My First Time Adventuring in Shanghai & Wuzhen (Long Post Ahead!)
I. Visa (RM ~361 per person)
Applied for my visa independently in KL.
II. Flight Tickets (RM ~1,164 per person)
Flew round-trip with Malaysia Airlines, direct flights with good timings, including 23kg checked baggage and 7kg carry-on. Booked through Trip about 3 months before departure.
III. Accommodation (RM ~484 per person) booked via Trip
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Jinglai Hotel (Shanghai People's Square Nanjing Road Pedestrian) (~RM 247 per night/room):
Pros: Right next to Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street. Cons: Everything else. Tiny hotel, no lift, staff didn't help with luggage. Disappointed.
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Wuzhen Homestay (~RM 285 per night/room including breakfast):
Super clean rooms, extremely friendly host, delicious and plentiful breakfast, luggage taken straight to your room. People say rooms in Wuzhen are expensive, but I think it's worth it because the service is so good, the amenities are complete and thoughtfully prepared. Upon check-out, each room receives a cute little tag, discounted entrance tickets, and most importantly, the chance to wander around Wuzhen in the early morning before the outside tourists arrive, experiencing the beauty of Wuzhen before business wakes up. If you're too lazy to go far in the evening, you can order food at the homestay, with a sparkling river view. I didn't feel like wandering around looking for food that might be bad and waste time.
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Maixinge Boutique Hotel (Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower) (~RM 234 per night/room including breakfast):
Not super close to Nanjing Road, but not too far either, and very convenient for anyone going to Disneyland and preparing to head back to the airport. Superb service, clean rooms, friendly staff who speak English or actively try to communicate. They rush to help with luggage. Delicious and diverse breakfast. Right next to the train station, the area is beautiful. Even got a box of rose pastry upon check-out! Couldn't find anything to fault, extremely pleased.
IV. SIM Card and Entrance Tickets (RM ~400)
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SIM Card:
Bought a 10GB SIM card on Shopee for RM ~48. The network was pretty stable, but Zalo calls were a bit slow. Since I was busy exploring, I didn't browse much or watch videos, so I only used 3GB in 5 days. The seller suggested 7GB would be enough, but I was afraid of running out, so I bought 10GB, which was way too much. Not sure if it was the SIM card, but my phone battery drained quickly, so remember to bring a power bank or charging cable.
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Disneyland:
Bought on Trip.com for RM ~271 per person.
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Wuzhen Entrance Ticket:
Bought directly at the check-in desk for RM ~81 per person.
V. Transportation (RM ~328 per person)
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Metro and Maglev Train:
Used the Maglev fast train to get from the airport to the city center and back for speed. Took the metro on some lines, but if you're in a big group, maybe just take DiDi because the metro stations here are huge! The line to Disneyland is worth taking the metro because Disneyland is far, the metro avoids traffic, and it's cheap. The last stop takes you straight to Disney.
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DiDi:
Cheap and convenient. DiDi has many car options, I usually choose Express (don't choose the super-saving option or taxi) when traveling with 4 people and a 6-seater when traveling with 6 people. New, clean, and beautiful cars. Note: the first time I used it, I wasn't familiar with it. When I pressed book and saw many options, I thought it wasn't booked yet, so I kept pressing, but I couldn't get any cars. Actually, once you press order and it says "searching for a driver," you're done. You just need to wait for the driver to accept and come pick you up. If you don't know your location, just choose the location; the positioning is very accurate.
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9-Seater Car Service from Shanghai to Wuzhen and back:
Booked a car from a contact within a group review. A 9-seater car for 8 people + 4 small suitcases cost 1900 yuan, which is about RM ~361 per person, with pick-up and drop-off at the hotel. In Wuzhen, they even guided us to check-in. The car was a new Mercedes, spacious, clean, punctual, and the driver was lovely. Overall, very satisfied. Highly recommend for those traveling in a big group like mine who are too lazy to move around and carry things, haha.
VI. Apps I Used:
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Trip:
Book flights, hotels, and Disneyland tickets. The prices on Trip are very good, and customer service is super fast and enthusiastic. When I had issues with my Disney ticket booking, the customer service rep replied very quickly and said, "Don't worry, I'll check and let you know immediately, don't worry." Flight information is updated in real-time.
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Alipay:
Used to book rides and pay.
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Wechat:
Used to communicate with the services I booked.
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Xiaohongshu:
Used to find information about places to eat, check-in spots, posing tips... If you don't know Chinese, just type the keyword in English, and it will still show up.
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Meituan:
Used this app to see restaurant reviews and addresses. When in China, use the app to find restaurants/shops near me. Extremely convenient and informative. Thanks to the app, I found a delicious Chinese restaurant.
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Metroman:
Used to look up train routes. The app interface is in English, very simple, easy to see, and easy to search, showing all the itinerary information and prices. But the limitation is that you must know the name of the station to search.
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Maps:
I used Apple Maps to find directions.
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Disney Resort:
App to look up maps of amusement parks in Disney, queue times for each ride, times for performances, etc., very convenient and easy to use.
