SHANGHAI IN THREE DAYS

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Day 5: Shanghai in three days: Jing'an Temple, Wujiang Road, People's Square, Shanghai Museum - Train from Shanghai to Lhasa

If the forecasts were that both yesterday and before yesterday it rained and ended up not being fulfilled, last night when we looked at how the weather was going to be today we had a complete itinerary for this Shanghai in three days, directly put that rain was expected for tomorrow, something that this time they have been successful. So as soon as we wake up when it is 6:00 in the morning and listen to the noise of the rain through the window, we have to rethink the day a little, taking these first hours of the morning with some more tranquility, allowing us to work a bit and review the notes we have from the previous days and when it is approximately 9:00 in the morning and we see that the sky is much clearer, leave the Shanghai Fish Inn Hotel East Nanjing Road, today was our last night here, where They keep our backpacks to go straight to breakfast.

East Shanghai in three days It will take us to know some of the places that we had pending and that we could not visit in the itinerary that we had planned in which to see in Shanghai in two days or the first day we were in Shanghai.

Shanghai in three days

The route of this third day in Shanghai will take us to know the Jing'an Temple, Wujiang Road, People's Square and the Shanghai Museum, before returning to the hotel and starting what will be our trip to Tibet proper, taking a train from Shanghai to Lhasa, where we will spend 48 hours, adapting to the altitude.

The first visit we will make in this Shanghai in three days will take us to the Jing'an Temple. To arrive we have to take line 2 on Nanjing Road, next to our hotel, where we only have to travel three stops (3RMB per person), to reach our destination.
We arrive when it is 10:20 in the morning and after paying 50RMB per person we enter this temple, less known in Shanghai, but we have to say, it is very interesting and deserves a visit.

Jing'an Temple

The Jing'an temple was built in the 13th century and one of the things that attract us the most is its location, surrounded by shopping centers and skyscrapers, which also make it known as “the temple of peace and tranquility”, Since it is the perfect place to escape the chaos that often invades the city.

Jing'an Temple

Jing'an Temple Shanghai in three days

We enjoy this small temple and haven of peace, completely absorbed by the materialistic world at the moment you leave it, for almost an hour, losing ourselves and trying to keep all the sensations of these last hours in Shanghai, which will serve as a door Entrance for the incredible trip that we are about to start and that will take us to one of the places we most wanted to know for years: Tibet.

Jing'an Temple

We went back to the streets of Shanghai to go to Wujiang Road, a very famous shopping street, where we have read there are many shops and places to eat. We are a kilometer and a half away that we decided to walk, on Beijing West Road, losing ourselves between shopping centers and the odd building that make us move to another time.

Beijing West Road

Beijing West Road details

We arrived at Wujiang Road, and as usually happens on some occasions, a feeling of disappointment It invades us. It may be that it is very early and there is still not much atmosphere, but the only thing we find is a fairly small street, in which there are many shops both on one side and another of the street, they are shops of western brands and several local Restoration, also very focused on the western public, something that really makes us doubt the truth of what we had read, and from what we have come here, where they explained that Wujiang Road was a traditional place, where you could eat local food.

Wujiang Road

Seeing this, we decided to travel the entire street, something that does not take us more than 10 minutes and continue with the plan we have for this Shanghai in three days, going to People's Square, another of the green lungs of the city, which will also take us to the most central area.

Wujiang Road

We soon arrive more than 20 minutes, entering one of the most popular green areas of the city, where we enjoy the last hours in Shanghai. In addition, this is the perfect area to cross, as in the rest of the city parks, with places playing sports, playing or simply, putting into practice their hobbies.

People's Square

More practical information to prepare your trip to Shanghai
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It's almost 1 noon when the stomach starts to get our attention, so being here we have not been able to resist approaching Yang's Dumplings, which they say are one of the best dumplings in the city and that is right next to People's Square.

The place is quite small, although there are tables inside, in addition to that there is usually a line, but this usually goes quite fast. The process is fairly simple. First you have to get in the queue in the box, where you have to place the order and pay. With the ticket you go out to the street and you get in the queue of the counter where the dumplings are served and once with them, you can go inside and sit down to taste them or go directly to somewhere near to taste them.

Yang's Dumplings

After seeing there are 5 dishes to choose from, we have chosen the one that has six dumplings: 2 vegetables, 2 meat and 2 prawns. They are quite large, so to eat, at least we have had enough with one tray for each. And the unbeatable price: the plate of 6 is 16RMB, that is, two euros and little and you have a tray of one of the best dumplings in the city.

Yang's Dumplings

And after this tasting, as a desktop nothing better than a couple of ice cream and a couple of coffees that we had in a place next to the park, with which we recreated a little more than an hour, enjoying these last hours in Shanghai.

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It's a little after two in the afternoon when we return to People's Square, this time to take a walk with which to lower the food a little and get closer to the Shanghai Museum, the most recommended museum in the city, than being in this area , we have not wanted to get lost.
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Shanghai Museum

The entrance to the Shanghai Museum is free, so if you are in the area and have a couple of hours, we think it is a very interesting visit, as well as pleasant, with which to approach the Chinese culture. It also has a collection of more than 120000 pieces that cover a period of more than 8000 years.

