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.
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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.
