August 2008
SHANGHAI EXPRESS
You'll have to hurry, but in two days you can just about crack this otherworldly Chinese megalopolis
INTRO
Paris Hilton, for once, said it best: "Shanghai looks like the future!" It does—a glance at the skyline will confirm—but it's also French colonial mansions, cacophonous insect markets, and art ghettos that nevertheless feel as legitimately provocative as the China pavilion at Disney World. Here's how to make the most of 48 hours in one of the world's most exciting cities.
Day 1 10 a.m. Arrive Pudong International Airport! Note oppressive humidity and abundance of advertisements referencing Olympics.
11:15 a.m. Pudong Shangri-La (http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/shanghai/pudongshangrila): Be sure to request a room in the new tower, as high up as possible, to make the most of wall-to-wall windows that overlook the Huangpu River: littered with dragon boats and cargo ships and all of it beneath a sickly, smoggy sky.
1 p.m. Only make time for Super Brand Mall (http://www.superbrandmall.com/)—with H&M, Zara, Starbucks and Esprit—in cases of exceptional homesickness. If you'll be in town for a week and lack the ethical reservations, pick up a Chanel-inspired jacket at the fabric market; coordinate with a Chloe-replica handbag either in the area surrounding the old Xianglang market or its replacement next to the Science and Technology Museum metro stop in Pudong. Realize that anyone who cares about a Chloe Edith will recognize a fake, and anyone who doesn't won't be impressed to begin with. Find authentic design pieces at Spin—vases, plates, lots of chopstick rests; they may be the only ceramics worth taking home in the country.
3 p.m. Order a dumpling lunch from street vendor while walking through French Concession. The dumplings are cheap, a benefit perhaps outweighed by the fact that they are often not quite warm through.
6:30 p.m. Retreat to room to cough up pollution in lungs, watch pirated DVDs purchased on street, plus observe Shanghai skyline become most beautiful thing ever.
9:30 p.m. Dinner at Jade 36, overlooking the Bund: French tasting menu with lots of infusions and foams but delicious.
11:30 p.m. More coughing. Sleep with the curtains open so as not to miss morning view.
Day 2 10:30 a.m. Off to Suzhou Creek Art Area, with loads of galleries of emerging art—oddly not much of it very good, despite the fact that contemporary Chinese art is so strong at the moment.
12:00 p.m. Next, to the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts: embroidery, ceramics, theater costumes, paper-cuts, with some work made on-premises and available to buy from grumpy, retired-looking artisans.
1:30 p.m. Walk along the Bund. Realize that view is better from luxurious, cool hotel room, and time is wasting, and hurry to the markets.
3:00 p.m. Now to the antique market: as if every garage in the country dropped its debris on the sidewalk. Much of the merchandise is same-y (seen one Mao backpack, seen them all; also, Mao posters, Mao plates, Mao shot glasses). This is not true for the Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect market nearby: a third-world pet store without volume control.
6:00 p.m. Early, insect-cleansing dinner at Nepali Kitchen, followed by drinks at Bar Rouge, which locals will assure you is the "hottest bar in Shanghai". The crowd tonight may be a bit models-and-bottles, but the view looking back to Pudong, is worth the buzz of awkward Western pick-up lines and polite, broken-English demurrals.