Tuesday, April 10, 2012

China Trip Pt 1- SH: Shanghai, Here We Come!

A few months ago, we were trying to plan for a family vacation... We started off wanting to go to a cruise and tried to research about it. But we discovered that it was not only very expensive but also a lousy time to do that as the peak period for cruise is in May, rather than in April.. so there were not many choices...

So we thought why not visit our fren, Jo, who was living in China.. BUT I remembered that she mentioned tat the city that she is living in is very boring and then I remembered that Karen godma and CK godpa are also living in Suzhou in China and since we did not have a good time to meet up and catch up while we were all back in SGP during CNY, we will instead visit them there and spend some time there!:) Since there was no direct flight there, we decided we will also spend some time in Shanghai.. and my sis who has been to Shanghai said since we are already there, might as well visit Hangzhou as well.. and that, was what we decided to do:)

We were very lucky in that our friends in China could help out with locating good hotels, booking and because they had also travelled to Hangzhou, they could even suggest a day tour to follow and an inteniary to follow too:) With their expert advice on wat to do and how to cheong out of the train stations, we saved lots of time too!

Max picked a late night flight and so, that is him enjoying his free flow of alchohol at the airport lounge:) hahaha

Ace had lots of fun just eating food and playing with Max's ipod touch. His usual bedtime is 7.30pm, I wonder why he can stay up till 1am and still be so hyper!!!!


As for me, I am just tired..... wishing I can go to sleep with Chubby, Ace's best friend, now...

Once on the plane, Ace was still excitedly playing games and watching movies! A year ago when I was taking the flight with him, he needed me to do everything for him! Now, he can read all the instructions about how to play the game and can do everything by himself!

Max mou gnan tai.. hahaha

Finally at 3.30am dubai time, Ace kamwan to zzz liao....

We were slowly flying towards light..

We asked the air stewardess to get Ace a kid's pack but they ran out of bags and gave him this lunchbox bag instead.. which was quite good:)

And finally, we arrived at Shanghai.. While collecting our luggage, we saw a dog sniffing the luggage for drugs.. first time that I get to see this:)

The dog resting after finishing his "work"...

Then we took a cab to our hotel. I noticed that in china, the taxi's all have this acrylic "cage". Before my trip, everyone is warning me about how dangerous China is.. how I should be careful of my belongings and someone even told me scary stories of how the people from other places might come to china to steal and rob and because if you scream when you see someone's wallet being stolen, they will stab you to death.. so if other people see you having that sort of problem, they wouldnt help you or alert you at all. It made me so worried for a long time.. till some time before my trip, I picked a tarot card and got a LOVE card for the trip.. then did I put my mind to rest as I knew then this trip will be a good one filled with love.. and so it was:)

Seeing the acrylic "cage" i think even the chinese themselves are afraid of their own high crime rate.. the taxi drivers are probably also keen to protect themselves from robbers....

Anyway, I found out that in China, they dun say take a taxi or "搭德士" like we do.. they say "打滴" or "打车". I found it very amusing that Max needed someone to translate for him what the people are saying.... He will go "Huh?" and you can see question marks coming out of his head when the chinese people talk to him.. hahahaha...

Anyway, we were staying in New Jin Jiang Tower hotel.. the guy at the reception asked us if we wanted to upgrade to a bigger room to enjoy free wifi and so we did.. but when we went to our room, we wondered why the room is still so small...

Only thing is tat the room had a see through bathroom.. which was amusing to Ace and also the toilet had all sorts of gadgets like a seat warmer... bum washer.. hwahahaahaha...


View from our room.. our hotel is located at Huai Hai.. which is a little like Orchard.. it is the old French Concession area and so the buildings are all very nice.. with some sort of european feel.. together with the bald branches and sort of misty slight fog, when you are on ground level, it does look and feel as if we are in Europe:)


Anyway, we tried to logon but to no avail.. then found out they sent us to the wrong room without internet and so we changed rooms lor.. our new room only slightly bigger but not as nice.. but well, can rest and zzz can liao lah:)

So as not to waste time, after washing up a little, we wanted to go out and walk around before meeting my secondary school classmate, Kenneth, who has been working there for long time for dinner:) But Ace discovered the cartoon channel and all he wanted to do is watch 喜羊羊 on tv!!

After much cajoling, he was finally willing to go out with us:) It was really cold in Shanghai and we were so glad we bought Ace this jacket with a hood and zip in front.. with pockets.. (Ace was the one who requested this exact design and colour because he said it was COOL looking) cos it turned out to be super useful when raining or cold!!!!!

We were a little hungry and so we decided to buy the snacks we saw at a roadside stall. Since they said no meat, we just eat lah.. it is some pastry thingy.. we bought a sweet one and a saltish one.. both are nice but i like the sweet one better:)


The two hungry hippos munching on their pastries:)

I also saw a shop selling cigarettes and alchohol.. a sight you will NEVER see in Dubai.. apparently, smoking is big in china.. and i was so intrigued by the double happiness (双喜) brand of smokes. What is so happy or good about smoking.. I really cannot say:) hahahaha
The streets of Huai Hai are filled with tall buildings and shopping malls...


Kind of like Orchard right? I took this photo using this new DMC App tat I downloaded.. thanks to my fren who posted on FB as it was free for limited time period only.. after tat.. had to pay liao... It is very good for travelling and taking panorama views:)

Ace posing with two dragons:)

Shanghai is approaching spring.. or rather, it is already springtime.. so everywhere, there are lots of flowers...

