Relax - Sleepless in Shanghai

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You know a city promises a good time when most of its bars are filled on a Monday night. It is only the first evening of my week-long trip. I start slow with a cocktail at the bar of the Langham Yangtze Hotel.

The 75-year-old boutique hotel, a playground for the city’s elites in the 1930s, got spiffed up by the Langham Hotels International in 2007. To revive the glamour and elegance of Shanghai’s golden age, geometric Art Deco motifs adorn every part of the hotel, from its grand hallways to the teacups in every room. Prices for its 96 rooms – most have balconies overlooking Hankou Street below – start from 2,000 yuan (S$422) a night.

For someone on a mission to check out Shanghai’s notorious nightlife, there is no better place to be based. The hotel’s location on the corner of People's Square, right next to Singapore mall Raffles City, is well known among cabbies so returning to it is a cinch even when one is severely inebriated.

I am also comforted that the hotel's in-house Chuan Spa, a fixture at all Langham properties, also customises treatments according to one’s "five elements", great for detoxing.

Dusk falls. A friend rings up and we arrange to meet at Barbarossa (231 Nanjing West Road), a swish Moroccan-themed two-storey lounge on a lake in People's Park.

The outdoor balcony bar on the second floor gives the best view of the surrounding lush greenery. The pollution that cloaks the city at night creates a somewhat dreamy and romantic atmosphere – I try to be positive.

Later, we cab over to Vue (199 Huangpu Road), on the 32nd and 33rd floors of Hyatt on the Bund’s West Tower, which offers great views of the Bund and Pudong, the skyscraper-filled business district across the Huangpu River.

Despite the bad air, we lounge on daybeds on the bar’s open-air deck anyway, ogling several young expatriates as they frolic in the outdoor jacuzzi. Showers and towels are provided free but one has to drink many cocktails (about 75 yuan each) to reach the 1,000 yuan minimum to enter the tub.

The next night, two other friends and I head over to Xin Tian Di, a district of refurbished shi ku men buildings, or row housing, unique to Shanghai. Now home to Western cafes and restaurants, it is not unlike Singapore’s Clarke Quay.

Fountain bistro, by the Fu Lu Shou fountain in the central piazza of Xin Tian Di, serves delicious lychee martinis and a buffet spread of antipasti during happy hour from 5 to 7pm on weekdays. Cocktails start at 55 yuan and wines are 150 yuan for three glasses.

While Wednesday nights in Singapore are a big hit with the younger set, mid-week in Shanghai is slightly quieter.

After stopping at the luxuriously dark Sin Lounge (211 Shimen Yi Lu), complete with scantily clad podium dancers, my party pals and I check out Bling (66 Dan Shui Road), which occupies a two-storey mansion. Started by Taiwanese hip-hop star Wilber Pan, the place is a hit among the city’s Taiwanese expatriate crowd. I am told Singaporean singer JJ Lin is often spotted here too.

As there is no dancefloor, most sit around listlessly, watching if anyone is watching them.

A street food vendor in Shanghai, China selling grilled oysters,which
is a popular supper snack in the country.

The best stop on our Wednesday night party trail is Muse 2 (inside Plaza 66, 1266 Nanjing Xi Lu). Laser lights dance around the large hall to the thumping beats of house music.

Wednesday nights are model nights at the second of the three Muse outlets, so I am sandwiched between leggy Russian models and hunky eye- candy on the dancefloor. Not that I am complaining.

Locals tell me the third Muse outlet at Park 97 (2A Gaolan Lu) is the place to be on Thursday nights, when the weekend really begins in Shanghai.

But when Thursday night arrives, I decide to rest my alcohol-soaked liver, staying in for a bubble bath and TV instead – to prepare for Friday, of course.

The next night, to brace ourselves for the impending inebriation, a friend and I decide to first line our stomachs by filling up at Wujiang Road.

The famous food street is a 400m stretch of shabby roadside stalls which serve yummy delicacies such as grilled oyster, duck’s tongue and satay-like sticks of beef and pork. Expect to pay around 10 yuan for about five skewers.

Visit it while you still can as the government has ordered the stalls to be torn down by year-end to make way for more shiny new malls.

A must-try in the area is dumpling restaurant Xiaoyang Shengjian. Shengjian, or pan- fried dumpling, is a famous Shanghai snack. Bright red xiao long xia, or crayfish, are grilled and sold at almost every stall for about 30 yuan per 100g, but they are a hassle to eat, despite the disposable plastic gloves most stalls provide.

