ChongMing Island, Shanghai

I've been to Shanghai tons of times!! But I've not really explored much of Shanghai sights (except the tourist ones like Bund, Old Town, Zhou Water Village etc).

So this time, I decided to hop over to Chong Ming Island (3rd biggest island off Shanghai) for 1 day of exploring.

Initial plan was to take the MRT to the pier and hop onto the ferry across to Chong Ming. But then I found out that journey would take over 2 hours and apparently the ferry was not really functioning frequently during this time! Read from the papers a few days after my trip that the ferry was to be revived to attract more people who are taking the tunnel across. So probably lucky I didnt choose to take the ferry!

Anyway, went over to Shanghai Tourist Bus center at Shanghai Stadium and bought my day pass to one of the attractions on Chong Ming - Dong Tan Wetland Park. You can choose from 4 different attractions on Chong Ming, and the ticket price includes entrance fee. The Dong Tan Wetland ticket costs RMB120 (include return bus and entrance fee of 70RMB). Apparently, it's cheaper on weekdays.

Timing is fixed, gather at 715am and return from there at 4pm. Normally, you can buy the ticket on the day of departure, but I went 1 day earlier to ask about the ticket and bought it 1 day ahead. If you want to secure a ticket in the event of sell out, go 1 day earlier. Else, turn up early on the actual day and buy it.

The trip took 2 hours to reach the wetland. So basically we were like the 1st bus to arrive!!! It opens at 9am anyway. It was good as nobody was there yet, good for photography!

Dong Tan Wetland Park

Map of the park. It's actually not that big! About 2hrs to cycle through

The Visitor Center.

Me and my Bicycle

You can choose to rent a bicycle or walk. I chose to bike. It's a minimum 2hr rental (RMB20 for 2hours + refundable deposit of RMB200). Subsequent hour is 10RMB. So with the not so nice to ride bicycle, I embarked on my journey through Dong Tan Wetlands. Yup, the bike is not so nice to ride on gravel and soil roads...But I managed.

The road ahead..

Stopping for Photo

An artistic pose.. Good thing nobody was around

1st of the jumping shots

Since there was not many people around...I decided 'Hey why not do jumping shotS!' So then a series of jumping shots followed::

Jump 1: Nice angle and leg extension but facial expression not so great

Jump 2: Better facial but leg extension not so great. Still overall this is the best

The lonely backpacker shot hahah..Looks so CHAM

Cycling through the bamboo forest

The story of crocodile's tears. Translation: Crocodile shed tears because its their body's way of dispelling of salt minerals from their bodies, not because they felt sad when eating animals. So that's why it's FAKE!!

Windmills

I'm just crossing the road!

Do note that each attractions are quite far apart from one another, so you can't really walk from 1 place to the other. You can rent a car, or try to hail the sparse taxi available on the island or hop onto one of the private cars (not sure how much).

The return trip took about 2hours as well but could have been faster if not for the traffic. Nice island, but would have been better during Spring or Summer!

Next time - She Shan.