Tibetan masks in the Shanghai Museum

After the visit and when it's almost 4 in the afternoon, we decided to end this Shanghai in three days, returning to the Shanghai Fish Inn East Nanjing Road Hotel, where we have to pick up our backpacks before we start to travel to Tibet.
When doing this journey by subway, making a transfer, we have thought about what it would mean to do this but with the backpacks, so once in the hotel we have asked about the price of a taxi to the train station and telling us to enter 20-30RMB, as you can imagine, nor have we thought about it for a second, opting for this option to move us.
So, when it's 5 in the afternoon, our train from Shanghai to Lhasa It leaves at 20: 10h, we ask the hotel to call a taxi and for 26RMB we planted at the Shanghai Railway Station in 10 minutes.
As we explained in our trip to China in 25 days, the process of catching a train in China is much easier than it may seem at first glance.
The first thing you should do is go to collect the tickets if you do not already have them and only have a locator. For this you will have to queue at the outside ticket offices of the station and pick up the ticket.
If you already have the physical ticket, you must look for the entrance to the station, make the corresponding entry queue to the station and once inside, show ticket and passport.
There are usually queues, so we recommend that you do not go with the right time and less in large stations such as Beijing or Shanghai, since here you will not find a way to explain that you are late and miss the train, so that they let you advance in the tail, with the consequent headache.
Once with the documentation shown, you must pass a luggage security check, where you must put backpacks, suitcases, handbags or anything you carry with you.
When passing it you will access the lobby of the station where you will see panels in which the train number is indicated first, then the departure time and finally, the waiting room.
In Chinese characters you can see the destination, although keep in mind that this is always the final destination, so if you go to an intermediate station, you will not see that name, even in Chinese.

In our case the train leaves at 20:10 and the destination is Lhasa.

It's almost six in the afternoon when we settle in room 1, ready to wait for the arrival of the train from Shanghai to Lhasa, in which after spending 48 hours, it will take us to our dream destination for so long.

Waiting room of the train from Shanghai to Lhasa

As the afternoon progresses the waiting room will be filled more and more, as well as the public address announcements, which are set at such a high volume, that in order to prevent our heads from exploding, we choose to take several turns around area, in which we see that there are only two Westerners apart from us, something that makes us anticipate that this will be a most attractive route.
With the passing of the minutes, people start to take out their bags of food, which we have to say are truly impressive, although we do not have to forget that they are 48 hours of travel.

Waiting room of the train from Shanghai to Lhasa

In our case we have listened to the recommendations we had read and we have stocked with different buns and biscuits for breakfast, some potatoes, snacks and also several boats of instant soups, including a miso soup and some noodles, which you can fill with hot water in the different cars and with which we hope to have lunch and dinner the next two days.
Given the forecast that we have in the coming days and not having to have dinner directly on the train today, we take advantage of the fact that there is a KFC at the bottom, where we take the opportunity to make a quick dinner with which to carry the already conditioned stomach and not have to be thinking about doing it in the train compartment later.
And so when a few minutes past 7:30 p.m., the security controls that give us access to the train platforms begin, where we just get off to find what will be our car, where we will spend the next two nights.

Train from Shanghai to Lhasa

In our case, as we commented in the preparations to travel to Tibet we will travel in first class, that is to say in soft bunk that is a compartment with four bunk beds, closed. In this category, a washbasin is shared for each of the cars, there is a western one and one that is a latrine and there is a restaurant car that is right next to the first class car.
The soft berth is the most expensive option, $ 220 per person and route and it is also the option that ends before, since in addition, there is only a first class car. Tickets go on sale 20 days before and can only be purchased through a Chinese intermediary website or a travel agency.
In our case we have managed all The China Guide, which will be our companions on this trip and that they worried from the minute one to get us the soft berths, since if they had not been able to buy it we would have had to go in second class that are compartments without closing, of three berths for each row, so that practically You can say that you have no privacy, besides being quite more uncomfortable, being a hard berth.

Soft bunk compartment. Train from Shanghai to Lhasa

Spend about 20 minutes since we entered the train from Shanghai to Lhasa when we are already settled, each one in his bunk, when three train reviewers appear, nothing more and nothing less, to ask us for all the documentation for the trip to Tibet, that is, all the permits that The China Guide has processed for us. This confirms what we had read and it is that you cannot initially reach Lhasa by train unless you have the necessary permits, since if we had not had them, you would have invited us to get off the train without any option.

After checking all the permits and passports, they tell us that everything is perfect, but in half Chinese, half English, they inform us that tomorrow at 9 at night we will have to make a train change in Xining, the last stop that There is before arriving in Tibet, who will be waiting for us when we arrive and that it will be the adapted train, with oxygen, that will take us to Lhasa.
With this novelty, which we did not have, we lie back in our bunk beds, book in hand and classical music in the background, ready to spend the first night in the train from Shanghai to Lhasa.

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