for drinking, that is why you will find water coolers everywhere and all the local stores sell an assortment of bottled water!

Favorite thing: Catching a cab in Shanghai's not difficult, just get to the side of the road and start waving your arm. If you have more than four people you'll probably be out of luck. I'm not sure if there's a law prohibiting taking more than four people but we had a hell of a time trying to get a cab to take all five of us. One cab driver did it then looked very unhappy after he counted five as we got out.
Anyway, if you speak Chinese be sure to tell them what part of town you're going to along with the address, that helped a lot. If you don't speak Chinese, be sure that you have your destination marked on the map and be sure you can pronounce the street it's on.
Cab fares from the south side of Pudong to somewhere in the Huang Pu district cost about 40 RMB, from the south side of Pudong to the Airport (Pudong) will be about 130 RMB. For the most part it's pretty cheap to get around Shanghai by taxi.
Be aware that they don't seem to obey any traffic rules at all so if you're not in an adventurous mood you may want to sit in the back and close your eyes. If you are in the right mood and have had a couple drinks siting in the front can be pretty exciting. Despite the crazy driving I still felt pretty safe, just remember, they're not trying to kill themselves.

Favorite thing: Shanghai is quite a nice and very large city. Be sure to visit the hutongs or lilongs or small villages within the city where people still live more traditionally. Easy to do. Just go to the "Old Town" and take nice walks toward the river.

The historical visits UNDER the Oriental Pearl tower are quite nice and teach of old Shanghai. As in any city (London) use your head to be safe.

Favorite thing: Now that the Shanghai Expo is on between May 1st and October 31st --- I was there on 18 to 20 May.
http://daddytravel.blogspot.com/
My travel blog details some of my experiences, which may be useful to other Virtual Tourists.
Enjoy.

Fondest memory: "Mind-boggling" Shanghai Expo 2010

Favorite thing: Mobile phones everywhere, everyone has one and they are all using them, as unlike NZ they are affordable to use for private use locally. My Nokia 6300 was purchased over two years ago in Shanghai, has MP3 for free music off the net and although i had to dowload some free programs for NZ use, this has been a great phone!

For some reason making a toll call from China is very expensive, so the most economical way to stay in touch with family and freinds back home is for them to phone you from a landline, we have NZ rates 17-19 cents per minute...lucky!
Shirley now tells me all local landline calls are pay as you use, not a monthly rental...ok this is why!

Fondest memory: We also use Skype webcam which is a great way to talk and really is best value!
Or Google gmail has a free webcam option if you are taking your laptop and into gmail?
Talking of computers, "facebook" is only available if you go through a proxy server "shush" lol..!!