Who goes to Shanghai for the beach?
We do, actually we did. A couple from a country with 7107 islands traveled 3 hours and 30 mins by plane, 45mins by Shanghai Metro, 1 hour 35 mins by bus and a short taxi ride to Xincheng Road, Jinshan for the beach. It all started with a free night stay at the only 5 star beach hotel in Shanghai called the Royal Tulip on the Beach. It is not everyday that you win a free hotel without a catch, so we packed our bags and headed to Shanghai.
In spite the fact that I grew up in a coastal town, there is a perpetual calling of visiting a beach. Not to look for the best but to compare one beach from the other. What makes it different, what sets it apart. Now that is my usual excuse for coming up with new trips to the beach.
We asked a teenager in the Linhua train station for the right bus to our destination and she asked, are you really going to the beach? She gave us a puzzled-almost-disbelief look. If I may complete her sentence on how we perceived it, are-you-going-to-God-knows-where-beach-in-this-rainy-cold-weather? Yes we are. We arrived past 7pm in Jinshan, we had no chance to check out the surroundings as it is getting dark already. The hotel is full due to a conference for women, some military training and preparation for the FINA tournament. We were upgraded from a deluxe seaview room to a deluxe corner seaview suite. The suite is huge, with a living room with tv and working desk, a bedroom with day bed overlooking the ocean, a walk through cabinet, a bath tub and a separate toilet and bath. The effort to get here is so worth it. This is bigger than our whole 2nd floor.
Better question is what do we do now? Too late for the beach and so we looked for a mall. Filipinos love malls, anywhere we go, we look for one and compare it to MOA or SM Mega or Greenbelt, loud and proud. We headed towards Oriental Shopping Centre and to my surprise, it is an outlet mall. Big names like Lacoste, Nautica, Geox, Ecco and Clarks are there. What a treat! When we enter the mall, these Chinese ladies are busy shopping at the sale of La Chapelle. If the locals are crazy on buying these things on sale, it means it is a great buy. So I joined the crowd and found myself buying a coat with faux fur (in preparation for another trip) for only CNY 130 that originally cost CNY 1299.00, in pristine condition. Even in Surplus shop, I can never find this rock bottom price so I got it. The items in the Lacoste outlet are way cheaper than in Lacoste Singapore sale but I wasn't there for Lacoste even if it only cost PHP 1900.00
The next day, it is a little gloomy. Many are out swimming like in triathlons (or maybe it is), its like a kilometer for a lap, they looked like splashes by from afar but actually its full of swimmers, these are serious Chinese athletes. I just stayed in our 20th floor room for the whole morning because I can see everything from our floor to ceiling glass windows. After hotel check out, it is the time to explore the beach. The sand is strikingly brown, the weather is cool, there is a walkway along the shore, a gentle breeze and some scattered rainshower. I didn't expect a Boracay sand in Jinshan so I wasn't really disappointed. I saw locals trying to get wet with seawater and touching the sands of Jinshan, I didn't dare. It is a beach good for strolling. There are 3 islands that we can see from the shore like that of the Tres Hermanas in front of Kapuluan Vista in Pagudpud. There is a man made walkway all over the City Beach (as they call it), so in case you want to jog along the shoreline, you can. You want to bring your child in a stroller for some Vitamin D, you can. It is a beach that is maximized to its fullest potential.
What I like about Jinshan is not the brown sand but the whole cultural journey. From downtown Shanghai, we passed thru many rivers, farmhouses, Shikumen houses, mini water village, factories, farms, government offices, the real rural Shanghai. It was actually very scenic. We took the public bus to Jinshan, it did not pass by our hotel, the conductor even called for a taxi in our behalf and told the driver where to go. The driver used the meter (as they all do in Jinshan), no kontrata or the usual antics of the Philippine cab drivers and they will never let you leave the taxi without your fapiao (receipt). As we walk along the streets of Jinshan going to the main avenue of Xincheng, there are a lot of Japanese maple trees along the sidewalks and small gardens along the way. I can only imagine during autumn, this is breath taking and romantic. We dined at Pizza hut for vegetarian food and was shocked to enter a 'heated' Pizza hut. We are so used to eating at this restaurant and it is airconditioned, in there, it was just hot inside, if only we can dine al fresco.
