Shanghai sightseeing...

We woke up late on our 2nd day in Shanghai and missed the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  But it's ok, because the hotel's breakfast cannot make it lor!

We asked the driver to bring us to a local eatery to get breakfast before we start our day of sightseeing, and he brought us to this place....that I have no idea what is it called or where it was! Anyway, on to the food!

The ubiquitous 陂蛋瘦肉粥 was ordered, along with the 油条.  The 粥 was ok, nothing compared to the congee in Hong Kong!  But it was a good hearty breakfast to have.

陂蛋瘦肉粥

We also ordered a serve of the savoury 豆花, which was surprisingly quite good.  They have added different types of preserved veggies inside, and spring onions and bits of dried shrimp.  I thought I wouldn't get used to the savoury 豆花 but surprisingly I liked it and don't mind eating it again. 

豆花

We also ordered a serve of 小龙包 and was again disappointed at the tough thick skin and dry fillings.  My search for THE 小龙包 seems to be futile! :(  

小龙包

After breakfast, we headed over to 东方明珠 at the recommendation of the driver.  But it was unfortunate that it started to rain as we go up to the tower and managed to only get a "murky" view of the Shanghai skyline.

东方明珠

I think the view will be fantastic on a clear day - you get a 360 degrees view of Shanghai in the round tower, including The Bund, the new Expo 2010 site, etc.  

View of Shanghai from the top...

It was an uneventful day with us ending up at Xin Tian Di again for dinner and some shopping before heading back to the hotel.  We slept early in anticipation of the long drive to 周庄 the next day.

俏江南, Shanghai

Shanghai sounded so exciting and glamorous - expensive restaurants at The Bund, glamorous hangouts at Xin Tian Di, and endless shopping!  I landed in Shanghai full of anticipation, and of course I am so excited to go on holiday with J again! :)

I was dead tired after the 7 hours flight (including a 1 hour transit in Hong Kong), and was still subjected to a 1.5 hours immigration clearance courtesy of the swine flu.  I'm sooo grouchy after the whole thing!  And it was another 45 minutes ride to the hotel!  

Not exactly what I had in mind of me arriving glamorously into the Shanghai airport, with my hair in place, and hardly wrinkled clothes from the long journey, and stepping into the arms of my lover like in some movie! The lover was not even at the airport to meet me!  Duh!

Not a good start in Shanghai!

The only things I like about Shanghai was 周庄 and Uniqloo!  The 小龙包 was not as mind blowing as I hoped it would be.  

My first taste of the 小龙包 was at 俏江南。 It came in a really pretty little bamboo steamer, but alas it is sooo dry!

Bamboo Steamer...

小龙包

The other dishes in the restaurant were quite decent - I liked the steamed beef in ma la chili, but I didn't take a picture of that.  We were dining with J's friends, and I didn't want to embarrass him by taking too many food pics!  Hehehe...just take those that are special to appear less touristy?

I had wanted to go back to 俏江南 on another day to have dinner on our own and try their other dishes, but we didn't have the time.  They apparently has branches in Beijing too, but again no time to go!  But I'm most likely to go back to Beijing in the near future than Shanghai, just simply because I had a better time there  :)  

Stay tuned for more posts on Shanghai.