Shanghai Xintiandi

Have you ever wondered how it is to walk on the same gray flagstones and see the same red and black bricks, lacquered doors and Baroque doorframes as those who walked there centuries ago?

Shanghai Xintiandi, can make you feel exactly that. Located right smack in the center of Shanghai, it has become an urban tourist attraction. It is where the old meets the new. It is a fashionable pedestrian street composing of Shikumen and uber modern architecture, a very good combination for architecture savvy tourists.

Renovated Shikumen in Xintiandi

Shikumen as described in wikipedia literally means "stone gate", First appeared in 1860s, it is an architectural style for residential buildings in Shanghai. It is considered a cultural blend of the elements found in Western architecture with traditional Lower Yangtze Chinese architecture and social behavior.

Since we only took the subway going everywhere and we didn't have a map of the actual downtown Shanghai, my friend and I ended up taking a longer route under the scorching heat of the sun! Good times! So when we got to Xintiandi, we had to cool down, so we entered the mall for some air conditioning.

Cool Advertising by Xintiandi

We got there a little after lunch on a weekday, so the place wasn't busy at all, just some tourists mostly caucasians, rich chinese tourists and europeans. Trendy shops, posh cafes and classy restaurants comprise Xintiandi, a place definitely the parental and loaded people would not mind. 

The entire place was empty.

Basically, my friend and I just browsed around we literally just walked through the area. We didn't really go there to shop, well okay I had to get something from here, a souvenir. Since we just moved out of the house and my siblings and I are always sipping wine I got coasters, they were reasonably priced and we ended up using it everyday.

Xintiandi

It was a good thing we had lunch at Yuyuan Garden where everything was cheaper! The restaurants within the Xintiandi area are upper class meaning we could not afford, so we ended up taking pictures of the them :)

Fountain one of the known bistros within the area 

TMSK, famous among locals and tourists

After walking and wandering around for a good 45 mins. My friend and I took off to our next destination. Since we didn't have a map and we would not ride a cab we ended up walking in circles for the next 15 mins or so trying to find the nearest station, we ended up tracing how we got to Xintiandi.

Condominiums for SALE