This trip to mainland China totally changed my mind about Shanghainese. I never thought I would be comfortable with the public bus in a city where I don't speak the language nor understand the language. I never thought taxi drivers would insist on giving a receipt. We never had the experience of receiving fake currencies. We never had those tourist traps in Jinshan or Shanghai in general. On one hand, this trip made me appreciate more our local beaches in the Philippines. This made me appreciate our warm-borderline-hot weather. This trip to the beach is really worth it.
In spite the fact that I grew up in a coastal town, there is a perpetual calling of visiting a beach. Not to look for the best but to compare one beach from the other. What makes it different, what sets it apart. Now that is my usual excuse for coming up with new trips to the beach.
We asked a teenager in the Linhua train station for the right bus to our destination and she asked, are you really going to the beach? She gave us a puzzled-almost-disbelief look. If I may complete her sentence on how we perceived it, are-you-going-to-God-knows-where-beach-in-this-rainy-cold-weather? Yes we are. We arrived past 7pm in Jinshan, we had no chance to check out the surroundings as it is getting dark already. The hotel is full due to a conference for women, some military training and preparation for the FINA tournament. We were upgraded from a deluxe seaview room to a deluxe corner seaview suite. The suite is huge, with a living room with tv and working desk, a bedroom with day bed overlooking the ocean, a walk through cabinet, a bath tub and a separate toilet and bath. The effort to get here is so worth it. This is bigger than our whole 2nd floor.
Better question is what do we do now? Too late for the beach and so we looked for a mall. Filipinos love malls, anywhere we go, we look for one and compare it to MOA or SM Mega or Greenbelt, loud and proud. We headed towards Oriental Shopping Centre and to my surprise, it is an outlet mall. Big names like Lacoste, Nautica, Geox, Ecco and Clarks are there. What a treat! When we enter the mall, these Chinese ladies are busy shopping at the sale of La Chapelle. If the locals are crazy on buying these things on sale, it means it is a great buy. So I joined the crowd and found myself buying a coat with faux fur (in preparation for another trip) for only CNY 130 that originally cost CNY 1299.00, in pristine condition. Even in Surplus shop, I can never find this rock bottom price so I got it. The items in the Lacoste outlet are way cheaper than in Lacoste Singapore sale but I wasn't there for Lacoste even if it only cost PHP 1900.00
The next day, it is a little gloomy. Many are out swimming like in triathlons (or maybe it is), its like a kilometer for a lap, they looked like splashes by from afar but actually its full of swimmers, these are serious Chinese athletes. I just stayed in our 20th floor room for the whole morning because I can see everything from our floor to ceiling glass windows. After hotel check out, it is the time to explore the beach. The sand is strikingly brown, the weather is cool, there is a walkway along the shore, a gentle breeze and some scattered rainshower. I didn't expect a Boracay sand in Jinshan so I wasn't really disappointed. I saw locals trying to get wet with seawater and touching the sands of Jinshan, I didn't dare. It is a beach good for strolling. There are 3 islands that we can see from the shore like that of the Tres Hermanas in front of Kapuluan Vista in Pagudpud. There is a man made walkway all over the City Beach (as they call it), so in case you want to jog along the shoreline, you can. You want to bring your child in a stroller for some Vitamin D, you can. It is a beach that is maximized to its fullest potential.
What I like about Jinshan is not the brown sand but the whole cultural journey. From downtown Shanghai, we passed thru many rivers, farmhouses, Shikumen houses, mini water village, factories, farms, government offices, the real rural Shanghai. It was actually very scenic. We took the public bus to Jinshan, it did not pass by our hotel, the conductor even called for a taxi in our behalf and told the driver where to go. The driver used the meter (as they all do in Jinshan), no kontrata or the usual antics of the Philippine cab drivers and they will never let you leave the taxi without your fapiao (receipt). As we walk along the streets of Jinshan going to the main avenue of Xincheng, there are a lot of Japanese maple trees along the sidewalks and small gardens along the way. I can only imagine during autumn, this is breath taking and romantic. We dined at Pizza hut for vegetarian food and was shocked to enter a 'heated' Pizza hut. We are so used to eating at this restaurant and it is airconditioned, in there, it was just hot inside, if only we can dine al fresco.
This trip to mainland China totally changed my mind about Shanghainese. I never thought I would be comfortable with the public bus in a city where I don't speak the language nor understand the language. I never thought taxi drivers would insist on giving a receipt. We never had the experience of receiving fake currencies. We never had those tourist traps in Jinshan or Shanghai in general. On one hand, this trip made me appreciate more our local beaches in the Philippines. This made me appreciate our warm-borderline-hot weather. This trip to the beach is really worth it.
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