I am living next to a bustling area in the New District which is called Holiday Plaza (假日广场). Most of the eateries there are Korean or Japanese foods, but there also a fair number of exquisite chinese crusines. The area is especially catered to the large foreign population working in the city of Wuxi.
Let me give you a peek into the meals that we have every day after work:
Glorious Dinner
Here is the food street opposite the Holiday Plaza. We will visit here if we are bored eating all the Japanese, Korean and exquisite Chinese foods to go for something more ordinary. There are also shophouses which has a more medium range of Chinese food. A large variety of culinary can be found here, ranging from BBQ to Chinese Fried Foods and also fruit stalls. I visit the fruit stalls on average twice a week, and one of my favourites are the grapes. It different from the grapes that is sold in Singapore - much more juicy and sweet. Grape wines are made from these grapes.
And here we have the BBQ. Chicken wings go for 3RMB (60 cents), sausages 1.5RMB (30 cents) and the rest go for an average of 1RMB (20 cents). I love to go for their vegetarian BBQ which has mushrooms, cauliflowers and so on.
And once a while we will top up our meals with Fried Rice. My friends tend to go for their fried meatballs or fried meat. I prefer to go for their fried vegetables, especially those mixed with Green Pepper. It is really superb!
We go for Japanese crusine regularly, on average of once or twice a week. Japanese crusine is one of my favourites and many a times I requested for it when boss asked us on what choice of dinner would we like. : P
And of course, there is the Korean BBQ.
Daily Bread
Going to work every morning is quite interesting. Especially with the huge mass of vehicles running on the road. Basically they can travel in just any direction, especially at traffic junctions with no traffic lights. So here we have a scene below taken of our van travelling straight on to vehicles coming in the opposite direction. It kind of resulted in a deadlock. Nevertheless with Chinese ingenuity and their skill in driving, we were able to break free of it and continue on with our journey.
Fireworks is invented in China. And the people in Wuxi set off fireworks quite on a regular basis. From what I have observed, it is set off an average of once every week. Here is a fireworks shot taken from my hotel room. Their fireworks display normally go on for a few minutes up to ten over minutes. Heard that the New Year Celebration in Singapore have fireworks going on for only three minutes.
Weekend Visits
In the month of December, the temperature has dropped and thus it has been somewhat difficult for us to go for longer term travel. I spent most of my time over the weekends going down to Wuxi Central - for window shopping. The bus ride from my hotel takes around 30 minutes in all and I will alight at Yaohan (八百伴). This is a favourite shopping mall amongst my Japanese colleagues and I have done quite a fair bit of gifts shopping here.
Next to it a more posh shopping mall, somewhat like the Paragon of Orchard Road.
Further down is TGI Friday. I am quite fascinated by this restaurant, especially after watching the movie 'Click'. My future hotel will be just above it.
Wuxi central is actually Chong An Si which used to be a traditional temple, now converted to a bustling shopping street.
One of my favourite hangouts over the weekend is the Xin Hua Bookstore. It feels similar to the libraries in Singapore.
Here is a photoshot of the shopping street in Wuxi busiest area. At the end of the street we have Sheraton Hotel.
Beyond Sheraton Hotel is a central plaza where all the main banks and administrative offices are.
Fog
Wuxi as with many other Chinese cities are enshrouded in Fog during Winter time. I took two photos to compare the extend of the fog. Here is a scene of the Fog below.
Here is a similar scene on a clear day.
My Second Home
I have stayed here for a space of 5 months in all. It is my longest stay in a foreign place so far. The hotel is currently undergoing renovation, so we will be moving to Wuxi Central from January on. My new hotel can be access from here.