Pan-fried dumplings, a popular supper snack sold at street food stalls
in Shanghai, China.

Stomachs filled, we make our first stop at Club 88. Opened in April, it is the latest addition to the chain, which has outlets across China. Look out for the dark chandeliers hanging from its ceilings and its plaid-clad waitstaff (decide for yourself whether it is tacky or kitschy).

This is a place for live performances by Chinese singers but if you turn up without a table reservation on crowded weekend nights, you can sit only at the bar.

Right next door is Cantina Agave (291 Fumin Lu), a Mexican taqueria and tequila bar that makes the best margaritas I have ever had. The Grand Marnier-laced margaritas are a steal at 55 yuan and come frozen or on the rocks in lime, passionfruit and strawberry flavours. Local food critics have raved about its food too.

As authentic as they come is The Shelter (5 Yongfu Lu), a much-raved-about club located in a former underground bomb shelter with sewer water (real, not decorative) leaking down the walls. The cavernous club is rawly furnished and is the least pretentious of the clubs I visited. The music is good and the drinks are cheap (about 10 yuan for a beer).

Saturday night, we breeze into M1nt (318 Fuzhou Road). Part of a brand which has properties in Hong Kong and Cannes, the private club is located in the penthouse of the M1nt Tower and lets in only guests with reservations. Its piece de resistance is a 17m-long tank for hammerhead sharks. Not surprisingly, the club is filled with smartly outfitted professionals in their 30s and older.

Like M1nt, New Heights also offers panoramic views of Shanghai city. It is located at the top of Three On The Bund (3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road), a four-storey Baroque building just off the Bund which also houses famed French restaurant Jean Georges.

A world apart in attitude, our next destination, C’s bar (685 Dingxi Lu), is a dive bar in the basement of a dingy building. Being here is somewhat like being in a three-room HDB flat filled with 50 beer- and football-loving scruffy-haired types. Cheeky scrawls cover the walls of the dimly lit space, which has a friendly vibe – it is not hard to strike up a conversation when you are a shoulder's bump away from the next person. Drinks are dirt cheap at about 10 yuan for a beer.

Our last stop before my feet give way is Club Mao (46 Yue Yang Lu), where the electro beats draw a European crowd. The place closes at 6am but as the sun rises as early as 5am in the summer, get used to squinting in the daylight as you head home.

On my final day, we decide that the best way to nurse our hangover is to douse it with more alcohol and enjoy a 398-yuan Sunday champagne brunch at Asian-influenced French restaurant La Platane (373 Huangpi Nan Lu).

Free-flow Veuve Clicquot and an assortment of canapes and classic French desserts are served in a chic two-storey shi ku men villa. The crowd is well- heeled and the soft lull of their chatter makes for a soothing, lazy Sunday.

A tray of grilled crayfish, a popular supper snack sold at street stalls
in Shanghai, China.

It is no wonder an American friend once remarked that Shanghai makes New York seem like a mere village in comparison. With as much nocturnal buzz as this, who really needs sleep at all?

5 things to do

1. Shop along Nanjing East Road. Lined on both sides with large malls, restaurants and cafes, the pedestrianised street stays brightly lit and buzzing with
activity till well past midnight. Watch out for touts and pickpockets, though.

2. Check entry fees. While most clubs have free entry, some charge up to 200 yuan (S$42) if they have guest performers.

3. Note the road intersections or landmarks when giving directions to a taxi driver. A unit number is very often insufficient, as many roads are very long.

4. Fight for your taxi. The concept of queueing is almost non-existent in Shanghai.

5. Hang on tightly to your valuables. Beggars, from 5 to 50 years old, love to linger around nightspots popular with foreign partygoers. Designed and themed like a Moroccan palace, the sultry Barbarossa sits pretty on a lake in People's Park with Shanghai’s skyscrapers looming over it.

2 don'ts

1. Don't say "gan bei", the Chinese equivalent of cheers, if you don't mean it. It literally means "empty your glass" and Shanghainese expect you to keep your word.

2. Don’t be too trusting of new acquaintances as scammers abound.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.

Sleepless in Shanghai

By Debbie Yong, The Straits Times | Wed, Aug 26 2009

Insomniacs rejoice, the energetic beats of China’s liveliest city thump way into the night.