Day Eight: We flew to Shanghai as a group (32) and were quite surprised that there was no guide to meet us. After almost an hour of my husband and another Chinese tour mate trying to figure out where he was he shows up with the excuse he was at the other terminal. Hmm. We didn’t even think the Shanghai Hong Qiao Airport had more than one terminal. Anyway, we were off to check into the hotel – the Galaxy Hotel which was really close to the airport but not close to downtown. We then relaxed for a bit and then took an optional tour which included dinner, a visit to People's Square, The Bund, where we took the ferry across the river, drove around Pearl Tower, and then paid $50¥ per person to go up to observation tower of the Jin Mao Building (the tallest building in Shanghai with 88 floors. This was worth it just to see the Bund and Patong side at night.

Day Nine: A visit to the Jade Buddha Temple in the morning, the Yu Garden & Bazaar in the afternoon followed by the Shanghai Acrobat Show and dinner. Love the Yu Gardens and the Bazaar. Would have loved more time hear. My husband’s family is Shanghainese and it was nice to enjoy real soo long bow in shanghai but they were not as good as her in Toronto. Oh well. I think it’s like eating real pizza in Italy – not the same. Anyway, the acrobats were amazing and I highly recommend this to anyone visiting shanghai.

Day Ten: Visit Zhujiajiaoi (ancient water town) which was nice. Then after lunch the tour gave everyone 1.5 hours at the Bund and Nanjing Road but we decided to bail and do our own thing. We walked all the way to the end of Nanjing Road and then took a cab back to the hotel. It was pretty far but only cost 24 Yuan. It was so cheap for four of us so we gave the drive 40Y. We then relaxed a bit then met for a sushi dinner in our hotel. Much more relaxing and sounds like we didn’t miss much at dinner.

Next we were off to Hong Kong which will be done in another trip report.

sounds good but way too rushed for me....anxious to read about HK

Betty: Glad you had a nice time and thanks very much for a very detailed and interesting TR on a group traveler's experience. Next time to China you'll travel on your own, right?

Please share where in Toronto do you find xiao long bao better than in Shanghai.

Hi Betty, I'm interested in your stop at the JinMao tower. I've never heard they had an observation tower/area and I'm interested in where tickets can be purchased. We usually take people to either floor 56 (Grand Hyatt reception/Cucina restaurant) or 87 (Cloud 9 Sky Lounge). I hope you stopped on 56 to see the interesting view upward from the Atrium Bar. It's a neat picture.

Betty: Is there time restrictions when you went to Jing Mao floor 88? I heard they only let a certain amount of people up every hour.

Nagiffag: Floor 88 has a lot of touristy stuff for sale, can't tell you about ticket sales since I was had comp tickets. I like floor 87 since one can sit and relax, the afternoon tea has a european feel. Evenings are special with the city and river lights glowing and flashing below.
Floor 56 is the best of Hyatt atriums in the world.

Shanghainese: I found the xiao long bao (thanks for the correct spellng) very dry at a restaurant in the Yu Gardens. Ours are better here in the First Markham Plaza on Highway #7 just west of Woodbine Avenue in Markham, Ontario. (Northeast of Toronto).

As for visiting the 88th floor of the Jing Mao Tower, we were on an optional tour and the guide went somewhere to get the tickets. It was at night and there was a queue set up to go up (and down) the elevators. Very efficient to move so many people through the two elevators.

The views were amazing at night and we only had to pay 50¥ per person which we thought was well worth it. Some other people we met went up the Pearl Tower but then they didn't get to see the Peal tower all lit up like we did.

I forgot to mention that besides the fantastic views outside, there was an amazing one in the middle of the building. It looked right down to the ground floor and the lobby(???). Quite a neat picture.