Beijing subways are definitely more crowded than Shanghai's

As to clean, nah, both are not clean in my standards. (Singaporean) here.

Sorry I don't know Shanghai well enough to say what intersection, but I was walking from the Bund back towards the main shopping area of Nanjing Road, in fact I think that was just down from where the pedestrian area of Nanjing Road starts

Seemed pretty clean to me (ex-New Yorker here)!
As for crowded, no worse than N.Y. (or Tokyo, for that matter).

day 10 Shanghai to Nanjing
 

Got up this morning to see the clearest blue sky since arriving in China from the window of our 56th floor hotel room. This was the highest floor room I've ever stayed in. We took a taxi to Shanghai Staion for the 10:00 G train to Nanjing it took 1 1/2 hours. I was able to have the hotel get the tickets for an upcharge of RMB 20 each. Our seats were not together but we were able to swap out with nice Chinese so we could sit together. Why wouldn't they get us seats next to each other?

When we left the train in Nanjing we go underground to wait in the taxi line. The taxis line up and a group of people walk by and get in a car. I showed the driver the address of Taihezijin Hotel, asked "ni dong ma", he nods and opens his trunk. The trunk is already full of his crap. He starts trying to jam our 2 larger suitcases in the trunk. I pull them out and we walk off to find another taxi. What did he think he was going to do? There was no way they would fit, and I wasn't going to strap the bags to the roof.

We ask the ladies at the front desk which bus goes to the Confucious Temple. They say, shall we call you a taxi? I say no, we want to take the bus. They look shocked, like the tourists never ride the bus. We figure it out and ride the bus 4 stops for RMB 2. Fun part of the city, very lively and active.

More on Nanjing tomorrow. I still have this cold and need to go to sleep to try and get rid of it.

And I'll pass on it too.

+1, in general the pace of life seems faster in Shanghai than Beijing.

Ah Qipu Lu. Only the real local expats know this place. What a mob scene. But the street food is to die for. 大闸蟹,一只十块 :D

Ah the crabs are back in seasons!

Qipu lu a lot of haggling and bargaining - not for the faint hearted man.

Because Shanghai is all about the $$$. ;)

Well, compared to the Singapore MRT a model train would be dirty... Shanghai is cleaner than Beijing in pretty much every aspect though. The old lines of the Beijing Metro are pretty dim and dreadful. Totally agree with a previous poster's comment that Beijing is more "Chinese" than Shanghai. Shanghai is more of a global city while Beijing in a way epitomises China itself.

How are the crabs this year?

Two dinners with Yangcheng hairy crabs in Shanghai and surroundings within the last week. Pretty good ones, but then the hosts were locals in both cases and at the latter dinner even owned the restaurant.

Shanghai Hairy Crabs 101

Crab evaluation and cooking

History of the Crab

susiesan:

Hairy crab in season is a must try in SH.

back on topic-day 11 in Nanjing
 

We get up and board the bus #1 which goes right to the Purple Mountain area, stopping in front of Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum. 2 RMB each, 20 minute ride. I'm liking riding city buses. If I'm not sure where to get off, I point at the place on my map and show it to a Chinese bus rider, and they tell me when to get off the bus.

We join the hordes, (because it is free to get in) climb to the top, take some pictures, admire the view, people watch. Then we take the tram over to the Ming Tombs, which are almost empty because there is a charge. Then over to the temple area. We take bus #2 back to the hotel.

Observation: Chinese women wear totally inappropriate footware while touring places, climbing steps, walking around parks. Half of them seem to be wearing spikey high heels. The young pretty girls are all dressed up in frilly dresses with ruffles, texting, and looking totally bored with the whole thing. I'm wondering why they bother to go?

day 12-nanjing to Suzhou
 

A short 1 hour train ride to Suzhou. I show the paper with the name and address of the Garden Hotel to the taxi driver. We get to the hotel, get out, he drives off, and discover it is the wrong Garden Hotel. we have to wait 15 minutes for this hotel to flag down a cab for us to take us to the correct Garden Hotel, and have to pay for another cab ride. Grrrr.

Bob saved the day for me at the Suzhou train station. We get off the train, we're going down the escalator to leave the station and I realize I left a tote bag on the train containing the computer. Bob drops the luggage he's holding, runs to the bottom of the escalator, runs up the stairs, runs along the platform while hollering "hold the train" and waving his arms. He dashes onto car 5, grabs the bag from where we were sitting, and jumps off the train as the doors almost closed on him. Meanwhile, I was ahead of him on the escalator so I get off, throw my suitcase to the side and wait for the other 3 bags to come down so I can grab them before they get mangled at the bottom by the escalator steps. All this time, the Chinese are watching us yelling at each other, Bob sprinting up the steps, and they are all saying " huh, huh, huh". Of course, no one tried to help me get 3 suitcases off the escalator by myself.

I hear the train leave and don't know if Bob is still on it-he appears at the top of the escalator holding the green tote. I jump up and down yelling yippee and clapping. Now the Chinese are really staring at us. I don't know what would have happened if he got stuck on the train-I guess he'd ride to Shanghai, the next stop, then try to explain to someone what happened and come back. I don't know if they would have made him buy another ticket. And if he didn't get the tote, would the train attendant have turned it in, since it had the netbook in it?

Anyways, we check into Garden Hotel (very nice). Walk to one of the gardens, have dinner. See the Beijing tea scam thread for the dinner experience.

Observation: always check to see you have everything with you. I have been taking so many pills to try and get over this cold I must be loopy. And always ask how much food costs before ordering if you can't read the menu.
The dinner in Suzhou was the first meal on the trip where we were ripped off.

Awesome story -- totally needed to be caught on video!! :)

Just don't eat it with persimmon at the same time, you'll freak all the Chinese out. :D