Shanghai

On 08 Mar 2008, i flew to Shanghai for a whole week of work. I'm glad that i flew on SQ and not GA. If GA, i think i will be dreading this trip.

After arrival, we went over to collect our luggage. And i was greeted by this.

What in the hell is that? Welcome to Shanghai..? Worst welcome signboard i've ever seen.. So cheap.

Anyway, that's not the worst part. The worst was they have so many belts and they had to arrange 2 flights to 1 belt when the rest are empty and not even in operation. Can you image? SQ and Emirates arriving at the same time, using the same belt? SQ was 95% full, Emirates more or less 95% full too.

The no of people crowding the belt.. Collecting your luggage at this point was like crazy. Lucky my luggage was out earlier.

When we stepped out of the Airport, i had a weather shock. It was cold, i was smoking without a cigarette! Cool.

Having only 8 days in Shanghai, Sun 09 Mar 2008 was the only day i could sightsee and it's cold today. When there's no wind chill, it's cool. But when the wind comes.. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!

The hotel we stayed, The Bund Hotel 金外滩酒店 is conveniently located to most of the major attractions in Shanghai. The Bund 外滩, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Walk 南京路步行街 and People's Park人民广场, all within 5 minutes walk.

If SIN has 4 seasons, we can have such lovely landscape too. But if SIN really going to have 4 seasons, please have it like Hongkong where they don't snow!

Look at the wires, the walls, the street.. Everything's so 上海滩! So nostalgic, i like. If there's a history behind it, i will lagi like it more.

How can you not love these kind of buildings? Well, i do.. I cant stop snapping pictures of these pictures.. Too bad i don't have a proper and good camera with me.. Sponsors please! :p

This is The Bund.. The famous 夜上海夜上海你是个不夜城... The whole of Shanghai is in a mess. They are building their Circle Line, just like us. But they have a dateline to complete. They're trying to get the whole of Shanghai ready for Expo 2010. The last Expo was at Japan 2006.

We took a river cruise and view from the cruise was awesome.

Pearl of the Orient Tower. We didn't go up there. We didn't have time to play tourist. By the time the cruise ended, it was 1pm.

We had to rush to Lujiabang Road 陆家浜路 for some tailored pants. It's like Jalan Sultan Textile Centre but every shop is a tailor shop. Please remember to bargain.. My trench coat was offered initiately at 480RMB, but with my mom's bargaining skills, we managed to convince them for 400RMB.

With some day light left, we went Chenghuangmiao 城隍庙. It's a street with nostalgic buildings that have been restored. It's a shopping street, you can find fakes, fakes and more fakes here. Other than that, it will be a ground where you can find some local snacks.

I like this place because its huge and nostalgic. Very Ming or Qing dynasty..

They have alot of Tea Houses here which were located on the 2nd floors. There were alot of Goldsmiths too and alot of local snacks.

After a whole 8hrs of daylight, we went Pedestrian Walkway 步行街 for some shopping. It's Orchard Road. Nothing special but nice buildings.

Nanjing Road. It is quite long, there is Nanjing Road East and West But main attraction is here, Pedestrian Walkway.

We ended the night early because I HAVE TO WORK THE NEXT DAY.

10 Mar 2008, Hotel visits.

11 Mar 2008, Hotel visits.

12 Mar 2008, Hotel visits.

13 Mar 2008, Hotel visits.

14 Mar 2008, Sabre office in Shanghai to follow up on our hotel visits. Suppose to leave early but too many things to do.. Left office at 6 for Quanjude Peking Duck全聚德北京鸭 at Huaihai Road 淮海路, another Orchard Road. Duck was DELICIOUS!

15 Mar 2008, finally i can do some shopping.. We went Qipu Road七浦路, notorious fake markets. I didn't buy much, besides the fakes this is also their fashion mall. Jeans, tops, coats, leggings, anything you need to style yourself from top to botom. 3 hours later, we were on our way to Airport for our flight back.

SIN is sweet.

PS: SIN is not oily. SIN is not salty. :)