Hey, familiar shops.. actually whole stretch are shops we can see in dubai and singapore and in conclusion, shopping in all major cities are about the same.. seen one, seen all...

There is H&M here too...



Too bad din have time to sit down and smell the flowers:)





This one reminded me or Orchard Ion! Shanghai made me miss Singapore VERY MUCH...


LV building..

Anyway, it started to rain and so we were trapped.. Ace was hungry.. and grumpy...


So we thought we will escape the rain and go into the malls for some aircon.. turned out tat during cold season like tat, they conserve energy and do not switch on the AC at all! So leh, it was super duper hot.. even more uncomfy inside the malls than outside! I think singaporeans are just so used to aircon everywhere... hahahahaa... Anyway, since we are already inside, we thought we would just walk around the toy section to entertain Ace.

Saw this interesting transformer toy and thought my friend, KP, might like to see it;)

Ace entertained himself playing with the toys there with Max:)

And hey, there is not just shops called Ace in Dubai.. there is also a brand of lugguage called ACE:)

After the toys, Ace is all smiles.. but the rain was still heavy...

We contemplated whether to buy an umbrella but I thought I would like to buy a really nice one tat i can use in Dubai as well... so we went inside the malls to look for umbrellas. HOrrors of horrors.. the umbrellas in the malls cos something like $35 sing dollars and some were even seventy sing dollars! Crazy or wat? We saw an uncle selling umbrellas for 10RMB per brolly but his brollies were all black and boring.. so I decided we will brave the rain with our hooded jackets since it was only a slight drizzle..

And after walking around for 25 min or so from our hotel, we found our dinner location- 枣子树. It is a highly recommended veg restaurant by our different friends and we loved the menu! We found so many things we would eat often in Singapore and so many other things we have never seen or tried before!:P

And it was so crowded too! Apparently, we found out that Shanghaist people usually knock off on time at 6 and eat at 6.30.. by 7.30, they were all finished and leaving the restaurant already. I also noticed that they tend to order many many dishes even though there are only two of them and leave most of the food uneaten.. wat a waste!


Looking at the menu makes me hungry lor!:)


Veg dumplings!

Veg Xiaolong bao!

Deep fried four season beans with something like cai por.. very nice!:)

Fried mushroom with special sauce:) YUMS!

Country style toufu...

And toufu soup.. this one made me miss home very much cos it is actually very similar to one of the dishes that my dad cooked very often.. Pa, I miss you so much!

After dinner (which was kindly sponsored by Kenneth, my secondary school table neighbour cum classmate whom I have not met up in the last 15-18 years), Kenneth suggested we go to the bund and he brought us to this place which was like Clarke Quay in SIngapore called Xin Tian Di.

I was told Clarke Quay was designed with this in mind and wanted to become the xin tian di of Singapore... And they really copy well lor.. there is even a LUNA pub here like in Singapore!:)
Ok, I guess I should say instead tat Singapore also has LUNA just like Shanghai:)

I later found out though tat ever touristy area has their own xin tian di.. there is a xin tian di in Suzhou as well.. but I din venture there:)



We saw this girl having the easiest job in the world... stand on a revolving platform with a car and just pose... hahahaha

This is a preserved building of the old Korean administration..

Kenneth brought us to take the train... Shanghai has one of the most complicated train system with 11 different lines! But it is also the most comprehensive one in the whole world.. and the cost of it is very low too.. less than one sing dollar! The govt of Singapore should maybe take a leaf out of their book and let Singaporeans enjoy too:)

Ace buying a train ticket for himself...

All the metro tickets tat came out were different and Ace wanted to pick this most beautiful design. Alas, it was a BAD decision... cos the card was faulty and so after we all got through.. he couldnt get through and he was really upset and cried..

Luckily, the person at the station control helped him open the gate...

We arrived tat the station but found out tat it was raining super heaviyly, so in the end, we decided to have a drink and head home..

That's kenneth.. he looks still quite the same as in secondary school! Except he has a little goatee now and is more mascular now:) hehehe

We took the metro back to Shanxi Station which is nearest to our hotel.. alas the rain got bigger and we were stuck.. I was totally drenched and so was Max.. and worried tat Ace will catch a cold but all the little boy wanted to do was to play with the rain! Hahahahah...

In the end, boh pian, we had to buy an umbrella!

No prizes for guessing who CHOSE THIS one:)

While Max and Ace were bathing, I found a xiangsheng channel and so enjoyed myself watching crosstalk on tv.. pity my son is too young to understand and enjoy this with me. I think I must go find in funshion and make him watch with me;) hahahaha

Anyway, once Ace settled down, all he wanted to do is eat snacks and watch cartoons.. when I asked him if he enjoyed the trip so far the next day, he said he did.

I asked him what was his favourite part so far.. and no, he did not mention the fantastic sights.. nor did he mention the wonderful company.. he actually said.. I quote.. word for word.

"My favourite is sitting and playing games in the airport lounge.. my second favourite is watching cartoon in the hotel..."

FAINTZ lor!

True to his word, the next few days.. he would either refuse to go out cos he wanted to stay in the hotel to watch cartoon.. and once he was out, he kept asking when we could go back to the hotel to watch cartoon!

Because his idea of a good holiday is a hotel with swimming pool, we paid more for a bigger hotel with a pool. Alas, now tat swimming has become part of his curriculum, he actually insisted that he doesnt want to swim at all. Anyway, too bad for us as the pool was down for renovation.. so no swimming for us...

And so, that ended our very first day in China:)



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