00:32so yes guys I am here in Shanghai China
00:36it's been a long time coming I've been
00:38wanting to come here for years and years
00:39obviously there was a whole big lockdown
00:41during Co but now China is back open so
00:44as soon as I was able to I booked a trip
00:46to come here and it's going to be an
00:48awesome couple of weeks here in China we
00:50start here in Shanghai then I go to
00:51Shian Quin Ming and then Beijing so make
00:54sure you get subscribed if you're not
00:55already so you don't miss any of that
00:57coming up so right now I'm in the people
01:00Square it's very Central here in
01:02Shanghai a lot of people out here today
01:03it's Friday and it's also Chinese New
01:05Year kind of the the tail end of it
01:08Happy Chinese New Year to all that are
01:09celebrating um guys in this video you
01:11know how it goes I'm brand new here I
01:13just got here yesterday haven't seen
01:15much yet so this is going to be my first
01:16impressions walking around as an
01:18American guy in Shanghai let's see what
01:20I discover let's see what I come across
01:22it's going to be fun that is for
01:24sure meow yes one please you
01:37juming okay this is Jen Bing I had this
01:41last time I was in Shanghai years ago
01:44and uh it's basically like a Chinese
01:47crib so there goes an
02:04and what's going in all of these
02:07vegetables a little cilantro maybe some
02:10green onion and I don't know what that
02:13is now she's going to fold it up in a
02:21second this is like I think hoiston
02:32chili luckily I know how to say a little
02:35bit fold it up and inside went this
02:41wafer that gives it some nice
02:46bag huh okay do I pay here
02:54okay and now it's Mobile payment time so
02:57I got to figure out how to do this alip
03:05scan okay and this is how payments work
03:08here in China it's very very common I
03:10mean you can use cash but it's very
03:11common to use these mobile payments this
03:13is alipay there's also one through
03:15WeChat I just scanned this this uh QR
03:18code in the app and then I don't know
03:21the numbers so I just held up the phone
03:23he typed it in seven that's like $1 for
03:25this so we're going to confirm I'm going
03:27to put my passcode in and then it should
03:36done okay we're all set bye-bye and it's
03:39just like that you also have your own
03:40barcode in the apps uh which they can
03:42like charge you through their payment
03:44system and then you just hold up your
03:45code and it charges you automatically
03:47but for that you put the amount in and
03:48scan their barcode so it works both ways
03:51very efficient and uh as of 2023 you can
03:54link non-chinese bank cards or credit
03:56cards to your alipay or WeChat account
03:59so you can pay directly from your credit
04:00card through the app so anyway we got it
04:02let's find a place to take a seat and
04:04we're going to try it all right gem Bing
04:08Chinese breakfast crepe it's two halves
04:10I don't know if you're supposed to eat
04:11them one at a time or just go all in but
04:13I think I'm just going to go for the
04:14double decker here we
04:19go it's got all that freshness from the
04:22greens and the onion in there it's got
04:24the crisp from that fried wafer thing
04:26that they put in there it's got the eggs
04:28and it's got a good kick from my Edan a
04:31little bit chili sauce that went in
04:32there so tasty though it's not too heavy
04:34or anything it's it's nice and light
04:36very very flavorful and that cilantro
04:38really comes through too the perfect
04:41Shanghai all right guys moving right
04:43along now we're here in the French
04:44concession area this is one of the most
04:46popular parts of Shanghai it was
04:49actually like literally a French Colony
04:51back in the day for about 100 years from
04:53the mid 1800s to Mid 1900s now it's just
04:56like a neighborhood in the city but
04:58still a very cool trendy area and this
05:00building right behind me is called the
05:02Wukong Mansion kind of looks like the
05:04flat iron building in New York to me and
05:07this area is absolutely packed with
05:10people obviously China has a huge
05:11population and I think about half of
05:13them are right here on this street
05:14corner so yeah walking through the
05:16French concession area they say this is
05:18where the Chinese influencers come to
05:20get their start and as an aspiring
05:22Chinese influencer myself I figured I
05:24got to come here now the thing about
05:26being a Chinese influencer is that in
05:27China they don't really use the same
05:29social media platforms that we do in the
05:31rest of the world most of them are
05:32actually blocked there's the uh famous
05:35great firewall of China Google Facebook
05:37Instagram Twitter X YouTube all that
05:40stuff is not used here it's blocked you
05:42can get past it using a VPN but uh in
05:44China they have like a Chinese
05:45replacement for each of those platforms
05:47yeah this area is really cool it's a lot
05:49of like art deco style buildings it
05:51feels probably like the most Foreigner
05:53friendly area of the city that I've seen
05:55at least it's kind of trendy and there's
05:57a lot of English I noticed that in like
05:59any quote unquote trendy neighborhood
06:01around the world they tend to use a lot
06:03of English and the names of the
06:04businesses and stuff hey look at that we
06:06got the uh Iranian Consulate
06:11General our friends the
06:13Iranians right here in
06:15Shanghai hey and right down the street
06:17we've got the American one here we go
06:20they're neighbors all right so I'm just
06:21walking along and we've got this park
06:23here with all the old men from the
06:24neighborhood I don't know what the game
06:26is but it looks very
06:36huh Shi oh okay very
06:46you and they've got different games
07:03all right guys it is time to eat once
07:05again I need to go find some noodles or
07:10it okay guys so I've come to a different
07:13part of the city this is close to like a
