4th Day in Shanghai

Day 4 Itinerary: Dongping National Forest Park 东平森林公园 – The Bund 外滩 – Shanghai Xin Tian Di 新天地

Dongping National Forest Park

Beautiful Sunday! We planned a trip together with friend’s sister to Dongping National Forest Park, which was highly recommended by her colleague. Getting there need various public transportation, metro, bus, bus, ferry, bus again… (this route was suggested by that colleague too) but, when we reached there… there is actually a direct bus to Shanghai City from ferry harbour. |||

 

Before entering to the park, there are people in their scooters, asking us if we are looking for local home-cook food (农家菜), their house is just nearby. Logically, we shouldn’t follow somebody home just like that, but since both of them (my travel partners) agreed, ok, I had no objection. Then they took us back home by their scooters. I had hesitation (typical city girl doesn’t trust stranger easily, was trained since young), but they seems nice and sincere, so, I tried not to think on the negative side. When we reached there, there were another group of people, dressed like city, leaving their dining, so, I felt sort of safe.

They suggested a lot of dishes, (they even had a proper menu), at last we ordered a cold appetiser (cold chicken), pumpkin slices, Chinese yam, celery and a stewed pork. I think the stewed pork is the nicest, but I was too eager for the food and I forgot to take picture. I admit I’m really a carnivore. Taste wise, ya, they are quite different from what we have eaten in the city, they tasted less MSG, less salt and some you can even taste the “burn” smell from the wok.

            The Chinese yam plant                                                             Their kids

Shoots, like eating sugar cane, peel the skin with teeth and chew the stem for juice. I think this is kind of cool, remind me when I was very young (I grew up in village too), my grandpa used to teach me eating sugar cane this way.

On the way to their house, we passed by some vineyards and there were notice board saying they welcome visitor too. We asked the man who was sending us if they have their own vineyard too, they said they don’t have but their friend does. Unfortunately my partners were not interested to go, so, the man sent me there, they waited for me in their house.

The vineyard that I visited isn’t the biggest, I guess, but I think I was lucky, I never visited a vineyard with grapes bearing on the plant before this, and I was very happy to be able to pluck grapes from the tree while walking around the yard. Since I was there, and the owner said he can helped me to pack the grapes for me to carry back, so, I bought some, but when I brought it to Hangzhou, carried the box up to the plane and back to KL, some of the grapes turned bad and the box smell like wine!!

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Back to the city!!

Dinner – At first we wanted to try XinXiangHui 辛香汇, a restaurant strongly recommended by my friend’s sister’s Shanghai colleague, she tried to book a table a day before but unfortunately, they only accept booking a week before, gosh… a week before!!! The restaurant people asked us to try our luck by walk in, so, we were there about 5.30pm, you know what? There were still 98 tables before us… We thought it might be very fast, but after an hour of waiting, there were still about 45 tables, plus my friend’s sister wasn’t feeling very well, so, her sister decided to go home to rest earlier and we decided to eat elsewhere…

This XinXiangHui is located at the top floor of a 6 storeys building in Pudong and all the tenants are running restaurants in this building. I don’t mind waiting for nice food, but I think the queue is ridiculous, so, if next time I were to go again, will definitely make booking, a week before.

When we went down to ground floor, we see this interesting restaurant, DaNiang Dumpling, plus point, not too crowded (believe me, even the whole building are restaurant, most of them are super crowded, this is China), so we went in and valentine’s set attracted us (although we both are not valentine to each other but who cares?). RMB54 for 4 satays, 1 bowl of glass noodle with big bone, 1 bowl of beef noodle and a big big bowl of dumpling (we forgot to count how many, but I guess about 20 of them), don’t you think this is a very good deal? I especiallu love my bowl of glass noodle.

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The bund!!! Finally!!!

How can you not visited the bund when you travel to Shanghai??? The night views were very breath-taking, I think it’s the nicest among all places that I went (at least nicer than HongKong and Melbourne).

