Things to Do In Shanghai and What To Expect at Disneyland Shanghai | Tips and Travel Story

Call it audaciously sculptural or pared down and pristine , the architectural ingenuity of the old town in Shanghai engages with the eyes and imagination in such a way that you can't put your head down for a second .
Be prepared to bump into people and poles as you gaze up to appreciate the beauty .
You can't understand this unless you are over and around it .

Shanghai a city and the most idyllic location to find a  sleek and a savvy vibe that you would never run out of things to do. Its a city with modern and an interesting twist to tradition.

I absolutely loved globe trotting in a new era of personalization and identified a whole lot of local secrets and adventures the city has to offer.

Trying to sum up what to expect in the city in a wildly unfiltered way and revealing much more from a local's perspective. Resourcing it all in this blog post , so be patient lovelies.

We were booked at Hotel Howard Johnson Plaza which is straight opposite Nanjing road, one of the most happening streets of Shanghai, also coz you get to do all the touristy things around like the most famous Bund river sightseeing, which is about 750mts .I have a panoramic shot of the beautiful Shanghai at night which could just light you up .Check it all out here.

Nanjing road, is a shopping heaven . And in case your motto is to shop , this street would eat your entire two days.Nothing like walking out of the hotel lobby and bang suddenly you are in the buzz  of it all.

You can get used to the skyscrapers and sit with a beer along the Bund riverside for hours . The twinkling ferries ushers the passengers along the riverside and delivers them to the waterfront . The ferry ride is a package deal with the Pearl tower sightseeing and  should not be missed.

The locals do not speak English. Its very rare that you find someone who would jump onto having a conversation with you. I figured a few were even scared to even share some broken sentences in English hence totally ignored us when we asked them directions. I realized this on Day 2 , and after that totally figured everything out via google maps.

Shanghai is a paradise for food lovers. And those who feel a vegetarian could not survive , damn I put on weight despite all the walking. Shanghai can literally spoil you for food. And boy you can get Vegetarian food in Shanghai almost everywhere. The hotel had a vegetarian menu , plus we discovered a lot of local restaurants who could just switch any dish to your preference. There are some stand alone shacks who sell rice noodle salads, with cucumber , bean sprouts and peanuts, and you cannot miss that too. There are a lot of dotting restaurants at the Bund riverfront along with gorgeous river views, and the staff can communicate well with you for the kind of food you want..

The most popular and another must visit place is Yuyuan Graden , and the city gods temple.Its staggering lovely. It keeps the integrity of the old 15th century charm { the only temple from the ming dynasty ( that's what the sign boards told us )} It was just one stop from our hotel, and the train ride was so much fun. 

Yu yuan was stately , and inviting and boasts of the old world construction and a never forgettable china town experience. The houses and shops even starbucks is designed to keep the structure of the whole place authentic. Beautiful photos of the temple follows after the post, so don't miss any. 

We shopped for some local souvenirs and about 50 chinese fans from the market which begins just after the exit . Great to take home some inexpensive trinkets and local chinese tea and chinese toys.

The only proper way to get around Shanghai is by a Taxi, and the train.  The weather was too hot and humid . After reading some vague reviews about the hop on and hop off bus , which practically gets you around most of the sightseeing places we dropped the idea. But it sure is fun for a day, only if the weather outside doesn't get the better of you. I would still recommend sticking to taxi or the sub.

Nanjing road has this cute little toy trains - almost only a dollar expensive easily making out way on the pedestrian street carefully honking . Even if you are an adult, you would just freak out.

Now coming to where it all started . The planning , and why did we pick Shanghai this time.Well Disney may have a hand in this. Thanks to the commercials we were continuously hammered by our daughter that how eager she was to visit Shanghai disneyland as all the Frozen princesses have their legit squad there . Turns out she was right. Disney is not new for us, its magical, everywhere but a little less in Shanghai . Blame it on the sizable number of people inhabiting the city , Disney was overtly crowded. Also because Shanghai disney just opened up in June and is a little more Disneywise  trending than others.

Be prepared to walk , sweat and stand in the queues for most of the rides. People were just rattling all over the place. 

Disney Day 1 we decided to take the most newest rides first and the ones which has the maximum hours for waiting . Turned out it was everybody else's  plan too. Enter Plan B - Forget everything and just concentrate on the princess. But the good part was that we managed to catch all the shows 

( although in Mandarin ) and they were hilarious and funny . Unlike other Disney's this one is humongous ,and would impress even the most jaded tourists and locals alike.There's a reason why there is a huge waiting for most of the rides, but there were a few which were outrageously boring. Truth is you need minimum three days here, although it deflates you completely ,but I would still suggest that if you want to go to Disney , Hong kong Disney is way better( crowd wise ). Or wait till till the craze dies out a bit, Chinese wants to be the first one to taste everything , so let them do that first. Rest of the world can wait.

Disney pictures with the captions are all below. Have fun browsing through them.

I wore this striped dress from Zaful on one of the days in Shanghai. I have already mentioned how hot it was, and I needed some ventilation. Its a cute shirt dress with some trendy patches . A lot of you asked me about the bag . Its from Zaful too. It was a perfect companion for my entire trip.

Putting down all the details of the outfits below. This post is already becoming so lengthy, or may I say word- crowded . At least I braved Disney on a weekend and that too in chinese school beak holidays. A superpower that I can add to my list of achievements. I deserve a pat or some emojis thumbs up would also suffice.

Ending my travel stories with this post. I am always available to actively engage with your queries on social networks. Come let's Chat.

More on my Instagram. See you with a next outfit next week.

Can you spot the Toy Train ??

Can you see the Tiger Kissing the Panda ?  The theory of glass full or empty in full practice

Inside the Yu yuan Gardens - Doing what we always do - Posing 

Come On  Disney Shanghai - I flew all the way for you. Let's do it !!!

The place where the Magic begins 

One with the Belle . Of course we cannot put all the princesses in the post.  We go with the best picture

Captain Hook- I am more Goofy than You.

Where are your eyes at ? Legs ? Damn . You missed that Emoji then 

We perceive the Buddha just like us. So we dress them up like us too.

Can I move into this house pls ??? Major House goals

The lighted ferries at the Bund riverfront. They light up your heart too.

Every piece is a carved marvel 

The carved details & the tiered edges boasts of high level of construction .
Inside the #yuyuantemple built in 1559 during the Ming dynasty .

Kitty on the loose inside the Yu Yuan Temple

Can't get enough of this riverside view . There are lights and there are people ,there is food and there are long walks.

Shanghai is incomplete unless you have visited the Bund riverside.

One for Choko-La and one for Photo-La -Inside M&m 

You cannot miss the staircase -Hotel Fortuna foshan

And this antique sofa 

Striped Outfit  - Zaful
Bag- Zaful 

Kaftan Dress- Rajdeep Ranawat

Sliders- Mumbai Hill road 

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