29th May 2008 - Jia Jia XiaoLongBao, FengXiang Clothing & Gift Plaza

At last, finally decided to go and try some XLB at some local eatery. This shop has quite good reviews from some webpages so this will be the first I try for today.

Din know that its so near to RenMin Square. I'd made a loop trying to get to this place. Reached there about lunch time and there was a long queue. So went for a short walk down this old street to see what else they have around there. By the time i turned back, practically no queue.

Ordered the XLB, seaweed/egg soup, ginger/vinegar and a soda for RMB12!! But have to wait for 15-20 min, cos they will only wrap the XLB whenever there is an order. I asked the counter staff where to wait for a seat. She just told me to sit wherever there is a vacant seat, even if it is to squeeze between two ppl.

While waiting, I counted the number of seats. There are only 3o seats. No wonder they asked ppl to take any seats available.

The XLB tasted quite ok actually. Its just that the soupy bits is too little. But for its price, its definitely worth it. Think I will try Din Tai Fung's this weekend to check out the diff.

Went to FengXiang after lunch. This shopping area is also rated quite well in the forum. But after going thro it, I still much preferred Science & Technology Musuem for its scale. Tmrw, will bring a Singapore fren there for shopping together with her grp of frens.

So tiring after 4-5 hrs of checking out places. Went JingAn area to buy something for Sean and there are so many shops selling shoes, clothings there etc. Just found out that RenMin Station also has a floor with shops as well.

I think i better steer clear of these places and start to visit some museums which I had wanted to go since last yr. Its quite daunting to see so many shops as its difficult to know where to start. And when you start, how to end!!!

I will start with the Science & Technology Museum. 5 floors of scientific stuff to ogle. Let's see if they need volunteers.

24th May 2008 - Cha Chan Ting at Jiu Guang City Plaza near JingAn Temple

Forgot to blog about this issue that happened last Saturday.

Last year, mum was telling Sean of cases in China where the service staff would deny receiving your payment for the meal and asked for another payment again. It happened to us in a HongKong Cha Chan Ting at the basement of Jiu Guang!!

The first staff came and we passed her RMB100 as well as asking her for the official receipt. One minute later, another staff came with the bill asking for payment again. We told her we have already paid and were waiting for the change/receipt. As a result, the first staff came over, looking very puzzled, saying that we did not gave her anything!

What an experience! We had to raise our voice a little and told her exactly what happened to recap her 'memory'. She kept saying no. We told her this only happen one minute ago, how can she forget? She walked off, presumingly to check. Later, any staff came with the change and apologized to us. When we walked past the first service staff on the way out, she looked so dejected, as though being accused.

Aiyah, I should have informed their manager about this matter and see how he handled it. I told Sean that in future, maybe we should take a pix of us handing the $ to the service staff so that they can't deny it. hahaha..

The only good thing about this restuarant is : the duck meat is nice. :)

27th May 2008 - Brownie, supermarkets, JingAn XiaoTing

Went Metro today. Had to show them my passport before they can issue me a one time entry. At least, until Sean applies for the Metro card thro his company. Quite a big place but small area for veggie and meat. Pricing is reasonable in Metro. At least, now I have one more supermarket to juggle around.

Its quite troublesome to shop in Metro cos I was "barricaded" at different aisles a few times cos they have to unpack goods with their forklifts. Maybe morning is not a good time cos they have to unpack their goods. Next time, go in the afternoon.

I like Carrefour for it's convenience, Walmart for the freshness of some meat/veggie/fruits , City Mart for baking stuff and other foreign products, Metro for slightly cheaper grocery. So that's why for different things, we go to different supermarkets. Very troublesome but good change of scenery. But overall, I still prefer City Mart cos it feels some much like Singapore. But have to go all the way to LJZ.

Went JingAn XiaoTing for the third time on Monday before it closes on 28th May for good. Finally, found the card holder i'd wanted. Bought two nice and cheap tops, two cheap & comfy shoes, a fab belt, two earrings and a expandable bag. There are alot of children's clothings too but the girl's clothings are so much nicer and sweeter. I would buy for Atticus if he is a "girl".

Thot my ayi changed the timing to 4pm. Yet she came at 2pm todaywithout informing. Asked her why. She said she stopped worked in the other assignment. Alamak, came as she wants. Good thing am at home. Anyway, we are thinking of this fri being her last day. Felt that our sweeping is much cleaner than her sweeping cum mopping. Have to DIY liao. If not, have to keep explaining to her how to do things and worry about the hygiene standard at the same time.

Did Brownie based on the Pierre Herme's recipe Li gave to me this afternoon after coming back from Metro.

Hmm..quite soft in the middle and lightly crisp on top. Much better than the 1st try last week. Let's see what Sean says tonight. :P Anyway, I dun remember that those brownie we tried outside has a crispy top layer. So am I doing it right? Well...

23th May 2008 - The Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch went past our apt this afternoon at 1.49pm!! We missed it in Hangzhou last Sunday but still get to see it in China after all. So excited to be able to view it.

One can really feel the excitment of the locals as they cheered.

This is the view from our bedroom where the police are blocking the traffic towards Century Park. No wonder traffic jam at our apt entrance.

This is the view from our kitchen where the Olympic Torch would go pass later. The background is Century Park.

This is the direction where the torch would be arriving. I was standing on the road taking photos and this policeman was telling us to obey his orders and don't 'de cun jin che'. He already let us on the road yet we were moving closer and closer to the barricade. hehehe..He oso know we need to take pix lah.

This is the direction towards Science & Technology Museum.

This is the torch bearer for this leg of the run. You can hear alot of ppl shouting "Zhong Gua, Jia You'

The arrival of the flame. You know it is arriving by the loud cheers on that stretch of road.

The passing of the flame.

