Shanghai Nights - Manhattan, Judy's and Malone's
Recently spent a few nights in Shanghai, so here is my contribution to this worthy cause.
Having come recently from Macau, I felt less need of the sauna experience, and decided to taste the bar scene. Not too interested in paying for expensive girl bar drinks, after doing due diligence and RTFF extensively, I decided the area around Tongren was to my taste, especially Manhattan and Judy's.
First, directions. Lots of references to Tongren, but it took me a while to realize this is a name for a relatively small street. It runs north-south and intersects with Nanjing Rd west. Both bars, as well as others are very close to that intersection, so having a taxi drop you there is plausible - I found that taxis did understand me (with about three lines of Chinese under my belt) when I said I wanted to go to Nanjing Xi Lu and Tongren Lu. When you get there, looking south from the intersection, Judy's is visible in about a half block. Looking north from the intersection on Tongren, Malone's is about the same distance from the intersection. If you walk past Malone's from there, turn right at the next street (Nanyang Lu) Manhattan's is about 100 meters on the left on that block. There are a number of other bars in the area, but I didn't try them - some are obviously girly bars (i.e., the job of the girls is to get you to buy them drinks - whether take out of girls is possible is less clear to me). It is also possible to walk to this intersection from the Nanjing West metro station, which is a bit further up Nanjing Lu (west, I think, but confirm on your map).
First Malone's - a good place for a western meal if you're craving that, also lots of screens for viewing sports (gets crowded during a big event like the World Cup) and sometimes has a live band that is fairly decent (I think Filipino). Downstairs bar seemed to have some working girls looking to hook up, but it is mixed in with a lot of other activity (couples, groups just out for a good time). I got there about 9:30 on a Saturday evening during a big World Cup game, and the place was packed. Found a table upstairs for a meal, and enjoyed the band for a while after the game ended. Left around 10:30 and headed for Judy's, which was pretty empty; walked over to Manhattan's and found things about the same. So I decided to get a legit massage back near my hotel (Howard Johnson All Suites - about 5 minutes by taxi at night when traffic was low) and return later when the action was better. Massage was had at Maple/Phoenix spa - about a block west of the hotel. Highly recommended for entirely legit body or foot massages.
Returned to Manhattan's at 12:30, and could barely get in the door. Ratio of women to men was at least 3 to 1, maybe higher. Women seemed to mostly be Vietnamese or Filipinas. Some very nice looking ones indeed, and not the mixed scene you see at Malone's - just about everyone here was on the make. It was a bit daunting, frankly, since I would have to squeeze in to even find a spot to get a drink at. Stayed for a few minutes and decided to check out Judy's instead.
Walked over to Judy's... by the way, when you walk around this area at night, you will be offered streetwalker's up and down the street. I must have had 5 offers in the two block walk between Judy's and Manhattan. They would start at 400 or 500, but if you hesitated, the price came down. A number were willing to go for 200, including one who offered anal for that price (somehow that seemed a bit scary).
Avoided these temptations (some were, some were not tempting), and got to Judy's. The scene was quite lively there as well, but not as crowded as Manhattan's. Found a spot at the bar, and soon realized that there were quite a few lovely ladies here as well - a somewhat more mixed group of Vietnamese and Filipinas as well as some African women and others I not not where from mixed in. One interesting difference between Manhattan's and Judy's - at Judy's there are dancers who perform - behind the bar in groups of 1 to 3, and off to one side with a hanging rope routine. Both were pretty sexy and fun. There is also a large projector screen opposite the bar that shows sports or music videos.
Before long I found a Vietnamese woman to my liking and a slight nod and smile in her direction brought her sexy dancing over to me. The rest is usual stuff - after a drink together, we negotiated a price (she started at 1500, but we went for 1000 LT). Back to my hotel in a cab and had a very nice experience with May.
Next night I decided to do the same thing, but adjusting for time issues, I ended up at Manhattan's around 11:00, when the girls were starting to arrive. Forvthe next half hour, I and about 6 other guys had the bar to ourselves and about 20-30 girls, some really attractive ones at that. Wanted to take my time, as this was my last night in Shanghai and wanted to pick well. Spent some time drinking, meeting some other guys to chat, and enjoying the band (though not as good as the band at Malone's) and soon enough, the bar was pretty full again. Somehow, I didn;t see the thing that just caught my eye and said this is it, so I walked over to Judy's again. Same scene there as the previous evening, though May was nowhere to be seen. I found another girl soon enough,and we headed back to my hotel. She spoke little English, but it was enough; her friend wanted to come along and help translate, but I saw scam emerging there and offered to take the one or none. We went and all was well.
Some guys may not know that the girls here work for the bars - and will try to get you to buy them drinks for which they get some commission, but I did not find it the hard sell that you allegedly find in the girly bars. But they "work" there only in that sense - there is no barfining like you find in Thailand. The scene reminded me more of a higher class version of Thermae Cafe or Biergarten in Bangkok, where freelancers go to get picked up. It's much nicer in these bars, though, but otherwise the scene is similar.
Also, I went into the New Lucky Garden Sauna next to the Howard Johnson All Suites, but decided against trying it when I received a somewhat gruff reception. The fellow emerged when I came in and led me to a screen which he pulled uo an English menu on, which had a suggested routine valued at 900+ RMB. I wanted to ask a question, but his response was "No English" and turned and walked away. O.k., so he couldn't help me, but I wasn't in the mood to take my chances, so I walked out. Someone else posted here that it is a good sauna, thought the girl was somewhat inexperienced.
Well, that's my report on Shanghai - hope it helps someone!
Stew2
Shanghai Sauna open for FS now?
If I have read the forum correctly for the past couple of months, the Shanghai expo has led to a crackdown on saunas, including the Shanghai Hotel Sauna. Do you think this will continue well into August? I need to know as I have to make hotel arrangements. I wanted to partake of a nice girl at the sauna before my trip to Beijing and then on south. Any information would be very much appreciated.