*Getting there: High speed train, as well as normal trains from other major cities

*Getting around: Taxi. Metro system is very extensive.

*Money: Visa/MasterCard accepted in very few establishments. Mobile payment is the preferred mode of payment. Cash otherwise.

*Language: English not widely spoken, so be prepared with some standard Chinese phrases. Even better write it down and point-shouldn’t be so hard with all the translation apps.

*See: Having been there for an evening only, we can only recommend the night skyline when all the buildings including the Pearl tower lights up.

*Tips: If you are taking the metro to reach Pudong airport make sure you take the metro earlier than 9:00pm. No metro to the international airport of Pudong after around 10:00.

Japan was a flight away from Shanghai. So we headed down to Shanghai for the flight and spent an evening in the city. Here are some pictures from the financial heart of China where apparently billions of dollars gets traded everyday.

We also headed into the old market of Shanghai, trading in all sorts of quirky ‘goods’ which includes live animals and fighting crickets.

The most part of the traveling experience in China seems to be setup to create a mini chaos. It is really hard to understand how an international airport in the financial heart of a country, can have a metro which does not service it all through the night! You heard it right. If you plan to take the metro to Pudong airport make sure you leave well in advance and in any case not later that 9:00 pm. Even on the same line, there is a transfer station on the way to the airport and if you do not get to this transfer station before 10:00pm you will not reach the airport since the metro stops 2-3 stations before that; throwing you into the hands of taxi drivers waiting to make a quick buck. If somebody in Shanghai who can change this situation is reading this blog, please do!