Day 1:
Hello everyone! It's time to travel again!
And this time round I will be going to explore Shanghai and Beijing!
Bought the multi-city tickets from Singapore Airline so we will be flying from Singapore to Shanghai and fly back from Beijing. The price is more or less the same if you buy return ticket from the same city so we prefer this kind of multi-city ticket and we can explore different city, isn't it better right?
Brunch time!
Finally reached! Again, this machine. Remember the one we used in Sanya that didn't even print anything on the paper. Haha!
Anyway, this time round the machine works and it print a OK on the paper and we will proceed to queue for the custom.
Custom check took about 30-40mins including queuing so not that bad.
Anyway, first thing first, COFFEE! China has really good tea but is not really a coffee country, so the only way to get my caffeine fix is to look for the Starbucks that we all are very familiar with.
Checked in our hotel at Sofitel Shanghai Hyland and it was already 5pm!
Tada! Our room for the next 3 nights!
The bathroom.
And the view from our window!
Settle down a little and went to our dinner place to get our queue number.
Still early for dinner reservation so we went to shop a little.
Went in Feiyue, one of their local sports brands, I wanna get a pair of sneakers from them but nothing attracts me.
And we decided to go get Heytea!
And we took the Didi back to our dinner place call the Ren He Guan. This place sells Shanghainese Cuisine and since we are here in Shanghai how can we not eat right?
Operating Hours: Not sure...
Still need to wait for a little.
Wow there is stage inside the restaurant! It gives the old Shanghai vibes!
Each of us was serve with a plate of watermelon first.
Let's eat! Food in general is good!
Oh ya, and the travel buddies for this trip!
Finish our dinner and stayed outside to take photos! Nice spot for nice photos!
And we went to Xin Tian Di shopping mall (上海新天地南里) to shop around.
Operating hours: 11am - 11pm (Monday to Sunday)
Many shops and restaurants here.
The building with all the red bricks also gives the old Shanghai vibes!
And so many nice spots for instagrammable pictures!
'
Done with the "photoshoot" and off to the next place.
The night is still young, so we went to 1886 Live house to drink and listen to live music!
UPDATE: The live house has relocated to : China, CN 上海市 黄浦区 中山东二路 531 531号十六铺·水岸地下1楼B116 邮政编码: 200120 )
A car on the ceiling!
Live singing!
Cheers for our first night in Shanghai!
And back to our hotel and our online shopping loot has arrive! Haha! We did online shopping a few days before we reach Shanghai! If you don't know, the courier service and food delivery in China is tip top! You can basically buy anything on either one of the China websites and it will appear at your hotel the next day!
Anyway, good night!
Day 2:
Good morning!
After breakfast at the hotel, we went to shop at the Nan Jing East Street (南京东路), which is just where our hotel is. This is one of the famous shopping districts with many brands here.
There are many international brands that most people know here.
What a big pair of scissors! Seems like it's a shop that sells good quality scissors!
Cute train!
A temple along the shopping street.
Done with shopping and off we go!
Took DiDi and head off to Yu Garden (豫园). The DiDi dropped us at the Yuyuan Old Street and told us to walk in.
The building here is very ancient Chinese style.
Walking pass some small stalls in a small alley.
This is what we call when Eastern meet Western.
We bought this Ah Gan Guo Kui (啊甘锅盔), not sure what it is but many people are buying so we thought grab one to try too.
It's basically something like Pita/Naan.
Many more shops around.
Here we are at the Yu Garden! Gotten our tickets and queue to go in.
Operating Hours: 9am - 4.30pm (Tuesday to Sunday, Monday close)
Tickets: Nonpeak season (July, August, December, January, February, March) - 30RMB (=SG$6.10)
Peak season (April, May, June, September, October, November) - 40RMB (=SG$8.10)
Beautiful garden!
So many koi!
Free roam ducky!
Many shops and restaurant inside here too.
We decided to go to Nan Xiang Man Tou Dian (南翔馒头店) which is famous for their Xiao long bao (steam dumpling) for our lunch. Look at the long queue!
Operating hours: 8am - 9.30pm (Monday to Sunday)
While 1 of us queue, 3 went around to see what else can we eat to cure the hunger a little bit before we faint while queuing! Haha!
The weather is too hot, so we went Starbucks which is just next door to grab a drink.
We finally got a table! The waiting time is actually not that bad! We waited for around 25 mins, which is better than we expect (and the lead time they gave us).
The menu. So basically, they sell other Chinese dishes beside the Xiao Long Bao.
Eating our Chinese Pita. Nothing special, not worth trying.
Our food is here!
Xiao Long Bao was good, other dish was not bad too but not the fantastic kind.
Worth if it is a short waiting time.
After lunch, continue exploring around and photo taking time!
And shopping time! Anta is like their local sports brand.
Got myself an Anta x Coca Cola tee shirt! Price is reasonable too.
Nice VM display inside!
Continue shopping...
And we went into the Shanghai City God Temple (上海城隍庙).
