Q's Mind: Shanghai: 22 November 2009

Shanghai: 22 November 2009

Day 2 in Shanghai was probably the only day I get to take it easy and enjoy my time there...
Took lotsa photos as a result... ^^

8:56am~ Breakfast at the hotel... some Tim-sum and several Chinese style food...
... like Dumplings in the morning...
Went out into the streets to snap some random photos...
View of hotel in the morning...
Maple leaves??
Back at the hotel lobby...
Were asking for directions at the reception...
Hailed a cab and off to 城隍庙上海老街...
More random street views...
I love this scenary...
Shanghai Times Square... sounds weird...
Closer to the city central, I began to notice quite a complicated array of wires above head...
Traffic in Shanghai is as bad as Guangzhou... but the ppl are just as patient...
I actually preferred the directional plates over the ones in Singapore...
The typical cross junction in Shanghai is so large that traffic lights probably go unnoticed... so long as you feel its safe, just ease the vehicle out... its alright to get a couple of horns here and there... u'll get to the other side...
10:29am, we arrived at 城隍庙上海老街... It just screams "CHINATOWN!!!"
Quite a tourist spot...
I totally love this place's atmosphere! So "ancient"!
I felt like I've traveled back in time... ^^|
Antiques shop...
Street was bustling with business...
Spotted a RMB 2.00 shop! Thats like everything is S$0.40... omg...
Check out the little video of the street~ (oh the BGM is from the shop beside me)

Dad and mum already went into buying spree... we already bought 1 bagful of stuff merely 20 minutes into the street...

The people there has quite some skills stacking things up real high...

I didn't really had the time to patronize the shops across that side of the street... perhaps next time...

walking further down the street.... there's kinda a winter haze in the backgrounds, so visibility is lowered, but made the entire feeling walking down the streets very mystical...

Spotted THE little red book!

Almost bought it as a momento... but then again, what the heck?

There were like so many shops...

Then I slowly realised that those shops outside were merely the tip of the iceberg...

There's like another ancient CITY further inside... xD

Was kinda tired... so took a seat along the road...

If I estimated correctly, I merely covered 1% of that place that day...

Had dad took a shot of me...

I love the place~

Walked deeper into the streets...

We came to a Snacks Square (literally translated)...

There are many of such 'squares' in there...

冰糖葫芦~!

This place smells of FOOD~

Massive size 汤包 (soup bun)!

Business was good!

and I was so excited there...

Bought 1 without hesitation...

Slurped the lives outta that bun~ Yummy! xD

上海老城隍庙小吃广场~

Upstairs... its kinda like a Foodcourt...

Place was all steamy and fragrance...

Tim Sum is like the standard fare there...

Mutton soup with errr... Muttons balls? (no, not those balls.... pls...)

Ok, I personally spotted the famous "literal translated" notices there.

11:54am~ 百年老店 is a shop one should never miss...

Spotted someone making 龙须糖 there... black sesame flavour!

... errr apart from that... the other food stuff ain't that appetizing...

Ah~ Puppet shows! Pay-to-watch! Audiences peep through the hole to enjoy the show~ looks fun huh?

then that weird looking fella narrates the story~

Catch the actions here~

12:01pm... walking further into the streets... its very easy to lose sight of your friends and families in here... so follow closely~

I am bad with posing... especially when the cameramen is my dad who takes very long to snap the photo...

Inside, there's this bridge that zigzags its way across the pond below...

If you were ever there, be sure to drop by above for some good food!

上海名园... errr can't be bothered to pay to go in...

Shop selling paper-cuts... this is authentic Chinese arts!

The street here is kinda cosy...

Musical instruments shop...

More shops...

Pardon me for the blurry photos cuz I took them while on the move...

12:21pm... Something cute I noticed... well its winter, and its cold... but wearing thick gloves while riding a bike is suicidal... so the locals made the bike wear a glove instead... xD

Cute huh?

12:26pm... We continued our journey towards the 东方明珠　tower... its in sight... but we never seem to get any closer...

Park warden yelling at some tele tubbies to get off the grass...

Oh u know those bubble tea shops usually has this Cup-Sealing Machine? We came across a stretch of shops selling so many of those machines~

along with the plastic seal covering the cups~

Random shots of normal people plying their trade... I got scolded by auntie for taking her picture... I think she is sick of people photoshooting her...