This flame will go past Sean's office, then to Oriental Pearl Tower before stopping at BinJiang DaDao which is next to HuangPu river.

This event at our apartment lasted for about 1 minute but alot of ppl actually waited since 12 noon for it. I actually didn't want to wait for it as it was stated in the webpage that the mrt exit will be closed between 12 - 3pm, meaning that it should be within these hours. 3hrs is a long time to wait under the sun. But saw the news this morning indicating the time it departs from the starting point at Puxi. So in the end, we waited only for about 1/2 hr. :)

15 to 18th May - HuangShan, Hangzhou, Wuzhen

We came back from Huangshan on Sunday night. It was raining all the way from WuZhen to Shanghai.

It all started with HZ & family wanting to go Huangshan for a couple of days before staying in Shanghai. While checking the details for them, Sean asked why dun I go with them for the 4 days. So that's how I tagged along.

Before this, my idea of these places like HS, HZ, WZ was that they are ulu, dirty toilets, food issue etc. But this trip changed my mind. Of cos, there are still alot of places with dirty toilets,food but there are choices for the tourists and the local govt also did some improvement works for the foreign tourists.

Anyway, we took a flight from Pudong to Huangshan (Tunxi) in a small plane. Always heard that the domestic flight in China is very choppy due to the tubulences but this was a good and smooth flight. Stayed one night in Tunxi.

Next morning, we took the van to Huangshan. It was a scenic route. This is the view along the cable car route to go up HS. Understand from the guide that its not very often we get to see such clear view. Most of the year, its cloudy and foggy. We have been very fortunate that weekend.

This is the view of the station on top of HS. Notice that there are no other buildings around this station. All the while, I thot that the hotels are near to the station but nooo.... They are at least 40 minutes away by foot! And all the paths comes with staircases! Lots of them.

Me at the cable car station.

Scenery along the path to hotel.

HZ's niece and nephew seating on a cantilevered bench. Its a long way down if this chair gives way.

These are some of the staircases we have to take to the hotel.

There are actually a number of famous pine trees in HS. They have become tourist spots and this is one of them. Does this pine tree looks like a dragon?

This is called Lian Li Song. It grows from one root but split into two trunks. Just like "lovers link each other". That's what the signage says. Below this tree, there are alot of locks where couples locked their locks along the metal chains and then throw the keys down the valley.

Along the route to the hotel, there are alot of porters carrying things up to the hotels. This load weighs about 140jin or 70kg. They carry stuff like laundry, food, construction materials etc. They can be part of the Olympic team for the weight lifting segment for China. Really take my hat off them.

This is the pine tree lined path to the hotel. After walking for more than 1 hr, we finally reached the hotel in time for lunch. More walking after lunch.


Had an 11 course lunch which the service staff just continue plying our table with all the dishes at one go. Some of the dishes are quite nice.. :) And I actually brought along two cup noodles for this trip.

More walking after lunch.

This is a little ledge with the valley hundreds of meters below. My legs were turning a little jelly trying to walk towards the edge. See all the locks along the chain barricade? Those are placed by couples and after locking it here, the key is thrown into the valley.

This is another staircase. Very steep. Was considering whether to continue but in the end, why not, since we came all the way here oredy.

After the steep staircase, we came to the narrow passageway. The air was very cool inside this dug out mountain tunnel.

More mountains, valleys, pine trees. And staircases!!

Ok, this is the last straw. I didn't want to go down this staircase cos it's so steep and we have been walking for hours. So we left some of them behind and walked back in the direction of our hotel. Without having to follow the guide, we actually took a slower pace to view and admire the scenery.

Heard from the guide that all these paths were built a few years ago (after Yr 2000). Its amazing how most of these these footpaths are built cantilevered from the mountain side. There I am, holding on to the railing and trying not to look down to the valley below. Legs turning a little jelly. argh...

Next morning, we woke up at 4+ to catch the sunrise. There were oredy alot of ppl up the hill behind our hotel occupying the prime spots. The view was beautiful but fleeting.

After breakfast, more walking back to the cable car station. We took another route. More staircases.

After coming down from HS, we drove to this village called "Hong Cun". Very nice village. Can't view my photos cos dunno what happen to the photo format. Alot of arts students actually came here to practice their drawing.

The water supply of the village comes from the mountain and is distributed by small canals within the village. One interesting thing is that they designed the flow of the canal to be similar to the layout of the cow's intestines.

We bought some "shao bin" from the village. Taste good. Bought some but its not as nice anymore.

That night, the tour guide brought us to a local restuarant in Tunxi. Its has an interesting restaurant concept. They display all their food at the counter downstairs for us to look and choose by their individual number. The good thing is, this place is clean and cheap. This is the first time I'd tasted such good "yun tun", that we ordered another bowl. I will loved to come back to this restuarant again. We stayed for the night in Tunxi.

Sunday morning, we departed early for Hangzhou and Wuzhen.

This is Hangzhou. Quite warm as it is closed to noon time. Somewhere inside Xi Hu, the driver called me. He said."Did you see the Oympic torch?". "Its outside Xi Hu, along the main road". No wonder, there are some many banners and ppl around that road. What a pity as we were already at the lake area!!

After leaving Hangzhou, we went to Wuzhen. Looks like a deserted town. Very suitable for filming. There is a modern hotel within this town. Wonder if there are ppl staying there cos this place would be so quiet at night. We would need abt 3 hrs to fully cover this whole area but we have only 1.5hr left. Anyway, it started to rain slightly and got heavier towards the end of 1.5hr.

From Wuzhen, we drove non-stop to Shanghai and by the time we had dinner, it was 9+.

Next day, with nothing to do since I need to rest after all the walking, I did brownie with the recipe Li gave to me. But it tasted like choc cake. Anyway, everyone finished it for me. :)