Surviving Shanghai: Arrival Mishaps!

So I went on a weekend trip to Shanghai with my BFF. There's only 1 flight everyday from Manila to Shanghai via Cebu Pacific at 8:20 pm and it arrives in Shanghai at around 12mn. 

We got our tickets booked on sale last June and it only cost us around Php 5000+ roundtrip. About the visa, we got it 4 days after our application. Well we just renewed the Chinese visa we got September last year for a weekend trip in Beijing. I suggest you course it through an established travel agency because it's a whole lot easier.

We left Manila (NAIA Terminal 3) on Sept. 20, 8:20 pm. During our trip, the plane was less than half full. And 90% of the passengers were Chinese. After more than 3 hrs in the plane, we're finally in Shanghai. You better grab those tourist maps you can see on your way to the immigration.

neck pillows:)

The Pudong International Airport was almost closed when we got there. We were starving but got no place to eat. Our check-in at the hotel is at 12 noon and we have 12 hours more to go. We thought we could hang in the airport but we're wrong. Then an English-speaking Chinese guy with an "airport service" name plate approached us and offered us help in getting an "airport hotel". At first we thought that's the "per hour" hotel at the airport but we ended up booking a hotel, which was a 15-minute ride from the airport. initially the guy told us it will only cost us 300 RMB so we agreed. We bought snacks from Family Mart, the only open convenience store in the airport. Then we got out of the airport, rode a van, and arrived at the hotel. There we were charged 398 RMB for our room. Thank God, to the Chinese-speaking South African guy, a hotel guest who was nice enough to do the translation. The place was a bit creepy. And the bathroom was see-through! So we slept for a couple of hours and left the hotel at 10am. They gave us a free ride from the hotel back to the airport.

never again!

right before we left the "emergency hotel" haha

We're supposed to take the MagLev train but it will cost us a lot more so we settled on the regular Metro train. That's Line 2 from the airport. You better pay attention while in the train because at Guanglan Station, you'll have to get out of the train, transfer to the other side and ride a new train because if not, you'll end up heading back to the airport. It's kinda weird because when the train reaches Guanglan Road, it does not head to the next station, but goes back to the airport. When we noticed that the train was pulling back, we got off immediately after two stations back. We went back again to Guanglan Station and rode the right train after. Anyway, so we got off at East Nanjing Road, then transferred to Line 10 and got off at North Sichuan Road. Our hotel is at Dongbaoxing Road so it took us a really long walk to get to our hotel, most especially because we started walking at the wrong way. haha!

Note: The SHANGHAI METRO app is very helpful. Be sure to download it before going to Shanghai. It navigates you around Shanghai by telling what Metro Lines to take and which stations to go. It even calculates your estimated travel time. It's an offline app so you can use it even if you're not connected to the internet.

We stayed at Jinjiang Inn. It's a group of hotels so there are a lot of branches in Shanghai. But for the Dongbaoxing branch, we're really satisfied. They got good service and they got really nice rooms. We booked it via Agoda, and 3 nights cost us about Php 4,000+. It's super worth it! There's LAN in the rooms, plus cable TV, and heater at the shower. They also have wifi at the lobby. Room keys are cards, and these cards are required to be inserted in the elevator to bring you up in your room.

After a few minutes of rest at the hotel, we went out and started exploring the city. That's what my next post will be all about....

xoxo

not so far from the metro

i had a one night break from the usual city life weekend and just spent it with my orgmates at Antipolo. it was such a high place. it's cold, and it had a very nice view of the metro. it's not the usual city skyline that we see in lower places. it looked really great more especially when the sun had fully set, and the lights from the houses and buildings were already up. looking at this view had been very relaxing for me.


Along the Hinulugang Taktak Road was (i think) Villa Cristina Subdivision, where a lot of resthouses could be found. We entered the subdivision, and there was this road to the right going up to the place we reserved for our gathering. It was really scary going up because the road was so steep. It was along this road where the 3B Resthouse was.

It was a nice and sulit place. It had 5 rooms, a function hall, a swimming pool, a videoke machine, and all the space you'll need to do the things you want. I believe the place was good for 50 people or even more. For only Php 4,500, we owned the place from 6pm to 6am. it was really worth it. in fact, i wanted to come back there.