Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Books, CDs and DVDs
It's not hard to find
books
in English in Shanghai. You can pick up those
printed by local presses - usually dryly written guides, or classics - for around
¥20, though imported books are expensive at over ¥100. Fuzhou Lu may be
known to locals as “Book Street”, but there's not much English-language
material in its huge bookshops.
You can buy
fake CDs and DVDs
from roadside stalls in just about any
backstreet. They cost ¥5-8 (Westerners might have to barter the vendors down)
and quality is unreliable; new releases almost never work, or are grainy prints
filmed in a cinema. In addition, many Western films will be dubbed into
Russian - because of anti-pirating measures in the west, the counterfeiters are
now copying the Russian releases. You can guarantee to find a raft of stalls on
Wujiang Lu Food Street (see p.111). The best shop selling fakes is Hollywood
Hits on Taikang Lu, opposite and just east of the entrance to the Taikang Lu
Arts Street. The Shanghai Theatre Shop and the Foreign Language Bookstore
stock plenty of
authentic DVDs
(see p.146).
Bored of shopping?
Anyone can tire of shopping, so here are a few alternative activities to keep you
amused.
Go shooting. Strangely, there's a rifle range in the Old French Concession (7th
floor, 701 Huahai Zhong Lu daily; 9am-midnight; the entrance is in the alleyway
just off the main street, a short walk east from the Parkson Department Store). You
can fire .22 rifles or pistols up to .357 calibre. Ammunition is ¥8 for small calibre
bullets, ¥15 for large calibre bullets, with a minimum of ten bullets per person.
Yo u get to keep the paper target as a souvenir. It's a rapid way to spend
money but when will you next have the opportunity to combine shooting with a
shopping trip?
Do archery. Here's another oddity: a basement archery range-cum-bar at 293
Yunnan Nan Lu (daily; 9am-1am), just a few minutes walk east of Times Square mall.
Staff will help you put on the equipment and teach you the rudiments of shooting
compound bows - it's simple enough so it doesn't matter if you can't speak Chinese.
At only ¥12 for a quiver of ten arrows, it's a lot cheaper (and more relaxing) than
shooting guns.
Play dressing up. The Huayuan Photo Studio (Tower B, 25th floor, Heyi Building, 420
Jiangning Lu;
52280848) gives you the chance to get your picture taken dressed
to the nines in a variety of historical Chinese costumes. The dresses for women are
fantastic, but there's not much for men. It takes four hours (lots of make-up and
hairpieces are involved) and costs ¥520, which gets you four costume changes.
Pictures are delivered within five days.
Learn some magic tricks. Shanghai even has a magic school, on the fifth floor of
the Grand Gateway Plaza (above Xujiazui subway stop). The dedicated young
magicians who staff the shop here will teach you ten tricks for ¥300, which gets you
as many lessons as you need to get good. If you're just around for the day you can
learn one trick for ¥50. They can be simple and prop-based, card tricks, sleight of
hand, or you can study some pretty advanced stuff. There's even a target to flick
cards into.
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