24 Hours: Shanghai

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by Jim Sutherland in International

CITY TRAVEL

The go-to guide — when you’ve barely got a weekend

by Jim Sutherland

From May to October 2010, China’s biggest, busiest and flashiest city is hosting what promises to be the biggest, busiest and flashiest World’s Fair ever. The only problem may be determining which neighbourhood crowded with pedestrian throngs and architectural marvels is the fair site and which is just Shanghai.

Pudong, for example, an area of town conceived in the 1990s, rivals anything the fair’s designers have come up with. And that’s saying something, with the United Kingdom’s pavilion a fuzzball of pixels that shimmer in the wind and Canada’s turned over carte blanche to Cirque du Soleil. Given that building construction elsewhere in the world is largely curtailed these days, all that creativity is a bonanza for those keen on architecture, design or technology – or who merely like to be whispered to by trees, as will happen outside the Israeli pavilion. On summer days, a half-million people are expected at the five-square-kilometre riverside site, to mingle with robots and ogle such treasures as Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid, relocated for the duration. And just outside the fair gates, Shanghai will bustle as only Shanghai can.

“Ambitious” doesn’t begin to describe this city of 20 million-plus, where vice is tolerated as if it were Bangkok and capitalism pursued as if it were New York. No other place melds First and Third Worlds in quite the same way, particularly given the subtle but nevertheless omnipresent overlay of communist government. (That poster-portrait of a smiling authority figure could be Chairman Mao, still emblematic of the PRC, or, equally likely, Colonel Sanders, emblematic of KFC, a surprise Chinese sensation.) Case in point: Nanjing Road is thought to be the largest shopping destination in Asia, if not worldwide. The kilometre-plus pedestrian mall links the historic Bund district (with the planet’s largest stock of Art Deco buildings) to People’s Square. Of course, nowadays, that vast civic complex might more accurately be called People-Watching Square – one more indication of Shanghai’s emphatic arrival as a global capital.

Shanghai: Insider’s Guide

The Go Spots Shanghai can be frantic, and its summers hot and muggy, so make a point of getting out of town. • Arrange a day tour to ancient canal-side water villages, including Suzhou and Zhouzhuang. • Overnight at Hangzhou for a boat ride on beautiful West Lake, once an Imperial retreat. • Bus, train or fly to Huangshan in the Yellow Mountains. Reach your peak-top hotel by half-day climb, cable car or — for the truly lazy, decadent or romantic — sedan chair.

Trendy Vittles Restaurants of every type abound, but how about, oh, Chinese? Tourists and ex-pats tend to frequent spots such as Xintiandi, a pedestrian complex re-creating the Shanghai of the 1920s and lined with top-notch eateries (including Ye Shanghai and Crystal Jade). But everyday restaurants provide similar fare for far less, typically for under $5 per person. At the most basic you’ll be led to a counter and asked to point out which plucked chicken, wriggling fish or other unidentifiable ingredient you’d like sautéed.

Best Crash Zones Shanghai’s traffic is horrendous, so being central is key.

• The Seagull on the Bund is a slightly tarnished Art Deco jewel with amazing views of Pudong, a four-star rating and specials dipping well below $100/night.

SHANGHAI The Park Hyatt Shanghai occupies floors – 79 to 93 – of one of the world’s 10 tallest buildings. Courtesy Hyatt Hotels and Resorts

• The Park Hyatt Shanghai occupies floors 79 to 93 of one of the world’s 10 tallest buildings. Rates: commensurate but lower than they’d be in other countries.

>>Former WL editor and now MyWestworld Vancouver city columnist Jim Sutherland blogs on Vancouver Chinatown’s Centre A, one of the world’s leading exhibitors of contemporary Asian art — and a world-class tea steeper during the Olympics with calligraphy/tea master Brian Mulvihill.

>>Plus: The Perfect Tea at MyWestworld.com/tea

>>For a heads up on Victoria’s fusian tea emporium/tasting bar/spa): An Educated Sip: Victoria’s Top Tea House

Tags: Shanghai - insider's guide, Shanghai 2010 World Fair, Shanghai city guide, Shanghai's Park Hyatt Hotel