Hi All
Newbie to this board - but have recently returned from an absolutely splendid week in Shanghai. Lots of "work" work but ample entertainment as well ie at least one per day.
Since I do not speak any Mandarin I expected that there would be a communication problem of sorts (it was actually never a real problem) - so anyone else travelling need not worry too much.
From my first look at the mpnet forum for Shanghai I see several posts askeing "where is the best action". I asked myself that same question before I went and was determined to learn the city map locating such places relative to my. hotel (Regal, Hengshan Lu. Good Hotel, Girl friendly). I did lots of internet research and found some very useful links
A first link is
http://www.smartshanghai.com/maps/smsh_map_fullscreen.php
However, I think one of the best is
http://www.smartnamecard.com/Pages/FindCard.aspx
First of all hit the HOME button on this site and then click on Shanghai. The screen will then display a map of the city with pointers to many (but not all) of the clubs, bars, main hotels etc. Best seen in Map function rather than Sattelite.
You will very quickly pick out the areas where there is an obvious accumulation of pointers ie Tong Ren Lu etc
The really good bit about this map is that the road names are given in English
To get around in Shanghai it is cheap to use a taxi (11RMB flag fare will get you most places) BUT the driver will not speak English. ALWAYS pick up a taxi from outside one of the major hotels. You can do that even if you do not stay at that hotel. All I did was walk onto the hotel forecourt and ask the door guy for a taxi to ..... He would then call one for you. However, you DO need to be able to say or show where you want to get to. This is the other bonus of the Smartnamecard website.
If you click on the pointers on the map you are taken to a website for the place - usually with an option to print a "Taxi Card" ie a proper address written in Chinese script as well as English. You can show that to the door guy and to the taxi driver. Even if your target destination is not shown - pick one that is close by. You can then walk the rest of the way. I used to take a taxi to the Hilton or Equatorial Hotels and then go to teh sauna in the Shanghai Hotel a few minutes walk away.
Treat the ladies with respect guys. I love them all.
Galinsoga