07:15garden or Temple complex called U Garden
07:17it is absolutely packed here right now
07:20and I think it's got to be related to
07:21Chinese New Year because I mean I don't
07:24think it's like this all the time it's
07:26so packed mostly with Chinese people
07:28like I haven't seen many foreigners so
07:30yeah good vibes okay there are so many
07:32food options here I I think this whole
07:35festival thing is set up for Chinese New
07:38Year because it's just crazy like the
07:43amazing this feels like what you would
07:45expect China to look like from like a
07:46western perspective if you come to China
07:50cool into the mouth of the Dragon you
07:53got the very spiffy soldiers on the
07:56outside all right so apparently inside
07:59this area where the dragon mouth enters
08:01into you need a ticket to get in there I
08:05nio together no just
08:10one and we're in all right I am in
08:15they've got a lot of beautiful
08:17decorations up there very cool in here
08:20very crowded a lot of people let's find
08:23something to eat all right I have made
08:25it inside found myself a seat and
08:28luckily oh thank thank
08:30you perfect thank you so much luckily
08:34that lady speaks really great English
08:36cuz I think I would have been in trouble
08:37otherwise okay guys and the food has
08:39arrived so here is just like a fried
08:41pork chop over here we've got some
08:43simple noodles can take the broth and
08:51there yum and then we've got some soup
08:54dumplings I think it all looks amazing
08:56I'm so hungry let's do
09:02okay and in these noodles there's like
09:05little baby dried shrimps I think and
09:07some other greens of some sort let's
09:17try that was the bite I was waiting
09:22wow the noodles here are just they're
09:24something different they're like the
09:26perfect amount of alente chewy but not
09:29mushy they're just insanee okay guys and
09:32uh Shanghai is famous for their soup
09:34dumplings shaolong B this one has pork
09:38and crab inside and uh the way you do it
09:42is you put it on the spoon you bite a
09:44little hole in it then you suck out all
09:46the liquid and then you can eat The
09:50Dumpling there goes the soup and
09:55now so good they're sweet and they're
09:58Savory almost has like a maple syrup
10:01flavor I know that's crazy people are
10:02going to come at me for that but it has
10:04that essence of like a really sweet
10:06goodness I don't know okay I've been
10:08roped into trying a bunch of rice wine
10:11this is like my fifth
10:15one wow nice nice very nice this high
10:20alcohol high alcohol slowly okay this
10:28FL oh wa yeah you're right it is higher
10:32oh it's 38% um it's good
10:37though it's just what I needed on a on a
10:42day not cold exactly I was just saying
10:45that yeah be warming right up say hi to
10:52TR yeah woohoo China cheers to China
11:02wow mberry more berries oh mberry huh
11:09right I don't know how I got roped into
11:11this you need to try all yeah
11:15everyone all the flavors I'm going to be
11:17in trouble thank you all
11:21right oh that's very good Talla
11:25delicious this one is very this Chinese
11:30medicine Citrus medicine Citrus wine ah
11:38okay wo this one 52 oh my God yes really
11:43you try you try slowly because this one
11:45is a very famous one
11:48okay all right try slowly slowly a
11:55bit oh it's okay it's good oh good yeah
12:01very good yeah I love them all feel like
12:03each one I try it I like it even more
12:05we're going around the whole table here
12:10kidding oh my goodness I think this
12:12should be my last one maybe
12:21strong yeah it is all right so yeah
12:25right after I ate I came across that
12:27lady giving out the free samples of all
12:30different rice wines or different kinds
12:33of wines um I think I had several shots
12:35worth and um I'm feeling pretty good
12:38right now the sun is starting to go
12:41down it's looking really nice out here
12:44with all the decorations I want to head
12:46over to the Bund a very famous part of
12:48the city uh to end the video with quite
12:51a view so we'll go do that stay tuned
12:54there's something about traveling in
12:55China as a foreigner that is really
12:58unique and kind of a throw back to like
12:59how travel was before the internet as I
13:01mentioned before the Western apps either
13:04don't work here or the people here don't
13:06use them anyway so one example is like
13:08Google Maps people here don't use it and
13:10so they don't populate it with reviews
13:12and all that data that makes it so
13:13useful to us like looking up restaurants
13:15and things like that uh here it doesn't
13:17have anything on it they might not even
13:19be listed they might be placed
13:20incorrectly so as a result it really
13:22forces you to like just go out and hit
13:24the streets and explore and I feel like
13:26that's what travel was like before the
13:28internet it was less planned it was more
13:29spontaneous and you really just had to
13:31go out and discover stuff and that is
13:33like what travel is all about and here
13:35is the perfect place to do it because
13:37you kind of don't have any other choice
13:39all right and we have reached the Bund
13:41so you can see behind me there all these
13:44lit up buildings right along the
13:46Waterfront and then across the way is
13:48pong you've got all of the modern
13:49buildings across there including one of
13:51the tallest buildings in the world
13:52Shanghai Tower right there this place is
13:55really cool tons of people again here
13:57still but I would say this is definitely
13:59one of the best views in the city you
14:01definitely got to come here at least
14:03once if you visit Shanghai all righty
14:04guys I have to end this video very
14:06abruptly because my camera's battery is
14:07dying but I hope you enjoyed it and stay
14:09tuned for a lot more coming from China
14:11very very soon other than that thank you
14:13so much for watching and I'll see you in