Operating Hours: 8.30am - 4.30pm (Monday to Sunday)
Website: https://shchm.org/
Ticket is sold at this small window (or shall I call it a hole?).
Anyway, tickets are sold at 10RMB (=SG$2) each person.
Who doesn't want to be blessed with good wealth right?
As a form of respect, I didn't take any picture inside the hall.
but it works like a Cupid, so if you want to have some blessing in your love relationship, this is the god you should pray for.
We walked around a little bit more and decided to leave as the weather is really too warm!
Our essential item for this trip is definitely the mini fan!
By the way our face is red not because of makeup but because of the weather!
We have arrived at our next destination, Tian Zi Fang (田子坊), a former French Concession area with small alley, well known for its quaint shops, cafes and bars.
Operating hours: 24hrs but different shop/café/bars operating hours are different
Many interesting shops here!
It says creativity street, so I guess the shop inside is more artistic?
Cute graffiti!
This Scent Library sells many kinds of perfume.
But the most interesting have to be this White Rabbit perfume and body lotion!
Do you know this? This White Rabbit candy was very popular in Singapore when I'm a kid! And I only get to know that the origins of the White Rabbit candy is actually Shanghai!
But... A White Rabbit scent all over on your body just smell ermmm... too sweet for me...
Handmade leather bag shop gives the vintage vibes.
Photo time!
Walking into a shop with White Rabbit merchandise.
Is that a white Rabbit boaster at the back?
White Rabbit ice cream!
Big White Rabbit candies! But of course, this is not the size of 1 candy but many candies inside the packaging.
Yes, everything is in the White rabbit logo! From socks to tee shirt...
to tote bag... but this tote bag is kinda cute though! Haha!
Pottery shop.
Continue exploring the place.
The signboard above shows how many visitors are there currently.
Did you see what I see?!
Haha! Close up for you! I'm not sure is this an art piece or...
Anyway, right beside the undies display, here's another White Rabbit store.
At this rate of seeing them, I kind of sick of them already! Haha!
Photo time again!
Tea leaves shop! The tea leaves smell so good!
Another perfume shop that has a nice background for photo taking! Haha!
Time to head off for dinner!
After dinner, the 3 of them is going for a concert at the Arena, so we decided to just grab our dinner at The River Mall ( 世博源 ) which is just next to the Arena. While they go for the concert, I can also shop and chill around the mall. (I am not a concert person...)
We are having dinner at this Grandma's Home ( 外婆家 ) located at the River Mall, well not my grandma but ya it's call Grandma's Home. Haha so we are expecting nice home cook food here like how the food taste like when our grandma cooks for us right?
The Menu.
The ordering list.
Our food is here!
This is their signature Red-Cooked Chicken with Tea ( 外婆茶香鸡 ).
Stir fry Chinese cabbage in Hangzhou style ( 杭州大白菜 )
I think this is the Boiled Fish with Pickled Cabbage and Chilli ( 酸菜鱼 )
Next, the Sour and spicy shredded potato ( 酸辣土豆丝 )
Lastly, we have Steamed prawns with minced garlic and vermicelli ( 蒜蓉粉丝虾 )
Food was good!
So, while the 3 of them went to the concert, I went shopping around the mall. Pretty interior inside the mall!
For the Sanrio lovers out there!
Quite a big mall!
Saw this cat theme café and decided to go in to have some drinks and chill while waiting for them.
Look at these mugs! So cute!
I'm so tempted to bring this back! This is the only dog among the cats' mugs!
Mail a letter to the future you?
Any Totoro fans out there?! So many Totoro merchandise here!
Books as wall display.
Ok time to have drink and maybe a cake.
The counter look like it's made up from many stacks of books.
The menu.
Found myself a quiet corner to enjoy my me time!
I'm not a cake person but if it's cheesecake, I don't mind! Haha!
Drink and cake were ok. I would love a more moist cheesecake though.
Continue to shop. They even have Boy London here!
Too full for this famous dumpling but there are many outlets around Shanghai so I'm sure we will get a chance to eat it.
Concert ends and it's the challenging task to meet them now! Wish me good luck!
I found them faster than I expected so we headed to the next destination, The Bund (外滩).
So colourful!
Why are we here? Of course, to see the iconic building of Shanghai, The Oriental Pearl Tower! You can't say you have been to Shanghai if you have not seen this iconic building, right?
The Bund is also famous for their modern and colonial building like this!
Of course, welfie with the building.
Since we are at The Bund, we decided to go to one the Starbucks nearby!
What so special about this Starbucks?
It's actually a Starbucks Reserve Café & Bar, which means they this Starbucks sells alcohol!
Gotten 2 cakes to share.
My non-alcohol drink.
And sitting by the window with our drinks and enjoy the rest of the night before we head back to the hotel.
Oh ya! Before we got back to our hotel, we went into the convenience store to grab some drinks.
Is this Shanghai special drinks?
Wow! I have never seen one before even though I have seen the clear milk tea in Japan.
Anyway, back to hotel to rest.
Good night!
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