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30 Things You Have to Do Before Leaving Shanghai

Claire L. Squire ShanghaiWOWeng 2018-11-28

No matter what, one thing in life is certain: time will always keep ticking. It can feel tricky sometimes to maximize your time and get the most out of life. For most of us, our stint in Shanghai will be relatively short in comparison to the rest of our lives so here we have carefully compiled a list of 30 things that everybody should try to do before they leave.


1. Eat at Ultraviolet



While Ultraviolet comes with a pretty hefty price tag - starting from RMB 4,000 a head - it’s an experience you’re NEVER going to forget. Save up and do it just once.


Website: uvbypp.cc

 

2. Start a business


It often feels like 99% of Shanghaiers have a side project. Well why not get yours started too? Do you want to import honey from the motherland or make candles? Whatever it is, just do it! 


Join CEO training for entrepreneurs with NiHub

WeChat: NiHub

 

3. Learn more than 5 phrases in mandarin


Ting bu dong and ne de waimai dao le are two pretty essential phrases and, honestly, with apps and translators you don’t need much more to get by. But challenge yourself and start Chinese class! Group classes range from RMB 85 - RMB 120 per hour.


Sign up for classes with Hutong School


WeChat: HutongSchoolShanghai


4. Drink a cocktail before noon



If you’ve never had a cocktail before noon, what on Earth are you doing with your weekends? Get yourself to the nearest bar and order a Bloody Mary STAT.


5. Eat Chicken Sashimi


While this might sound like you'll be dancing with the devil, we have been assured eating raw chicken - if it’s prepped in the right way is totally fine. Are you prepared to give it a whirl?


Address: Torishou, 133 Fuxing Lu, near Yongfu Lu

Tel: 6433 4261

Hours: Daily, Lunch, 11.30am-2pm; Dinner, 5.30pm-1.30am

 

6. Take the Ferry to Pudong


Getting the Ferry across the river, from Puxi to Pudong, has got to be the best way to cross over to the dark side. It costs a couple of kuai, takes 10 minutes or so and you'll be treated to some stunning views.


Address: 171 Zhongshan Nan Lu, near Fuxing Dong Lu

Cost: RMB 2


7. Eat Xiaolongbao in its birthplace



Xiaolongbao, the official dumpling of Shanghai was originally invented in Nanxiang. It’s a beautiful ancient water town, so get yourself there and indulge as you're transported to luscious soupy heaven.


How to get there: Hop onto Line 11 towards Jiading and get off at Nanxiang Station. From People's Square, it takes less than a 45-minute subway ride! Take Exit 2 and walk south-west along Mingzhu Street for 10-15 minutes to reach Nanxiang Old Street.


8. Live in a baller compound


With a guard collecting your packages, an elevator instead of stairs, a pool and gym all built-in, live up your fancy lifestyle dreams in your baller compound.


9. Live in a lane house


Photo source: flickr user - Schav

 

Lane houses are a trademark of Shanghai; three stories, beautiful and completely bonkers. You're going to be too cold, too hot, live in semi-darkness and probably have to deal with a lot of bugs too. But you have to do it. It's a rite of passage.


10. Party Chinese style


Get yourself over to Taxx right now where you pay for a dancer to 'keep you company', get five bottles of baijiu and drink yourself into oblivion. Be warned, the hangover will be awful.


Address: B1/F,158 Julu Lu, near Ruijin Yi Lu


11. Leave the inner ring road


We Shanghaiers don’t like leaving the inner ring road much. You’ll hear people groan when they realize they have to travel to Minghang for a friend work party… Or the dreaded Pudong for their visa.


12. Have dinner somewhere that isn’t in Jing’an or Xuhui


Instead of just leaving downtown because you need to collect your visa, or you’re forced to travel for work, venture out and try getting dinner in a district you have never heard of.


We recommend: Bourbon Cookhouse

Address: 17 Sunhong Lu, The North Hub Area (B1-C building, Hongqiao Xintiandi)

Tel: 21 5415 8086

Hours: 11am-2am


13. Go to Baoshan



I’ve been. It was awful. I am inflicting Baoshan on all of you. Go, look and make sure you return. You’ll need water, snacks and your most urban adventurer mentality. If you want to know more about the city you live in, you should travel to each and every edge.


14. Check out the view of The Bund from Pudong


I am sure all of you have been to the bund and gazed across to the bright lights of Pudong. Time to switch it up a little, cross the river and look back at Puxi, it’s an equally beautiful view in a different way. Think twinkly lights and European architecture, if you squint it’s like looking at the view of London over the Thames.


