What you can't save on accommodation in Shanghai you may be able to make up in other areas, since the city offers abundant things to see and experience (if not "do") for cheap or absolutely gratis. Most important is to choose the right area of town, go there, and then make sure you experience what is there. How many travelers must have stood on a Shanghai street crowded with a thousand people, a hundred shops, snarling traffic, and declared, "There's nothing here!"

Below are listed some of the hotspots of the masses, and other points of interest where you can (cheaply) experience as much of Shanghai as your senses can assimilate.

DAYLIFE:
The Bund -- All Shanghai sights lists begin here. Stroll the kilometer-long embankment and view the murky river. Count the passing ships (some of them very large). Gaze across at the towering Pudong skyline. Notice how the river has now risen above the level of Nanjing Lu. Meet the English-speaking photographers, paper-cutters, postcard ladies, students, "coffee" girls and, oh yes, 10,000 other representatives of the masses. From here cross through the underpass to . . .

Nanjing Lu -- Stroll it up to five kilometers. It is full enough of department stores and specialty shops, restaurants and fast food joints, to last you a full afternoon and evening. Merchandise is cheap, sensory bombardment constant.

People's Square -- Seemingly the only broad expanse in the city, spreading before the newly built Museum, People's Square is now perhaps the most popular place for city residents to unwind. Watch the men fly beautiful handmade kites, see the couples waltz, observe the only-children with their doting parents. Quite centrally located, the Square also offers an interesting panorama of Shanghai's skyline old and new. Adjacent the Square is People's Park.

Yuyuan Garden -- Probably a must-visit for its containment of shopping, crowds, specialty foods, and an authentic somewhat peaceful Chinese garden all within a small area, Yuyuan Garden needn't pain your pocketbook. Check out the adjacent alleys, outside the complex proper, for a glimpse of typical Shanghai shikumen housing.

Suzhou Creek -- If you have not yet glimpsed the face of the infamous Communist-industrial nightmare, follow Suzhou Creek a ways. It will take you on a tour of river life, pollution, run-down streets, monolithic factories some of which have become so ugly and degenerated that they are coming full circle into a kind of exquisite beauty. (The author personally considers this one of the most likely areas for interesting -- not to say "beautiful" -- photography in the city.)

Tour buses -- A good way to see Shanghai is on the red Jin Jiang Tour Bus, which leaves from the side entrance of the Garden Hotel on Mao Ming Nan Lu, just opposite the old Jin Jiang Hotel. They leave about every half hour, and you can buy a ticket on board. The price should be around 20 yuan.

The bus follows a route that passes by People's Square, stops in front of the Shanghai Museum, the Orient Pearl TV Tower in Pudong, the Yao Han Department Store,and then to the Nanpu Bridge. From the base, you can take the elevator up and walk along the bridge. It then visits the Old Chinese City / Yu Garden, back to People's Square again, then back to the Jin Jiang Hotel.

You can get off at any stop and reboard a later bus. Remember to save your tickets.

NIGHTLIFE:
Yunnan Road Night Market -- Along Nanjing Lu less than a kilometer west of the Bund, the Night Market offers a wide variety of food at rock-bottom prices. Always lively, it is a fair spectacle and sure to give you an authentic taste of Shanghai.

Wujiaochang (Five Corners) -- For those of you at the Changyang Hotel in the northeast of the city, Wujiaochang now offers nearly all the standard Chinese night activities, at student-prices. (Tongji and Fudan universities are nearby.) Here you may find restaurants, tea houses, bars, a disco or two, KFC and McD's, and street vendors of all sorts.

TRANSPORTATION:
Buses -- are cheapest of course, but packed, dirty, slow, and the playgrounds of skilled pickpockets. English will not get you far with the conductors.

The Subway -- is the best bargain - clean, fast, and quiet, it runs from the train station in the north past People's Square, along Huaihai Road, through Xujiahui to Jinjiang Amusement Park. Stops are announced in English as well as Chinese.

Tricycle-Cabs -- Contrary to their appearance, these things are NOT cheap, often even more expensive than the taxis. In accordance with their appearance, they ARE relatively unsafe in traffic.

Taxis -- Minimum cost of a taxi is 10 RMB. ALL taxis use meters.

Walking -- Central Shanghai is not so big. If you don't mind walking, do it! What are saving your time for, watching Chinese TV in your hotel room? Get some street-level stimulation, and exercise to boot.

Written by: Aaron Crippen