First time in Asia

I travel to Asia once a year for work. I have come to really enjoy Shanghai as I have stayed over the weekend a few times to explore. I usually stay in the The Bund area. Many great restaurants and bars along the Bund to eat/drink. If you’re staying in the Bund area, check out Xintiandi restaurant/bar area - very European with outdoor dining - you’ll forget you are in China. Also go to the market at the science museum- this is were all the fake’s are. Fun place to buy souvenirs and haggle with the stall owners. If you go, start at about 15-20% of what they are asking - walk away if they don’t agree as there are hundreds of other stalls selling the same stuff.

Last year, I did a quick 36-48 hour side trip to walk the Great Wall outside of Beijing and tour the Forbidden City. Really enjoyed it and wish I would have done it years before instead of hanging another weekend in Shanghai.

Have fun. I’m heading to Bangladesh, Vietnam and China in 2 weeks.

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Get yourself over to Tokyo.

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I looked into that, but flights are prohibitively expensive. The flights to Seoul are much cheaper, however.

Take the train to Nanjing and spend the weekend in the Temple District. If you are in Shanghai in the Fall, try Suzhou for a dinner of da zha xie - the small hairy clawed crab, and check out some of the pearl vendors. There is also a very famous Chinese garden in Suzhou with a lot of history.

A nice weekend in the Summer is to take the bus to Ningbo and then the ferry to Zhoushan. Time the trip right so you can at least one meal in Ningbo and try the preserved fish they are famous for.