A Week in Shanghai Part Two – The Adventures

I’m back with the second part of my shanghai trip. This times it’s all about the places we went, the things we saw and where we stayed. Unfortunately it’s probably not as long as my food post about shanghai because let’s face it, this was high key a foodcation as any good vacation is, but I still have some things to say about my adventures as well.

WHERE WE STAYED

So first things first, we stayed at The Phoenix, otherwise known as LaoShan hostel. For $14 a night, it was pretty decent accommodations. My friends and I shared a 6 bedroom dorm, ensuite. In theory, having your own bathroom that you share with only 5 other people is nice, but in reality 6 girls sharing a single bathroom is not a very smart idea. With that aside, the ensuite wasn’t bad; a cleaner came in everyday to clean up the bathroom, which was really nice. One of the biggest surprise was that they had real mattresses on the bottom bed, which personally I think is a rarity for China (I barely have a real mattress in my apartment). It was nice and soft and called for a good night sleep.

The hostel also has a rooftop bar that you can probably read all about on tripadvisor. Everyone talked about the guy who works there, Dexter, and how amazing he is. And you know what they were right. He has a knack for remembering people and information about them after only speaking to someone once.

Overall, the hostel was a nice place to stay, just thirty minutes by subway to most touristy spots. I definitely recommend if you’re looking for a cheap place to stay and also want to meet people because hostels are a good way to meet people.

THE BARS

During our time in Shanghai, my friends and I went to a few bars and some of them were pretty cool, if not a little overpriced.

We went to a hidden bar called Speak Low and when I say hidden, I really mean hidden. When we first showed up we thought there was nothing there until someone came out and told us to go in. I won’t ruin the secret of where the bar is hidden because you should check it out for yourselves. The drinks were fine but overpriced and the place is kind of small but I think its all about the hidden bar experience.

The next bar we went to was called The Captain. It was a bar inside of a hostel and this one was much bigger than the first one and had a nice view of the city. When it’s warm you can sit outside and enjoy your drink and take in the city.

Another place we went to was called The Parrot. It was pretty small, with only a few tables. In my opinion nothing really special.

My favorite spot was Zapatas, a Mexican food and bar. I didn’t get food but I heard they have taco Tuesdays with all you can eat tacos. I was there on a Friday and they have free tequila shots every hour on the hour. You can dance on the bars and there are really fun quotes all over the place. What I loved the most about the place was the music. They did not play the EDM or bad music that they usually play in China. There were songs that you could dance to and I danced the night away.

JUST TOURIST THINGS

The last part I’ll talk about was the touristy things we did while in Shanghai. Being a tourist is not my favorite thing to do because it tends to be crowded and can get annoying but nonetheless there were some tourist attractions we went to see.

First off, you must see The Bund. It’s a beautiful skyline of the city and totally worth getting a picture of it.

My favorite tourist thing to see was the French Concession. The neighborhood is the best in Shanghai in my opinion. We ended up there everyday. Also if you read my last post that’s where a lot of the food places are located. It’s such a beautiful neighborhood, you can wander around for hours going into the shops and just hang out. I found a couple of bookstores there, which was great.

We also went to Nanjing Road which is a big shopping street and we wandered into a few stores. A few blocks away was Shanghai Foreign Language bookstore and for me personally, bookstores are always a good time.

Yu garden is a nice place to go to wander. You can literally spend hours getting lost in the place, I know we did. It’s very big and has lots of greenery and you can take a lot of pictures. Similar to that, is Zhongshan Park, also a good to place to wander on a nice summer day.

People’s Square was right near our hostel and on the list of places to check out. So we went there and saw a marriage market where people put up umbrellas to sell their kids off to marriage, which was a pretty interesting thing to see.

That about wraps up how I spent my time in Shanghai. It’s was long overdue but I’m glad we finally got through this and I hope this gives you guys some ideas of things to do if you ever find yourself in Shanghai!

A Week in Shanghai Part One – The Food

For Chinese New Year my friends and I decided to visit Shanghai (they were the cheapest tickets we can find). It was my first time visiting the city and it’s by far my favorite city in China.

This originally started off as a comprehensive post of my entire trip to Shanghai but 1000 words in I was still talking about food, so I decided to break them up and start with the most important. THE FOOD.

