After our recent 3 days in Shanghai, we just wanted to just relax in the local community and get a feel of the atmosphere.

Yes, I know this is the question wants to ask:  Is it a safe city or do we need to be concerned about protests?

Stay tuned, I will share our experience. 🙂

We had some dinner in the Circle Center community center (part of Elements mall) outside our hotel and the high rise condos around us. We also listened to the World Cup Rugby game with the locals who were shocked when South Africa defeated England.

Afterwards, we took an Uber (yes they have Uber here) to check out the famous night market. It was a very active and entertaining scene with lots of people.  Many locals said to avoid this area because protesters could appear and it could be dangerous.  We did not find that to occur at all.  Overall a safe and fun area to check out.

Some people asked what mobile app to use when visiting Hong Kong and you want to know where the protests are occurring?  I used HKMap Live which is not in English, but you can match against Google Maps and see where you are and then check where police or protesters may be appearing based on their icons.  A little cumbersome, but it works!

Apparently, a bunch of protesters did form up nearby, but we did not run into them.  Over the weekend, they do form up in various places, but nothing for tourists to worry about.

The next morning, you can always might a few remnants from the protesters from time to time.

Talking with a number of locals, store owners, etc., many of the people are pro-Democracy, but it was surprising to hear that a majority of the people we talked to have been finding the protesters harmful.  They are not supportive of the violence and damaging stores, damaging property and potentially scaring more people than driving a cause.

On to the next morning…

Of course, after a night out, I had to sneak in an early morning run to work off all the calories. If you are wondering about the crazy route… Yep it is that hard to find a path given all the construction and complex roads.

But.. Despite all the challenges in running, the views at the breakfast table at the Ritz are amazing!

After breakfast, we did a little touring around the area. This is where the British and Chinese signed the peaceful transition agreement.

On another note, I must admit the bathroom culture and messages across China vary from city to city and are quite humorous.

I forgot to mention we took the famous Star Ferry to go across and visit Hong Kong Island. We came across a few interesting residences… This is the home of the (current) government governor of Hong Kong, Carrie Lim.

And guess what place we found right around the corner from her home with equal fences and cameras? Yep.. The US Embassy! Coincidence?

To have lunch, we took the famous tram up to Victoria’s Peak. Apparently, the tram and the peak only opened up about a month ago.  Pretty cool to take something that always been used for 100+ years…

Some amazing views up there. You really need to take panorama shots.

I only wish we had time to hike in the park and visit the falls at the bottom.

Overall, a fun and sunny day to explore a lot of Hong Kong we had never seen before.  If you missed other posts from this trip, start here:

https://davidcrosstravels.com/2019/10/19/beijing/

Travelling and need a visa? Check out iVisa which is my choice when planning and booking my business and personal travel with my family!