Shanghai World Financial Centre (tallest building in Shanghai and 3rd tallest in the world) & The Pearl Tower

Pedestrian bridge crowded with people taking picture

@ Pudong (Eastern bank of HuangPu river) viewing over to PuXi (Western bank of HuangPu river) – Very classic and grand

Colourful & happening NanJing Road Pedestrian Street 南京路步行街 where a lot of people, especially the elderly practicing ballroom dancing and singing @ the street! What an interesting culture where the elderlies have their own happening and healthy activities while the young ones hangout somewhere in the city.

@ PuXi viewing over to Pudong (very colourful and modern sky line)

There are a lot of tourists @ the bund, when I was resting my poor legs (continuously walking for more than 3 hours), a white from South Africa who was sitting next to me thought I was a local and started chatting with me. He is an interesting man and we had nice chat, exchanging travel information and etc. That is part of the reason why I love traveling, you never know who and what interesting and surprising people and things will you be meeting or seeing… the world has become so small and it seems everyone in the world are friends!

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Shanghai Xin Tian Di

Most metro lines close at 10pm, after that, the most convenient public transport would be the cab. From Puxi, I hopped on a cab and I was thinking whether I should head home or go Xin Tian Di, I asked the driver will it be late to visit Xin Tian Di at about 11pm, he said that’s a place never sleep. So, there I go.

Actually I was curious, a lot of friends and sometimes I read in the magazine or entertainment news, a lot of richer 2nd generations will be hanging out there, this place is like our Bangsar/ Hartamas where a lot of pubs and posh restaurants. Of course there will be a lot of young, pretty and hot girls hanging out there… some probably trying to hook a rich husband, lol. But I got a bit disappointed with my high expectation to see some really young, rich, handsome/ well-groomed guys (yes, I watched too many soap dramas), pretty, hot and sexy girls and posh and expensive sport cars… but…, this place is happening but not like what I expected or probably that’s Sunday late night, happy hour ended earlier? It’s still an interesting place to watch the yellows act like the white there… Don’t believe? Buy a cup of latte and sit outdoor, not a bad idea to spend a night watching people there.

3rd Day in Shanghai

Day 3 Itinerary: Zhu Jia Jiao – AP Plaza Shopping Mall (@ Shanghai Sci & Tech Museum metro station) – Tian Zi Fang (@Tai Kang Road)

I think I don’t have to explain this, this is the crepe that we have the day before but today we asked the boss to add YouZaGuai + the peach that I bought the night before when we passed by a fruit stall after our reflexology (so cheap, it was only RMB40 for 1 hour reflexology + shoulder massage).

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Zhu Jia Jiao

How to get there?

1. (From where we were staying) Take bus no. 455 @ Pudong Avenue, Qiancang Road  --> Pu’an Road,  East Yan’an Road (only 4 stations away), then

2. Take Hu Zhu Express Bus (Pink bus) all the way to Zhu Jia Jiao (has only 3 stops because this is express bus)

There happened to be very very crowded when we were @ Hu Zhu Express Bus stations, everybody were queuing and we estimated we need to wait for 1 hour before we can get in to the 3rd bus (interval time for every busses to depart from station is 20 minutes). When we were “sun-dried” with other ppl in the queue, the conductor asked if anybody doesn’t mind standing, they can get in the bus too. Me & my friend quickly run up, because we were planning to sit on the stairs rather than continue sun-drying ourselves. But when we got up, the stairs were almost occupied, only one of us can sit. But after the bus move a short distance, we saw the conductor were scolding 2 passengers, I think probably they refuse to pay so, the conductor asked them to leave, and yea… we were lucky, we were closest to the seat and we got to sit already!

About an hour plus of bus trip, we finally arrive @ Zhu Jia Jiao, the China’s Venice.

Such a beautiful water village

The dumpling and this pork knuckle, everywhere in the village… I didn’t try the dumpling, I see the knuckle is interesting, I only bought one small piece to taste, it taste a little bit like marinated pork in our version of dumpling, and the fat layer can really melt in mouth… so, it can’t take too much at a go if you are not the fat lover. They can help visitor to vacuum pack too, convenient for the visitor to brought it home.

