In Shanghai for CNY

[CarLuver]

Took off on Sunday morning to Shanghai . Plane was packed to the gills with folks going home for the New Year . Of course lot of Chinese but also ton of Vietnamese . Since plane so full no chance to upgrade .

Never been to Shanghai before and years since I was in Asia for CNY . We are staying right close to nanjing road so in the heart of the action . Because of CNY speaking to the hotel staff it’s pretty quiet . Lot of folks have gone home to the village

Why did we chose CNY to take our trip ? Friend is a teacher so it’s mid winter break . Otherwise I would have chose a different time .

Since we pretty tired from the flight we only had a hew hours to walk around . Have not walked so much since my HK trip last April .

The food is awesome here and cheap . Fried buns and Shanghai dumpling are great . Food all over the place . Luk in coffee was so cheap 5 lattte like drinks for $$11 usd

We are doing the 240 hour transit visa . Immigration was as usual a few questions and no smile . If you are not coming to make trouble one should have no issue . We are heading to HK after this as our transit .

I have not been to mainland China for over 40 years . So much has changed . The people a heck more refined than my experience before . Hotel staff spoke good English which both surprised me and not surprised me . We are in a tourist area so they need to .

The great fire wall of China is real . I am using a SIM card that the vpn is in Singapore so I can get the tube fb etc . Can’t get much on the hotel WiFi and I am not sure I should even use it .

Saw a lot of foreigners from all over of every race . It’s Shanghai the financial capitol so it’s to be expected .

It’s 6am here so it’s going to be a full day . Because it CNY finding something open is going to be a challenge in itself .

This is the first time also in Asia with my 2 kids . They seem to be having a great time so far and feel right at home . LOL

Just a couple of pix of Nanjing road and the food place we went . Busy is an understatement

 

[E150GT]

cool trip. I would like to go too but thats a bit far with small kids on a plane. I dont want to deal with that

 

[Danno]

A friend wanted me to ask if it was redundant to call it CNY when you're in China.

 

[daves87rs]

Might be able to go soon…we shall see. Would be fun!

 

[y_p_w]

A friend wanted me to ask if it was redundant to call it CNY when you're in China.

I saw some YT vid where it was referred to as “lunar new year” and a bunch of comments were complaining that it wasn’t called CNY. I think they thought it diminished the importance of its Chinese origin, even though there’s Tet in Vietnam and other variations in countries like Korea and Mongolia.

 

[CarLuver]

I saw some YT vid where it was referred to as “lunar new year” and a bunch of comments were complaining that it wasn’t called CNY. I think they thought it diminished the importance of its Chinese origin, even though there’s Tet in Vietnam and other variations in countries like Korea and Mongolia.

To me it’s alway will be CNY . Others can call it what they wish .

Their form of uber is cheaper than subway . 2 to 3 US dollars gets me to most where we want to go .

I am not a big advocate of strictly digital payment but I must say paying without cash is nice . But a lot of places don’t even accept cash at all . Try to pay cash and they look at you funny .

Be here for 4 days and off the HK

Crab roe noodles . Popular in Shanghai . Was just meh to me but had to try it huge boat LV shop and Starbucks roaster across the street

 

[Snagglefoot]

Thanks for sharing. I visited Shanghai in 1986, forty years ago just like you mentioned. Needless to say the changes are incredible.

 

[PandaBear]

A friend wanted me to ask if it was redundant to call it CNY when you're in China.

I would think it is not called Chinese New Year there as they typically call it either Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. BTW they do use the international calendar and therefore there is also a regular Jan 1st New Year too, so it becomes odd when you call it a Chinese New Year they have to think which one you are referring to: the Lunar / Farmer Calendar or the International / Western / New Calendar one.

 

[QwikKota]

When I worked for a company that had a factory in Shanghai we could not get anything done over there during CNY. I visited in 2012. I am not a big fan of flying so it was a real chore for me to get on that flight. It was busy on an average day. Food was pretty good but I was in Asia for 10 days and never saw a chicken breast, hah.

 

[y_p_w]

To me it’s alway will be CNY . Others can call it what they wish .

I looked into more detail. Some want China to get the credit, but others claim that “lunar new year” was a colonial British term that originated in Hong Kong in the 1960s without enough understanding that it’s based on the lunisolar calendar. But yeah there’s a lot of opinions on this, including some who get upset if other countries are mentioned.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/28/asia/chinese-lunar-new-year-controversy-intl-hnk​

In one notable instance, the British Museum shared details about a show by a traditional Korean music group. “Join us in celebrating Korean Lunar New Year with magical performances,” it wrote on Twitter on January 12.​

​

A barrage of angry tweets followed. “It’s called Chinese New Year,” one Twitter user replied.​

 

[CarLuver]

As I sit at Pudong airport it been a great visit to Shanghai . All the folks here were polite and helpful . It helped we had a mandarin speaker with us but I think with a translate app and phone one can get anywhere and anything done .

Didi was so cheap not worth walking . Food was ok but a little bland to my southern tastes especially the soup noodles .

As a tourist it was good to see a lot of police everywhere . Most of them looked like rent a cops . Did not see any tier 1 walking the streets . Cameras are everywhere . Don’t make trouble most floks won’t have an issue .

One of the things I dislike was the smoking . It’s still very prevalent all over . 2 is air quality . Smog notices .

Having rode in a few of the Chinese cars I can see the concern with letting Chinese cars in . To me the quality of the vehicles was quite good . Large percentage are electric . If a Chinese car came to the US market I would consider buying it . Chinese have a saying “ competition breeds progress “.

Off to the HK now where I expect to pay twice as much and encounter less polite folks . But the food is more to my liking .

Back to the states in 4 days