Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 5 - Traveling Tips
Previous Posts:
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 1 - Novotel Hotels
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 2 - Visiting The Museums
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 3 - Visiting Starbucks And Apple
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 4 - Touristy Places Not To Be Missed
Traveling with kids to China seems challenging, particularly with young kids and solo parent with the kid(s). Yet, taking small but manageable risks when traveling in China with children can reap big rewards. As long as we do our research well, we can keep the ‘risk’ low. Here, I share some tips that could be useful for you if you are planning to travel to Shanghai with your kiddos.
1. Virtual Private Network (VPN) / Wifi Roaming Device / International Data Roaming
One of the reasons that Tencent and Alibaba could be so strong is also because they have strong Government support. Yes, you may have heard that Internet access in China is limited. Shanghai is the same as the rest of China. Most sites you use daily are blocked: Google, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.
Though most hotel rooms and some public areas/cafes/restaurants in China offer Internet access and Wi-Fi, most would not be able to climb the Great Firewall of China to offer you U.S. and U.K. sites/apps. So save yourselves the agony and frustrations by buying VPN packages, arrange for Wifi roaming devices or pay for International Data Roaming before you leave.
The fact that I could bring to you Instagram Stories daily during our Shanghai trip was because I have purchased StarHub’s Data Roaming.
2. Download WeChat Pay or Alipay
China is big on cashless, so cosmopolitan cities like Shanghai is even more apparent. When we ate in the Food Republic food court (by Breadtalk) in IFC Mall, we were surprised that it does not accept cash payment. Fortunately, I have downloaded and set up Alipay when I was in Singapore, so I was able to use it for making payment.
3. Drinking Water
The tap water in Shanghai is not safe for consumption. Please buy bottled water.
4. Take The World’s Fastest Bullet train
The Shanghai Maglev is the world’s fastest bullet train, traveling at speed of up to 430km/hr, and I am not kidding you. It is not only cheaper and faster, but it is also fun for both adults and children too. The traveling time is only 8mins from Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road station, where you change to MRT lines to your destination. Show your boarding passes and get 20% off Maglev tickets, and kids below 120cm travel for free!
5. Buy MRT Day Passes
The entire city is so well connected, so when traveling around in Shanghai, we almost traveled to all our places via its MRT trains. I find it more convenient to buy its Day Passes (1 day CNY18 or 3 days CNY45) because the queue at the ticket booths is often very long and the train stations are usually very crowded. It saves us a lot of headache in route planning and it gives us more flexibility when the weather or situation calls for a change of itinerary.
Do note that there will be security checks at all MRT stations so make sure you have nothing in your pockets that might trigger the x-ray machine and your bags are zipped.
6. Taxi
There is no Grab or Uber in China because the Government supports local businesses, ya? There is private hiring called DiDi, but you will need to download the app to use it.
I have read enough negative news about DiDi, and as a mom traveling with a teenager, I would rather be safe than sorry. So, if you need to, flag a metered taxi instead. The taxi companies in Shanghai are better regulated than the private hired. Please note that you must show the address in Chinese or be able to converse in Mandarin though. And do make sure you have sufficient cash or make your trip payment via Wechat Pay or Alipay.
We had enjoyed our trip to Shanghai and had really wish it could be longer so that we could visit more museums, stay overnight in Suzhou and make a trip to Hangzhou. Nonetheless, we could do it again next time, I guess.
Coming soon to you, is my post on Suzhou Tongli Watertown, which you might want to consider going if you are visiting Shanghai.
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 1 - Novotel Hotels
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 2 - Visiting The Museums
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 3 - Visiting Starbucks And Apple
Shanghai With My Tween (Teenage Boy) - Part 4 - Touristy Places Not To Be Missed
Traveling with kids to China seems challenging, particularly with young kids and solo parent with the kid(s). Yet, taking small but manageable risks when traveling in China with children can reap big rewards. As long as we do our research well, we can keep the ‘risk’ low. Here, I share some tips that could be useful for you if you are planning to travel to Shanghai with your kiddos.
1. Virtual Private Network (VPN) / Wifi Roaming Device / International Data Roaming
One of the reasons that Tencent and Alibaba could be so strong is also because they have strong Government support. Yes, you may have heard that Internet access in China is limited. Shanghai is the same as the rest of China. Most sites you use daily are blocked: Google, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.
Though most hotel rooms and some public areas/cafes/restaurants in China offer Internet access and Wi-Fi, most would not be able to climb the Great Firewall of China to offer you U.S. and U.K. sites/apps. So save yourselves the agony and frustrations by buying VPN packages, arrange for Wifi roaming devices or pay for International Data Roaming before you leave.
The fact that I could bring to you Instagram Stories daily during our Shanghai trip was because I have purchased StarHub’s Data Roaming.
2. Download WeChat Pay or Alipay
China is big on cashless, so cosmopolitan cities like Shanghai is even more apparent. When we ate in the Food Republic food court (by Breadtalk) in IFC Mall, we were surprised that it does not accept cash payment. Fortunately, I have downloaded and set up Alipay when I was in Singapore, so I was able to use it for making payment.
3. Drinking Water
The tap water in Shanghai is not safe for consumption. Please buy bottled water.
4. Take The World’s Fastest Bullet train
The Shanghai Maglev is the world’s fastest bullet train, traveling at speed of up to 430km/hr, and I am not kidding you. It is not only cheaper and faster, but it is also fun for both adults and children too. The traveling time is only 8mins from Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road station, where you change to MRT lines to your destination. Show your boarding passes and get 20% off Maglev tickets, and kids below 120cm travel for free!
5. Buy MRT Day Passes
The entire city is so well connected, so when traveling around in Shanghai, we almost traveled to all our places via its MRT trains. I find it more convenient to buy its Day Passes (1 day CNY18 or 3 days CNY45) because the queue at the ticket booths is often very long and the train stations are usually very crowded. It saves us a lot of headache in route planning and it gives us more flexibility when the weather or situation calls for a change of itinerary.
Do note that there will be security checks at all MRT stations so make sure you have nothing in your pockets that might trigger the x-ray machine and your bags are zipped.
6. Taxi
There is no Grab or Uber in China because the Government supports local businesses, ya? There is private hiring called DiDi, but you will need to download the app to use it.
I have read enough negative news about DiDi, and as a mom traveling with a teenager, I would rather be safe than sorry. So, if you need to, flag a metered taxi instead. The taxi companies in Shanghai are better regulated than the private hired. Please note that you must show the address in Chinese or be able to converse in Mandarin though. And do make sure you have sufficient cash or make your trip payment via Wechat Pay or Alipay.
We had enjoyed our trip to Shanghai and had really wish it could be longer so that we could visit more museums, stay overnight in Suzhou and make a trip to Hangzhou. Nonetheless, we could do it again next time, I guess.
Coming soon to you, is my post on Suzhou Tongli Watertown, which you might want to consider going if you are visiting Shanghai.
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