Sunday, June 23, 2013

Shanghai Trip - 上海之旅 23 May 2013 to 2 June 2013

My nephew was posted to China-Shanghai for a one year overseas assignment . He was putting up at the Fraser Suites service apartment. Fraser Suites is situated at Lu Jia Zui area 陆家嘴区. This area is equivalent to Singapore Orchard Road area. The properties in this area are the most expensive in Shanghai. Fraser Suites was officially opened by Dr Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary Of State on 28 October 2008. The apartment is overlooking the Huang Pu river 黄浦江 and the Bund 外滩(former British/ French concession) . The said service apartment comes with a living room, dinning area, a full equipped kitchen, laundry equipment, 2 bedrooms and a study room. My nephew requested his parent to have a short stay with him. May / June is autumn in Shanghai. This is the best period to stay in Shanghai. The weather during autumn is cooling, temperature is between 18 to 24 C. Unlike in winter, the weather is cold and freezing. On the contrary, it is very hot in summer. I was lucky to be invited to join them for a 10 days holiday. We booked the air tickets well in advance to avoid disappointment. After booking the air tickets, there was an outbreak of N7H9 bird flu in Shanghai. N7N9 was a new permutation of bird flu virus. There was no vaccine for the N7N9 bird flu virus. We had our flu injection before we left for Shanghai. The vaccination can protect us from the common flu and H1N1 bird flu but not against the N7H9. We were contemplating to cancel the air tickets but dropped the idea after we were told by the Singapore Airline that we can only take back a fraction of the money paid as our air tickets were classified as non refundable. So We decided to adopt the wait and see attitude since the departure date was still some time away. The good news came when the departure date was near. The N7N9 virus threat in Shanghai was over. So we travelled  to Shanghai as planned.
The flight from Singapore to Shanghai took about 5 hrs 20 min. My nephew arranged his driver to pick us up at Shanghai Puddong airport. This was my first visit to Shanghai (my birth place). Ironically I did not go back to my birth place since I left China 63 years ago. My first impression of Shanghai was it is a fast developing city. There are many fly overs. Traffic jams still occurs every where. May be Shanghai should adopt Singapore's  ERP system and  COE bidding to manage the traffic congestion and controlling the vehicle population growth. There are many well designed and beautiful high rise buildings in Shanghai. I was not sure these beautiful architectures were the effort of foreign architects or they were the products of Shanghai city local talents.  Nonetheless  these modern architectures combine with the old architectures confirming Shanghai is a fast growing and prosperous city. The night scene was even more beautiful when the buildings flood lights were switched on at 7 pm. 
My nephew solved our headache by helping us to plan our Shanghai itinerary. Visiting to the place of interest and tourist attractions were very relax and not hectic. We had our meals either at the restaurants or at home.  We were not brave enough to try their road side local food. We bought some meats and vegetables from a near by wet market and cooked our own meals at times.

24 May 2013 Friday
After settling down at Fraser Suites service apartment upon arrival, I went for a familiarization tour to the vicinity alone. I dared not to go too far to avoid getting lost on the first day. We went to South Beauty Restaurant 俏江南for a sumptuous dinner. The food was over ordered. We can't finish all and had to pack the balance food. We strolled along the Huang Pu River after dinner. The scene at night was totally different from the day. It was beautiful.

25 May 2013 Saturday
Shanghai is well known for good workmanship tailoring with reasonable pricing. My nephew brought us to the South Bund Soft Spinning Material Market 南外滩轻纺面料市场 to make dresses, shirts and suits. A full suit for man cost S$100 and a pair of tailor pants cost S$30. We definitely cannot get these standard and pricing back home.

26 May 2013 Sunday
We visited Tian Zi Fang 田子坊. These old buildings were constructed of bricks. The ground levels were shops and the 2nd levels were residential. We can see clothes hanging out for drying over visitors' head.

27 May 2013 Monday
Zhu Jia Jiao 朱家角, another tourist attraction. There was a man made river with village design building on both side of the channel. Tourists can opt for boat ride along the channel with a small fare. Dinner was at the up market Shanghai IFC building 上海国金中心商场. Branded goods shops can be found in the IFC. We dined at the Charme Superior Restaurant 食尚港丽. I noticed that the cost of dinning in Shanghai is similar to the cost of dinning in Singapore. We walked back to Fraser Suites after dinner. The night scene was very beautiful with most of the buildings lighted up on both sides of  Huang Pu River.

