Did you know that if you have a long layover in Shanghai, you can check out this Chinese city without applying for a visa?
I found an amazing fare to India… but it had an 8 hour layover in Shanghai each way. I stumbled across some info on 24 hour -144 hour transit waivers/visas. All you need to do is fill out a departure card, show your onward ticket, and go through customs.
Once through customs… we boarded the Maglev Train (a high speed train that takes you about half way into the city). From there, we jumped onto the metro and exited in the middle of Shanghai.
As soon as we walked out into the city, we found a food stall making jianbing, a common breakfast item. We tried it out an loved it. It was like a crepe with sweet bean paste, green onions, and a crispy wafer in the middle.
Next we wandered around and found The Bund. This is where you get a great view of Shanghai’s skyline across the river. On our side of the river, the Main Street was lined with beautiful, charming, old buildings.
We walked along the water until we saw a sign for the City God Temple? While heading towards the temple, we found a tea shop. We had some tea in a quiet courtyard surrounded by bamboo along with a bunch of older Chinese gentlemen.
After tea, we found the temple. It’s a beautiful concourse of traditional Chinese architecture. The entire place is filled with shops and crowded with people.
After walking all around the temple, we chose to just wander the streets to see what we would find. Lots of old bikes along the streets, little shops, and a couple parks.
We tried another breakfast treat.. this one fried and also delicious. Finally we decided we should find a metro and head back to the airport.
It was a very brief stop on Shanghai.. but memorable. I would definitely jump on the chance to spend a little more time in this charming city.
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