Liquid Laundry

• Let’s start off this post right at liquid laundry. We went here twice, once in the beginning of the trip and once at the end (only because they were closed in between). I got the macaroni and cheese and man oh man, to quote The Jonas Brothers “Now i’m speechless, over the edge and just breathless.” I haven’t had mac and cheese in a while so when I saw it on the menu I just had to get it and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I also got the avocado ranch burger and it was so big and so juicy and just all around a good freaking time. My friends got the chicken and mashed potato and mac and cheese, I can’t speak for them but my food was amazing.
• The second time we went there, we got brunch and I ordered the corn bread with bacon, which i’m not going to lie was disappointing because it was literally what it said it was going to be. There were corn pieces baked into bread and I expected something different. I also got the Korean chicken sandwich, which was really good. My friends got the waffles, eggs Benedict and pancakes. It was all picture perfect and all in all a very good brunch.

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

Shanghai Brewery

• Shanghai Brewery was deemed our second home in Shanghai by one of my friends. We stumbled across it (you’ll start to see a pattern) because they had relatively cheap happy hour prices and it was the nicest day – weather wise – in Shanghai, so we decided to day drink. They had really good drinks, we tried the mojitos, margaritas, tequila sunrise, some beers and for food we tried the buffalo chicken wings, fajitas, mashed potatoes and loaded nachos. Let me tell you there were all  good, I mean we must have thought it was because we kept going back.

The Ramen Bar

• Another place we stumbled upon, it was right next to the hidden bar and by far our cheapest meal in Shanghai, but also a hidden gem. It was a kind of asian fusion and I had the kimchi stir-fry pork and let me tell you it was heavenly. I have a strong love for Korean food and that dish just did it for me. My friends had the bibimbap and I tried some, it was good too, but that kimchi stir fried pork was top-notch. 👌🏽

Catina Agave

• I was really excited to go to this place because I was really craving Mexican food but unfortunately nothing compares to Q-mex in Beijing and this place left me feeling unsatisfied. I tried to get a burrito bowl but they only had burrito’s and it lacked in flavor. However, they did have bottomless chips and salsa and a free drink.

Moka Bros

• Moka Bros is what I would like to called an LA girl menu. It has all the trendy food such as acai bowls, avocado toast, smoothies. I just feel like it’s downtown Los Angelos in a menu. I had the avocado toast, unfortunately it was on rye bread and I found out that I am not a fan of rye bread so I didn’t enjoy the toast as much as I would have if it was just on regular bread.

Beef and Liberty

• Subpar food for high prices. This was one of the places that was actually on the list to go and it disappointed. The burger was average, the fries were average and the food was expensive. My friend got to the point where the more she thought about it, the more she hated it. At first it was just ok to her, by the end of the trip she was cursing their names.

Charlie’s

• A burger joint that we did stumbled upon and it turned  out 100 times better than the one stated above. We went to the location looking for a fast food Mexican joint but it wasn’t there anymore so we said “what the hey” and decided to eat here instead. The hotdog, (I wish you guys can see my face as I think about the hotdog)  it was so good I could cry. I mean, I may just be saying that because it was my first time having a hotdog in a while but it was so good. The avocado burger was also really good but the hotdog, man, the hotdog. I also had a milkshake because they are known for their milkshakes and that was delicious as well, but once again the hotdog. 

Original Korean Taste

• Remember earlier, I was talking about my love for Korean food, well because of that KBBQ had to go on the list. This was hands down the best Korean barbecue that I’ve had in China. We really went all out with this one, we ordered so many things on the menu including, kimchi jjigae, Korean pancakes, a pork stir fry dish and pork belly. OK that may not sound like a lot but but we didn’t have any space on the table because you know there are also the sides, when it comes to KBBQ. Is “it was so good” banned from my dictionary yet? Ok fine, it was amazingly delicious. We went back the next night and ordered the exact same thing, if that tells you what we think about it. Also all the food split between the three of us was so cheap.

I talk about the prices a lot because compared to other parts in China, Shanghai is an expensive city and considering we ate our way through most of the trip, I just want to let anyone who has a budget know what they are getting into when they go there. Some of the items are even more expensive than NYC and my friend said that the drinks are more expensive than in London. So you have been warned. Other than that feel free to eat your way to shanghai like we did, it was delicious!