15. Go to a water town


There are hundreds of water towns all around Shanghai and Suzhou, it’s time you checked one out. We recommend Tongli, 11 miles south of Suzhou as one of the most beautiful!


How to get there: take the train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou, then take a bus from the north square of Suzhou Railway Station or from Suzhou North Bus Station/South Bus Station, at a fare of RMB 8.


Travel cost: RMB 100 (ish) for return trains and buses

Ticket cost: RMB 100 for entry to Tongli


16. Watch Shanghai’s oldest jazz band



The Peace Hotel boasts one of the oldest Jazz bands in the world, and certainly in Shanghai. If you want to take a step back into 1920’s Shanghai glamor, then this is the place for you.


Address: 20 Nanjing Dong Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu

Tel: +86 21 6321 6888

Hours: 6pm-2am

Performance hours: from 6:30pm


17. Do KTV


If you’re not screaming to Adele in the wee hours of a Saturday morning surrounded by platters of fruit plates then what are you doing with your life? Get yourself to your nearest KTV, it’s time for your solo.


18. Try an open mic night


Are you queen of all the jokes at dinner? Do you have your colleagues holding their sides and trying not to pee on their swivel chairs on the reg? Then it’s time to try out some standup comedy!


Contact: ShanghaiComedy Club

WeChat: Shanghaicomedy

Address: cages, 3/F, 428 Jiangning Lu, near Wuding Lu

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30pm

 

19. Teach an English class



Who hasn’t been an English teacher? If not, you have missed out on a vital part of the Shanghai experience. See if you can pick up some tutoring, or give some classes to your colleagues.


20. Get an office job


If you are an English teacher, ditch it and try your hand at an office job for a while. Nothing is as satisfying as staring bleakly at a computer and wondering if you can go to the toilet again without looking like you have diarrhea….


21. Desk nap at said office job


Get in sync with your colleagues and crack on with a hardcore desk nap. Bring in your own special pillow and get your head down for an hour or two after lunch. No one minds, so why not..?


22. Study at Jiao Tong



So you have learnt a few phrases in Chinese...WELL DONE. Now it's time to step up your game and really learn. Enrol yourself in a Chinese class at one of Shanghai’s many universities.


Website: en.sjtu.edu.cn


23. Get involved in a tea scam


If you don’t know what a tea scam is, you have never been involved in a tea scam. Look it up and keep your eyes open, loiter in tourist areas and wait to be approached. Can you outsmart the con artists?


24. Haggle at the fake market


Nanjing Xi Lu fake market might be gone, but the one in the Science and Technology Museum is still alive and kicking. Get yourself down there for the latest knock-off bargains and a ‘silk’ scarf.


25. Get yelled at by a bao an



Bao an’s are the blocks that ‘guard’ compounds. All they really do is tell you where you can and can’t park your scooter. And then miscellaneously yell at you in some unknown dialect. It’s odd but it’s a rite of passage.


26. Ride a scooter


How is the bao an going to yell at you for parking your scooter in the wrong place if you don’t have a scooter! Buy one. It will get stolen and you will have an accident. But it’s FUNNN.


27. Hire an Ayi


‘Why would you clean if you can pay someone to clean?’ – Philosophy of a China Expat.

The best way to hire an Ayi is to ask around, get your colleagues to recommend someone they trust and then love the fact that you never have to iron again. If your colleagues are being no help at all, then you can turn to the web and hire an Ayi yourself.


Website: www.ayi-shanghai.com

Price: RMB 35-50 per hour


28. Share personal stories with your Ayi


Once you have hired said Ayi, they will only be able to come on a Tuesday night at 7pm and on a Saturday morning at 8am. Get used to the fact that they are going to be a big part of your life.


29. Get invited to a Tuhao party



Tuhaos are China’s answer to nouveau riche. Get invited to one of their parties for more fun that you can possibly handle and more Grey Goose than a small army can consume.


30. Stop ordering miniature things on Taobao by accident


This is the holy grail of all thing expat. When you have lived here long enough that you KNOW that nothing you order on TaoBao will arrive in miniature. Clothes will fit and furniture will not be for a dolls house. You, my friend, have conquered China.



Want to see how you have done compared to everyone else kicking about in this fair city? Vote below and see how you do. How many things can you kick off your Shanghai bucket list? Comment in the section below, or share on your moments and let us know!






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