Part 2
The fact that we weren’t up until 8am in the morning in the Shanghai nightlife like we had planned did have a silver lining, in that waking up early(ish) was not a struggle! The next place we wanted to visit was the Former French Concession area so we took a taxi for 18rmb from the Bund. This is a hugely sought after area to live in for expats of China because of its incredible history, beauty and abundance of shopping (Huaihai Road), dining and clubbing (Xintiandi and Tian Zi Fang) destinations.

Afterwards, we decided to take the metro for 3rmb to Jing’an Temple on West Nanjing Road. My first impression was that this historical temple was slightly out of place in the concrete jungle that is Shanghai [Entrance was 50rmb] and upon entering the temple courtyard, you could certainly feel a sense of peaceful escapism.

By this time the sun had set and we were exhausted… but like the stubborn interns we are, we decided to push on to the next destination – People’s Square, at the end of East Nanjing Road. This was another relaxing break from the hectic Shanghai streets and a nice walk.

Once we got back to the hostel, it was just a matter of counting down the time until the night began. The first place we headed to was Muse (On The Bund) which was a club I can definitely recommend with a large amount of fellow travellers going there. We attempted to go to the upmarket Bar Rouge afterwards, but sadly not everyone was dressed quite up to scratch. [Tip: Don’t wear shorts on a night out in Shanghai]. Being turned away from upmarket Bar Rouge did have a sense of serendipity to it though, as it prompted us to head to Hollywood, a more streetwise R&B club with a good buzz about it.

On our final full day we got on a ferry from the Bund for 2rmb and crossed the river to Pudong, where the huge skyscrapers are. This was a great place to walk around due to the obscenity of the monstrous buildings and the picturesque Lujiazui ring road. From there we headed to the Aquarium [Entrance was 160rmb] – just an average aquarium in my opinion, nothing special.
Our main aim for the day was to hit the tallest observatory tower in the world though– Shanghai World Financial Center ‘The Bottle Opener’ [Entrance was 180rmb or 120 with a student card]. 100 floors up, we could see this incredible city in its entirety (albeit through the smog). We stayed here from 5pm when it was still daylight and waited for night to set in and the skyline lights to appear at 7pm, something I would certainly recommend.

Our final night out in Shanghai took us to a nice foreigner-filled bar called Perry’s Café, a great place to start the night with cheap beers for 10rmb and mixer buckets for 45rmb. We then headed to a neighbouring club – Maya, which had a more local scene to it.

When we woke up in the morning, it was just a matter of grabbing some souvenirs from East Nanjing Road and then taking the metro and Magnetic levitation train (which can reach 430kmph) to the airport for our flight back – No delay this time!

The week as a whole was incredible, as a city lover, it had everything that I wanted. So if you ever find yourself in China for an internship or simply for travelling, go live it up in Shanghai!

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