Shanghai Nights

Probably bin over a month since we were actually in Shanghai, but I have been too busy to post them on my blog. Better late then never right? Hopefully the next ones wont take so long.

On Tommy's first night in Shanghai we met up with my friend Tao and headed straight for the Cheng Huang Miao/ Yu Yuan area. Our first stop, what Shanghai is famous for, Xiao Long Bao ...steamed dumplings. We got one basket for the three of us to share. They were delicious as always. Afterwards we walked around and I showed Tao where the actual Cheng Huang Miao is. Then we st oped into to have some Ba Bao Ya ... 8 Treasures Duck. The only way I can describe it is a braised duck de-boned and stuffed with sticky rice and 8 chinese delicacies. Mmmm.......

After stuffing ourselves with food, we took a walk down to the Wai Tan, a.k.a The Bund. Tao bargained to buy some kites. And we walked the entire length of the Nanjing Rd Pedestrian St up to People's Square.

On our second day in Shanghai, we spent the morning planing out where we would be going the rest of the trip. Once we had a plan and booked our tickets we wondered around town. We visited the Best Buy and saw a giant big screen TV. Went over to Zhongshan Park and saw some water calligraphy. In the afternoon we met up with Tao and Emma and explored the French Concession. We built up our appetite after a long day of walking.

Tommy digging into his giant bowl.....


....actually, it was a fish hot pot for all of us to share. The taste was amazing, just had to be careful with the fish bones. The spiciness was just right, as the soup cooked it got even spicier. Would definitely recommend this place for the fish pot, but would strongly recommend not ordering much else. We ordered fried lamb chops and got battered and fried lamb bones. It was as if they took the meet off the bones to make other dishes. When we tried to tell the waitresses they just ignored us, when we finally got their attention, they said that is how the dish comes. Usually, would never go back to a place with such poor service. But the fish was really great and the price was even better. The whole meal was less than $100 Rmb. Just stay away from the lamb.


The next day we planned to go up the SWFC （always makes me think of the WWF, but actually stands for Shanghai World Financial Center) now the tallest building in Shanghai. It kind of looks like a bottle opener because there is a "hole" at the top of the building. Emma met us up in Pudong, we went into the building but picked up a brochure Tommy saw a picture of the night scape and decided it would be better to go up at night. Since we were right across the street from Emma's office, we stopped in to check it out. I was pretty surprised to see how nice it was. Not the traditional classrooms you would think of. Small rooms, glass walls, listening center, VIP center. Pretty cool place to work at.

Afterwards, we went to the Shanghai Museum. Our first stop was the ancient coins room. At first you look at every display case and admire, and think they are so amazing but after so many coins it just too much and you start glancing over the cases. Now that the museum is free, it makes it easier to see it all in several short visits, rather than trying to cram it all in one afternoon.

When we left the museum we went to have some famous chicken, but the shop moved. Luckily we found the chicken, but that was all they had and it was an adventure trying to find another spot to have lunch at 2 in the afternoon. There were many restaurants on the street but none had cooks on duty. Finally, we walked down to this tiny little restaurant. And found where all the chefs had gone. There was a table of cooks having lunch. Emma ordered for us and we had a great lunch/dinner. We ate our chicken from down the street as a cold appetizer and then we had Dong Po Rou and some other really delicious dishes. I say it was our dinner too, because after eating we had to go back to the hotel and get ready to take the train to Beijing.