Good
1. Shopping - To those with the dollar advantage, the latest in fashion are really cheap.
Bad
1. Food - Too meaty, Too oily, Too salty, Too exotic, Too spicy. Eventually, we survive on bread, potatos, corn in the afternoon; McDonalds and KFC in the evenings; and is still quite happy about it. Back in Singapore, I don't even take McDonalds. So you guys get the big picture on where the food is ranked by us.
2. Air Pollution - Really bad. It may be the cause for all three of us to fall sick in the third week there.
3. Public Transport - Terrible. It is all man for himself. The strongest survive; back to the wild side of life.
We had a chance to catch the 'Story of Singapore' by Discovery Channel on Wednesday. Really fascinating and appreciative of the island state Singapore, especially since we are out of town for about a month.
Day 22 (Sunday)
Today, we revisited the shopping areas for one last blast of shopping frenzy. We hopped on the cab and travel through the city centre. It is foggy today, so join me in the journey through the city scape again.
The twin towers of Xujiahui in the foggy morning.
We alighted at the old shanghai street and walk through it again. My friend is getting some unique handicrafts from this place.
Along the way, we came upon one of the on-street dramas. We tend to see it on average of once a week. A big crowd will usually gather in watching the on-street drama.
If you guys have not figured it out from the picture, it show two women quarrelling. I have gotten tired of this whole culture of people quarrelling by the road side and decide a take a snap of them. Together with a part of the audience.
Next we proceeded on to the City of Books. It is a tall 7-storey high building with books in its lower 5 stories follow by computer and video entertainment collection at the top two floors. Really huge and trimming with people. I have gotten a few books from there and some gifts for my friends.
At the end of the day, we just proceed on to Xiang Yang market again and finally round off the day with Mister Donuts.
Day 24 (Tuesday)
Had dinner with our local colleague. He frequent this restaurant with his family.
The dishes reminded us of Si Chuan culinary. It is the 3rd or 4th time for us having a bowl of slice fish filled with chills. The rest of the meal is quite alright.
Day 26 (Thursday)
A company dinner is scheduled for all of us. This time is at a famous seafood restaurant from Ningbo. A personal room has been booked for our dinner table with our Singapore team dining in with the local General Manager and our colleagues. I have observed that customers normally treat the service staff (waitresses) rudely as it is part of the culture there. Shouting commands and demanding them to serve as and when they like. The service staff are still very much incline and courteous to the customers regardless of the impoliteness they were subjected to. Secondly, it is Shanghainese culture to Gan Pai onto the round glass on the main dining table instead of standing up and knocking against each other glass. This is because the table is too large for all to pay tribute.
Anyway, here we are off to seafood delicacy. The dishes seems alright but taste quite raw for some. The clams are bloody; with raw squids dip in wasabi. I prefer the prawn dish out of them all. Finally came the lobster. Just savour some of its lobster sashimi. After everyone has their share, I noticed that its feelers are actually moving. OMG, it's alive!!!
I stopped having any more of the dishes thereafter. And to make matters worse, I overheard the manager asking his stuff to go on down to pick the fresh product as no menu are available in this restaurant. So what you pointed out at the live stock is what you eat. Sinful...
Day 27 (Friday)
We were told about a major shopping street to the north of Shanghai known as Qi Pu Lu(七铺路). It is quite inaccessible from our hotel, so we decided to take a cab down. Some sights along the way below:
The flyover expressways are all closed. So all the cars have to travel by the normal roads, causing quite a massive jam all over.
A quick peek into the normal pack Shanghai bus. Imagine you are stuck in the middle with no escape from it.
The hordes of people crossing the streets at anyone time. (Actually this is the busy street right in front of Nanjing Dong Road, just off People's Square)
The unique Shanghainese architecture with a blend of old against new.
Here is another fascinating architecture.
And finally we arrived at Qi Pu Road. The whole taxi ride took us 40 mins with a price of 52 RMB. The colourful flag is actually hang outside out of the many Mega Clothing Malls. In each malls, there are actually close to a hundred shops.
A view from one of the mall with the shopping street. It takes 15 minutes to walk in a rapid pace from one end to another end. There is so much cheap clothing that it really puts us off.
And finally we round off the shopping frenzy with Xiang Yang market and had dinner at a teppanyaki stall round the corner. I went for their best seafood delicacy with a fellow friend.
This is how it looks like. The teppanyaki for commoners as compared to the one we have the week before.
Day 28 (Saturday)
Our last day in Shanghai, we booked a limousine service to bring us to Pudong International Airport.
The marvelous bridge design spanning Shanghai city, across the Huang Pu river to Pudong airport.
And we finally arrived at the new Pudong International airport. Did some light last minute shopping before flying back to Singapore.