Because of the morning rain, we got to eat our lunch earlier too. We were buying the Chinese traditional ink painting as souvenir and the artist’s wife recommend this restaurant to us, she said the famous one is not the nicest…

We saw everybody were having the chicken soup, we think it must be the signature dish. But the smallest portion is half chicken, so, initially we thought of ordering 1 chicken soup and a dish of vege. For the vege, the waitress recommended their homemade 面筋 (no idea what’s the English translation) with vege and insisted we should also try their prawn cooked with wine too… at first we don’t want, but since she insisted, we agreed. They served the prawn first, the prawns were so tiny, has to eat with shell, but I think the dish was really tasty, then came the vege, also very nice, we were eating non-stop until we got a big shock seeing the chicken soup!!! The soup can served 4 actually, we were also half full! No doubt, the soup also very tasty, although the chicken meat was super “elastic” like chewing gum. We counted, there were altogether 8 bowls of soup, each of us took 4. Our stomachs were almost bursting when we left the restaurant.

Must-do activity in Zhu Jia Jiao – Cruise around the village

The cruise fare is counted by boat, each boat RMB60. When we were at the counter, we saw a couple were also checking out the price there, we exchanged a sight, and we agreed to share the boat. At first we thought they were Chinese but they are actually Korean… They must be thinking the same, but we are Malaysian Chinese.

For me, I love to see and experience a place slowly, walk around, sit in a nice coffee shop or tea house to observed how the local live their lives, see the place in day and night. But this time we only planned to do a half day trip, so, we need to catch the bus back to Shanghai city before the sky gets dark. Next time if I ever have a chance again, I will surely spend a night there…

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Shopping @ Shanghai AP Plaza – for those who like to do wholesales shopping, you can either shop @ Qi Pu Road (Metro station: East Nanjing Road) or AP Plaza Shopping Mall (Metro station: Shanghai Science & Technology Museum), both of the places are easily access by metro. Reminders to shopper: 1. bargain, bargain and bargain, cut at least 50 - 70% of the 1st price they offer to you, you got to be more daring, walk away if they can’t give you the price that you ask for, they will either give up and you win the bargain or there are plenty of shop selling the same thing, ask around if you have ample of time; 2. be aware of the quality, especially the buttons, I bought 2 tops, I even asked for new piece which is with plastic cover, when I brought home and check, all buttons need to re-sew; 3. most shops do not have a fitting room, you can’t put on to try before buying them, so, you need to be very sure about your measurement and what suit you best.

For me, erm… I am not good in bargaining, I like quality stuff, I need to try and be sure that the cloth really fit me well, so… sometimes I rather pay more and save time for other sightseeing (unless the trip is really meant for shopping).

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Dinner – Food Court near AP Plaza

I was coughing badly during the trip, so, I usually opt for something with hot soup or something light. Everything seems nice in the food court and this has given a libra a lot of headache. Finally I chose Fish fillet noodle with sour vege… who knows, the soup looked clear but it is spicy. My friend ordered dried pot, which is very interesting too, you can pick whatever you like over the counter, pick a spiciness and they will cook the stuffs that you pick, rice and soup are FOC. The serving of everything are big, China ppl has bigger stomach?

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Tian Zi Fang

This place housed a lot of young and talented artists. They are selling their master pieces (clothes, handbags, toys, paintings, handicrafts, etc.) in old buildings, so, it seems traditional but yet modern inside. I always appreciate original and arts, I really like this place, but we were there quite late, we only has limited time to walk around. There are a lot of restaurants, cafe and pubs too. I’m glad that my friends were willing to accompany me to drink a cup of latte before leaving such a nice place.

P/s: little tips to tour around Shanghai city: always check the last train going back to the place that you are staying, most of the lines close at 9pm or 10pm. But taking cab is very convenient, the fees is very reasonable too, beware of those maroon cab, they don’t charge accordingly.