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Google Translate:
Sometimes the translation is a bit vague or messy. Just use your analytical skills and guess the meaning :))))
VII. Food (~RM 759 per person)
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Hairy Crab Noodles at 庄氏隆兴·蟹粉面道（南京东路店) (Zhuang Shi Long Xing):
Located right on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, this restaurant is often reviewed by Malaysian TikTokers. They only have two dishes: crab noodles and xiaolongbao. It's pretty good, a bit salty, the portions are large and oily. Order less; eating too much crab can easily cause allergies. The staff is super friendly and enthusiastic.
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Pan-Fried Dumplings - 大壶春(四川中路店) (Dahuchun Pan-Fried China):
A restaurant that has won Michelin stars for many years. The menu has wonton dumplings. The food is delicious, and the price is reasonable.
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Chinese Rice at 简小姐·上海餐厅（静安寺店）(Miss Jane):
Located near Jing'an Temple. The food is super delicious, especially the sweet and sour fried fish, braised pork with quail eggs and abalone, and sour cabbage fish soup.
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Haidilao:
Plenty of delicious food, very enthusiastic staff.
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Lamb Noodles in Wuzhen:
The noodles are good, but the lamb smell is too strong 😭
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Starbucks Wrap and Matcha Latte:
While waiting for the car, my team went to Starbucks in Wuzhen for lunch. Loved these two items, so delicious.
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Shake Shack Hamburger:
In the Xintiandi area, quite good.
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Fried Chicken next to the Tron Game in Disney:
Delicious and plentiful.
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Milk Tea:
People often mention Chagee and Heytea the most, but my team is most hooked on Molly Tea :))) My friend just bought this brand randomly, but we got addicted! The tea is fragrant, the taste is light, with a slight milky smell, the cup design is simple but beautiful. Overall, very pleased.
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Random Snacks along the Road and Convenience Stores:
Convenience store food here is also delicious! There's Korean banana milk priced around RM ~11, cheaper than bringing it from Malaysia, so I kept drinking it :)))
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Fruit:
You must eat a lot of fruit here, so delicious, sweet, juicy, super amazing!
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Drinking Water:
Drinking water here is delicious, drink a lot of water because it's delicious, and it's also dry here. :))))
VIII. Itinerary:
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Day 1:
Due to weather reasons, we flew around in the sky before landing, 45 minutes later than expected, around 3:00 PM. Immigration wasn't crowded, but I was held back for questioning for about 20 minutes. First day dazed + rain + tired, so I didn't check into the hotel until 7:30 PM. At 8:00 PM, we went to eat crab noodles right next to the hotel, then strolled along Nanjing Road for shopping and sightseeing, then went to sleep. Light rain, although cold, made the avenue shimmer with water, reflecting the light, making it even more magical.
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Day 2:
Breakfast at the dumpling restaurant - Wukang Road (sat and drank Chagee right there) - lunch at Miss Jane and went back to the hotel to get our things to go to Wuzhen. When we arrived in Wuzhen, we played around inside the town and didn't go outside.
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Day 3:
Spent the whole morning playing in the town. At 1:30 PM, the car picked us up back to Shanghai. In the evening in Shanghai, we went to the Xintiandi area - City God Temple - The Bund.
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Day 4:
After breakfast at the hotel, my team went to Disneyland and played all day. Watched the fireworks at 8:00 PM and went back to the city center to eat Haidilao.
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Day 5:
My flight back to Malaysia was at 3:30 PM, so in the morning, I just went to Nanjing Road to buy gifts, drink milk tea, and sightseeing.
Tips:
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Disneyland:
The day I went, thankfully, it wasn't too crowded. I checked in around 9:00 AM and went to the shopping house at the entrance to buy merchandise (this is the biggest merch shop, the small ones next to the games have the same merchandise, so just buy it here for convenience). Then, I found a place to sit and rest and have lunch (I brought light food from outside to save money), and around 11:30 AM, I went to find a good place to sit and watch the parade. As soon as the parade ended, rush to the game you want to play because the queue line isn't too crowded at this time. I only played two games, Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron, so I rushed to play Pirates first (next to the parade), played and walked slowly to the Tron area (1km away), sat and ate a meal of fried chicken next to the Tron game and rested, then waited for the next parade to clear out the crowd, then flew to play the Tron game. After playing, I walked around the Alice in Wonderland area to take pictures with the castle, and around 6:30 PM, I reserved a good spot to wait for the 8:00 PM fireworks. Thankfully, all my queue lines were only about 30-40 minutes, and I always got a good spot.
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You can rent a big stroller for babies in Disney to put things in for convenience. Adults can sit in it too. I saw people sitting in the stroller waiting for their children to play the game. My team didn't know; otherwise, we would have rented one to avoid carrying so many things.
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My team used the toilets in the mall, Disney, Wuzhen, big restaurants, airports, and Maglev train stations. Thankfully, they were all okay and clean. You can take advantage of these points.
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Most of the restaurants I ate at gave out paper towels, plenty of them! The toilets are always full of paper, so you don't need to worry too much.
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Because I was afraid of crowds, I often took advantage of playing early. Thankfully, I haven't seen any places that are too crowded or rushed.
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If you don't know the language, just open the voice part of Google Translate to communicate. The Chinese are also very enthusiastic. Many places I went also had people who knew English, such as Disney, the fan maker in Wuzhen, or the female staff member at Yuanshen Metro station.
China is so big that one trip isn't enough, so you don't need to plan to go to too many places. Just choose the place you like the most. I wish you all a happy trip, hihi.
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