Taking a ferry across to the other side... only RMB 3.00 (approx. S$0.60) per person.

Yea, u may even ride your motorbike up the ferry...

Ferry set sail...

The straits was pretty busy...

Ferry only took less than 5 mins and we reached the other side...

The buildings here are more of the "ATAS" side...

We were getting closer and closer to the tower....

Its near 陆家嘴西路...

1:43pm~ I thought we had arrived...

Until this greeted me ahead... We were still a major junction away from the tower...

Ok, We got closer...

1:51pm~ after walking for like 2 hours in the cold... time to break for lunch~

That place is a stone throw away from the Oriental Pearl Tower... its some sort like a Food Square...

The fragrance of food is in the air... everything smells so good when one is hungry...

I sure was hungry then...

We eventually settled for this shop... cuz they have seatings inside...

Beef stew rice...

My mum's Dumplings noodles somehow turned out different from what she was expecting... and there wasn't even any dumplings to begin with...

Beef Noodles... (I didn't expect it to be soup-base... spoilt the gravy...)

2:20pm... Tears of joy... we finally made it to the tower...

SUBWAY is called 赛百味...

The ticketing booth...

Ticket prices are cleverly segmented... the higher you wish to go, the more you pay...

Type A tickets costs RMB 150.00 (approx. S$30.00) and lets you access EVERY PLACE...

Type B cost RMB 135.00 and .... well u get the idea...

One can spend the entire day in this tower... there was just so much things to see in there...

Bought 3 Adult tickets...

I hate taking photos of very tall towers... cuz I always have to squat very low to shoot upwards... and I got to be wary of my surroundings in case someone with very short skirt happens to walk past me... (^^||)>

Oh... in the near distance... spotted something worth exploring...

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium~! (We apparently forgotten about that place when we finished with the tower....)

Its darn hard to take photographs when one is right at the foot of the tower...

This photo had me nearly lying on the steps....

This photo is the best my dad could get out of...

Oh right at the entrance, one could see the city-scape development of Shanghai city since 1994...

1995...

1996...

1997...

1998...

1999...

2000...

2001... more and more sky scrapers came up...

2002...

2003...

2004...

2005...

2006..

2007...

2008...

2009...

2:58pm... at the lift lobby... the queue snake all the way out to the entrance... There are beautiful Elevator attendants in each lift and the moment the lift door closes, they will greet guests with a welcome speech in Mandarin, followed by English... errr funny-sounding English... kinda like memorizing off a script... And the moment their script finished, we reached the designated floor... talk about perfect timing...

@ 259metres high in the tower....

Here is the view... ( =_= )

I rubbed my eyes... then look again... ( =_= ||)... ok, we paid an equivalent of S$30.00 per person and this is the sort view you get...

Oriental Pearl Tower souvenirs anyone? RMB 520 each...

Well... they said its winter and the hue is normal...

Sadly... I don't think I could see Beijing...

Here's a little video~

But view down there is pretty~ its a busy strait down there...

More sky scrapers mushrooming up below...

More sky scrapers mushrooming up over here too...

Hmm... its actually quite a nice view...

3:25pm... Taking the elevator up to the top most level... towards 350 metres

Its slightly more crowded here cuz the place is smaller... I tell you... going down is a headache... the elevator was unable to meet the demands of that many ppl wanting to go down...

Err... view up here at 350 metres... even more blur...

I love this photo...

More souvenirs...

I have no idea why they called it the Space Module... it felt like an oven in there...

I AM AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD~!!!!! *CHOKE...*

A few more photos... and thats about it...

Shanghai City...

I could use this photo for a brochure or something...

Ah! @ 259 metres... This place is NOT for the faint hearted...

You can stand on this reinforced fiberglass flooring that sees through to what's below you...

See the video here~! Exciting~

I was happily taking photos of the floor and this stupid kid was like stomping his life out on the floor I was standing on... I glared at him so hard he ran away...

4:06pm... Time to replenish on caffeine.... for a small paper cup of cappuccino that was like half filled with coffee and the rest with foam... its cost us an equivalent of S$6.00 per cup... I repeat, paper cup...