Shanghai Day 2: City God Temple, Zig Zag Bridge at Yu Garden & Xintiandi (Part 1)

Continuation from Shanghai Day 1: MAS again, Maglev Train, The Bund & Becoming Zombie!

Day 2 is the day where I felt like I’m following a tour group instead of backpacker schedule. We were whisked here and there at full speed by our friend who had visited Shanghai previously. Also we were caution by her not to eat street foods as the oil used are very dirty and unhygienic. Some sellers get their oils from the drain!!! So I get the feeling I will get to sample lots of fast food joints during this trip. 😉

Because we were living like a zombie the previous day, we decided to take it easy and wake up late. By 9.30am we were out of the door with a game plan at hand. We took the City Sightseeing Bus again which drop us right in front of City God Temple.

Ob board the City Sightseeing bus. I think this is clever way to absorb Shanghai! Sure subway is cheaper but you won’t get to see the people, architecture and environment on street level.


Sichuan road in Shanghai. Would have love to explore these shops by foot.

Road signs in Shanghai.

Passing by The Bund again.

At the open-top of the bus.

When you pay 30 Yuan for the ticket card of 24 hour ride, you get a brochure and earphones too. Plug ’em at the slot in the picture and you get to listen to the history of the attractions and so on. Really good.

This is the City Sightseeing bus.

Try ’em if you have the chance.

Entrance to City God Temple. The name City God Temple means 2 things, the temple itself and the complex surrounding the temple.

Awesome buildings. First thing we did was wait for the friend to shop for her kids’ stuff for her next trip.

I love these buildings. Feel like we’re in a different world!

Entrance ticket (10 Yuan) to City God Temple… to the temple itself… which literally took us 5 minutes to see the whole thing. LOL Why can’t I hung out longer? Because the others are waiting already. Ok. So what’s the next agenda?

This is the entrance to the City God Temple. Love the roof and design.

I went inside the temple and pray for good health for everyone in my family including Chester. 🙂

This is how you light the joss-sticks. It can be risky if the wind blows.

Then we waited over half an hour for our friends to do some ‘Loh Hon Pan’ aka Shanghai Bund shooting. Yup they geared up wearing cheongsam, siting in a richshaw with old Bund backdrop. I didn’t do it because I don’t want to wear the same clothes worn by many others. Dirty… yuck! Haha Next we were all complaining of being hungry since it’s nearly 1pm. I was expecting to be brought to McDonalds but ended up at a restaurant called He Feng Lou. Read my review of He Feng Lou here.

Next they went on looking for pearl powder and finally get it done at a government run pharmacy. Quite an eye-opener. I did some shopping too; bought 5-spice nuts, magnet and Longjing tea. Longjing tea is actually a local product of Hangzhou but I read good quality ones are sold in big city whereas the not so good one remain in Hangzhou. Therefore I bought the tea in Shanghai.

On that morning itself, I told them I wanted to visit Yu Garden for its osmanthus flower which is in season. Osmanthus flower give off a really nice perfume-y smell. Yu Garden is just beside City God Temple but what I got is a brief visit to the Zig Zag bridge near Yu Garden. Nope I didn’t voice it out at that point because I wanted to see to what extent it will go. I want to read people’s heart.

The zig zag bridge or also known as jiu qu bridge. If you go straight on you will reach Yu Garden.

The pretty building beside the bridge is the famous Huxinting Tea House aka Mid-Lake Pavilion.

This is a restaurant called Lu Bo Lang. Hahaha funny name eh.

Standing at the zig zag bridge overlooking Jiu Qu Jiao Square.

Nan Xiang steamed bun restaurant. I so wanna try this but no… we must hurry because we’re in a tour group remember?

We went back to the stop and waited for the sightseeing bus. While waiting we stopped at McDonalds for the ice-cream and H&M nearby. Apparently international brands are expensive here but that doesn’t stop us from getting something. Haha Our next stop is Xintiandi (新天地).

Shanghainese’s hobby: Sitting by the roadside in a group. Really! I saw this lots of time near our accommodation. They have tea, alcohol and nuts. Chit-chatting or play card games I guess. This one is from the bus.

The modern part of Xintiandi with shopping center.

Old Shanghainese’ houses called Shikumens were converted into commercial area. Hence the name 新天地 (San Tin Tei).

Super nice alleyway.

Xintiandi are packed with nice international eateries.

Starbucks at Xintiandi. The building is awesome ya?

Flowers at Xintiandi. Imagined this were once someone’s else home. Sigh to commercialization.

I stop here for part 1 of day 2 or else my post title will run very long!