Shanghai: June 1: North Shanghai (Hongkou)

On Monday, June 1, 2009, my first full day in Shanghai, I hung around the apartment in the morning while getting over my jetlag, and ventured out in the afternoon to explore the old Jewish neighborhood, a.k.a. Little Vienna.

I chose this destination not because it was a big or important site but rather because it was a small one relatively close to the apartment so I could get there and back and not take very long. Our apartment was located in a working class neighborhood in North Shanghai, not on any radial subway lines, making it bit time consuming to make it to downtown proper (that is, without taking a bus, which are difficult for non-locals to navigate).

I knew I wanted to leave the apartment this day in spite of my horrible experience navigating Shanghai the previous day. There's an expression, if you fall off a horse, be sure to get right back on. So I did.

I took these pictures this day. I should note that the pictures from this day's outing may make Shanghai look ugly, but recall I didn't do standard tourist destinations this day, instead exploring places not too far from my apartment.

I followed this route to walk around the old Jewish neighborhood. Note: the map is mis-aligned. My path begins at the intersection of Changyang Road and Dalian Road (near the metro station), about three blocks southeast and one block northeast of where the route appears to begin. I put a placemarker "Actual Start of Walking Tour" on the map to indicate where the route actually begins. I began walking southwest down Changyang Road. I'm sorry that the GPS is so misaligned with the map. (This actually confused me the times I was lost in Shanghai until I finally consistently remembered GPS-map connection was always off by about one or two blocks south-east.)

While walking, I skipped entering the Ohel Moishe Synagogue / Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum because it didn't seem worth the ~$7US entrance fee. I did, however, pick up a handout from the museum describing a walking tour around the neighborhood. But, besides the museum, without the handout and my guidebook, I never would have guessed that this neighborhood was previously Jewish. No obvious indications remain.

After exploring this neighborhood, I took the metro to another place in North Shanghai and walked toward the city center. I followed this route suggested by my guidebook. Again, it is mis-aligned and I put a corrected beginning and ending placemarkers on the map. I ended the walk downtown at the East Nanjing Road metro station, above which is a modern mall.

For dinner, we walked to a commercial area near our apartment.

Sorry the day sounds unexciting; again, I emphasize that I didn't intend to see anything important/noteworthy.