Cheap day trip to Jiading from shanghai

Last week while having dinner with friends we lamented how Shanghai can just seem like a big urban city with nothing to do besides eating and drinking. To be honest, it’s not entirely off base - but with a little effort you can get away from it all.

So that’s just what I did yesterday. Things haven’t been going so well for me so I thought it might be good to explore the outskirts of shanghai. That’s how I ended at Jia Ding (嘉定）

嘉定 is ~20km outside of shanghai or about 30-40 min direct bus ride away. I decided to go there because the gardens at hui long tan (dragon pool) is supposed to be pretty decent considering it’s proximity to shanghai.

The final tally for the cost of the trip? 32 RMBs! Yep, that’s right… less than $5 USD!

Bus ticket (direct from city center to jiading): 9 rmb each way
Money spent for lunch: 9 rmb (composed of street food and an ice cream bar :)
Entrance ticket to hui long tan 汇龙潭: 5 rmb

Really packed bus…there are even fold out seats for people to sit in the aisle. Somehow that seems like a fire hazard to me.

Jiading bus station drops you off right at city center. ~ 20 min walk to 汇龙潭

View on my way to 汇龙潭

I stopped off at Shanghai University (上海大学）on the way to check it out…

the dorms don’t look too bad…though I dunno about the color

basketball is quite popular nowadays - though people seem to have a different definition of athletic wear. Check out the jeans….I’ve actually even seen people play badminton in suits!

“学生是国家的财富, 为师生服务是我们的光荣” is translated to “Students are our nation’s wealth, serving our teachers and students is our honor”
You probably won’t see that at a convenience store near your university…

I saw this sign at a big intersection - it tracks how many accidents have happened at this particular intersection dating from Jan 1 - Feb 20. According to this, 16 people died, 26 hurt from a total of 32 accidents.

This way to hui long tan

This way to fahua pagoda

The pagoda was just ok - I didn’t really want to pay 5 rmbs to go up it

Area by the pagoda

Area by the pagoda

This is a makeshift skating ring in the park - full of skatboarders, rollerbladers, and roller skaters

The shanghai expo mascot….which is horrible in my opinion. But then no one asked for my input

Though it’s on the outskirts of shanghai - it’s still not short of people…

The main drag on the way into 汇龙潭

Finally…

My view from the bench by the water :) I took a little catnap here for 15 minutes. it was awesome

Cool patterns on the pebbled road

It’s named Dragon Pool because long ago 5 rivers came to a head at this location - thus it looked like the claws and fangs of a dragon

I don’t know if you can really see it, but basically it’s a stone bridge that juts out on both sides…I can’t say I felt particular safe crossing it

Another view of the dragon in the pool

This well was constructed around 1506! It was a ‘rest area’ of sorts for travelers

All in all, it was just what I needed. If you ever get bored in Shanghai and want to get away for an afternoon - I’d recommend it.

543 views

Share