28 May 2013 Tuesday
We visited a place called Yu Yuan 预园. This place was constructed for the Emperor of Qing Dynasty 清朝 for summer holiday. We had our lunch at the popular restaurant, Nan Xiang Man Tou Dian 南翔镘头店.
The driver showed me around 961 Si Chuan Bei Lu 四川北路 where I once lived when I was about 3 year old. There were no old houses can be found. What I can see were newer design shop houses. I believed my grand father's house had made way for new development long ago. The driver later dropped us at Nan Jing Bu Xing Jie 南京步行街 for shopping. At the end of the shopping street we had reached the famous The BUND 外滩 former British/ French concession. The BUND was flooded with people. This was where we looked at Fraser Suite from the other side of the Huang Pu River.

29 May 2013 Wednesday
We visited the Shanghai Museum 上海博物馆. Entrance to the museum was free but the security check was stringent. Lunch was the all time favourite Hong Kong style Yun Tun Mian 香港云吞麵 at Zheng Dou 正斗. This restaurant was originated from Hong Kong.

30 May 2013 Thursday
After sending my nephew to the office, the driver drove us to visit Hang Zhou, Xi Hu (West Lake) 杭州,西湖. Hang Zhou is about 3 hours drive from Shanghai. We spent 3 hours at West Lake. Lunch was at Lou Wai Lou restaurant 楼外楼. We had the famous beggar chicken. The chicken was wrapped up in mud and then barbecue in charcoal fire.  Another popular dish was deep fried fish with black sweet vinegar source. Before heading back to Fraser Suites, we dropped by a shopping mall Da Mu Zi 大拇子. Carrefour, the French super market outlet can be found in Shanghai. (Carrefour super market at Plaza Singapura, the Singapore branch was closed recently)  We visited the Singapore Clark Quay/ Boat Quay equivalent Xin Tian Di 新天地. Xin Tian Di is the place where the expatriates like to meet for a  drink after work.

31 May 2013 Friday
We were back to the tailor shop to fit out the clothes before they were delivered to Fraser Suites on 2 June 2013 Sunday morning.  We left for Singapore on 2 June afternoon.


1 June 2013 Saturday
The group spent the whole morning shopping at Nan Jing Bu Xing Jie 南京步行街. This was the eve of our departure. Lunch was at Ding Tai Feng 鼎太丰. The Shanghai dumplings 上海小龙包 standard was even better than the one sold in Singapore.  Dinner was at a very unique restaurant Shang Hai Xiao Nan Guo 上海小南国. The design of the restaurant was very  traditional Chinese. The building was constructed on a lake. My only feed back was the toilets were located on the 2nd level and only assessable by staircase. This is very unfriendly to the Senior Citizens.


                                                     Boarding gate A21 at Changi T3


                                                      Arrived at Shanghai Puddong airport




                                                     On the way to Fraser Suites
 

                                                           Entrance to Fraser Suites


                                                       Officially opened by Dr Henry Kissinger







                                                          Living room


                                                            Dinning room


                                                           Out door swimming pool


                                                           Huang Pu River view










                                                           A wedding car


                                                             High rise building under construction




                                                          Many high rise buildings


                                                           A public toilet along the road side















                                                             嘛辣豆腐 Spicy dou Fu



                                                            Slice fish in oil 水煮鱼








                                                                  smoke duck

                              







                                                            The BUND on the opposite side






                                                              Panoramic view











                                                            The tailor shop

                                                            Choosing for materials



                                                            Hong Kong style Niang Dou Fu



                                                             Tea with milk 奶茶




















                                                              Residence up stair

                                                              Water melon carving


                                                   Wet market










                          

                                                          Zhu Jia Jiao 朱家角








                                                             Boat ride















                                                          We had lunch at this new eating house

















                                                        Shop selling traditional Chinese cosmetic







































                                                            Shanghai TV station tower on the left





                                                               Apple shop









                                                                 Yu Yuan 预园











                                                              Crab meat soup in the bun





                                                            Take away counter with long queue

































                                                              Nan Jing Bu Xing Jie 南京步行街











                                                                  Beautiful architecture







                                                               Modern design buildings











                                                             Direction left- 500m to the BUND

                                                                Fairmont Peace Hotel 和平饭 店



                                                               The BUND 外滩





                                                                  Shanghai Museum 上海博物馆

















                                                           Hong Kong style yun tun mian 云吞麵



                                                                   Hang Zhou Xi Hu 杭州西湖































                                                             Deep fried fish in black sweet vinegar


























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                                                            Authentic poster







                                                             Ferrari sport car at Fraser Suites

                                                           Ferrari sport car at Fraser Suites

                                                            Final shot before departure









                                                               Good bye Shanghai 上海再见



                                                             Shanghai TV station tower on the left

                                                                     SQ 833





                                                             Shanghai Puddong airport

                                                                上海浦东机场









                                                             SQ 833 to Singapore







You may have noticed that I enjoy so many delicious good food and still maintaining the same figure. My secret was even when I was on holidays in Shanghai, I still find time going to the gym to work out and run on the tread mill to stay healthy.

































































































































































































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