French Concession

The French Concession was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, many streets were tree-lined, cooler and quieter than your average Shanghai street, but there were no major attractions of interest to me. I think the problem was that most of the attractions are historical houses and I'm not into wandering around the grounds of such places. According to my guide, this district has many mansions built by the nouveau riche Chinese who made their fortune from trading.

The current day attractions of the French Concession are the chic fashion houses, of no interest to me, and the sophisticated restaurants, which come alive in the evenings.

After some northwards walking I found myself again on the east west artery, Nanjing Road. I decided to eat before returning to the hostel, so I went to a Japanese restaurant on the 6th floor of the Raffles Centre and had a katsu-don. It was alright, but I missed the tasty and consistent cooking of my local Japanese eatery back home.


The Internet at the hostel was slower in the evenings, more people on. I enjoyed better speed in the mornings. I decided to spend Thursday and Friday on day trips to Suzhou and Zhujiajiao and see the rest of Shanghai on the weekend when the crowds head out of the city.