Shanghai

Oh christ I know. My whole phone is rendered useless besides the WeChat App and photos I haven't deleted off of my phone yet.

Had not quite realised my dependancy until now.

Express VPN is pretty good if you can download it. Free for a week too.

My uni has one actually so international students can access moodle from China, just haven't put it on the phone (i have it on the laptop) - on purpose, is quite nice reading a book for a change - but every now and again I find myself in an awkward spot when other people go on their Phones.
TBF, haven't had to use the phone really besides when trying to navigate the purple mountain but as discussed may as well use Chinese maps as of how useless google maps is here.

I'm going in November for a work trip but have a few days either side. Does anyone have any restaurant or bar recommendations? Staying in the French Concession

What kind of food do you like? I can send you a bunch of links when I'm on my laptop on Monday.
Bars - Post No Bills is really great (not french concession but not far), it's run by a friend of mine. Barbarian is another nice bar, they have a few locations now. Can't remember the name of the place atm but there's a spritz bar on yongkang road that I liked a lot. If you want dive bars then Specters is probably your best bet (run by another friend). Co Cheese (for Caesars and pickle shots).

Maglev to/from PuDong for the experience. Walk along the bund. Eat as many xiaolongbao as you can possibly manage. Power station art gallery is great. Fast train to Suzhou for the canals, or Wuxi for LingShanDaFo.

Ok, so a few french concession suggestions (bear in mind that I left nearly a year ago so it may be a little out of date - also I'm not sure of the english names of anything (if it helps I can write out the chinese names for you)):

• Hunan food! My fave type of chinese food! Either Hunan Country Kitchen (on Wulumuqi Road) or Di Shui Dong (on Maoming Road kinda near Changle Road)
  
• Xinjiang food! There's a place that does amazing Xinjiang bbq on the corner of Yuyuan Branch Road and Wulumuqi Road (slightly out of the french concession but not far at all).
  
• Best baozi in Shanghai: on the corner of Yongjia Road and Jiashan Road, next to the supermarket on the Jiashan Road corner. The baozi are super fluffy and delicious and cost RMB 2 or something absurd.
  
• Best jianbing (this is hard as jianbing is not a Shanghai food and is never amazing in Shanghai - but this is one of the best ones for a delicious breakfast savoury pancake): a hole in the wall right on the corner of Xiangyang Road and Yongkang Road (next to cafe de volcan).
  
• Best dumplings (fried style but they also have boiled): Fuxing Middle Road near to the corner with Xiangyang Road.
  
• Extremely fancy dimsun: Sense8 (Taicang Road in Xintiandi)
  
• Best pizza (if you get sick of chinese food): Alimentari (the one on Donghu Road is the largest) or if you want slices then Joes (next to Co Cheese on the corner of Nanchang Road and Shaanxi South Road)
  
  

I have no recommendations for Shanghainese food as I hate it (very sweet/oily).

Don't go to Starbucks or Luckin, Manner is hands down the best coffee and super affordable.

I lived in the french concession and miss it a lot even though I'm still a little traumatised after being locked in my apartment during the zero covid lockdown madness.

Thanks so much for all this, its perfect.

I stayed on Hengshan Rd a couple of times, it is a great area of Shanghai.

Get a metro card if you want to explore a bit further afield.