Red Ruby

Have you heard of Red Ruby?

If you were not local, you would probably not. Me neither.

One fine day when my colleague brought this cake back and somebody asked if it was 红宝石 (Red Ruby). My colleague explained to me that Red Ruby is a famous old-school Shanghai bakery, very popular among the locals.

My first thought was, the cake looks very average and normal. It should be like those traditional cake, dry and oily.

I didn't expect it when I took the first bite.
The freshness of the butter and milk filled my mouth instantly, first layer was the milk from the cream, secondly the butter from the sponge cake. The sponge was very moist and not overly sweet and the cream was just nice, not too oily or sweet or thick. There were bits of crunchy and chewy bits (Nata de Coco, i think) in between the sponge cake layers which added extra surprise for me.
Overall, the cake looks ancient but the taste was very modern.

It was so good I finished it instantly, indulging in my wonderful world of cows, milk and butter and forgetting my belly woes.

2 pieces of goodness for 13RMB!
Red Ruby outlets can be found all around Shanghai. Exact locations can be found in dianping.com

Online Shopping and helpful websites

Before shopping online, you gotta activate your ibanking or phone banking services and have a valid address.
Oh and they don't have English versions.

1. Taobao.com
- The most famous and visited website in China, you can find ANYTHING there.
- Owned by the Alibaba group
- Sells EVERYTHING, its so scary and i suspect they have a website for selling human organs (just kidding...)
- Tmall is like a shopfront, has better quality goods but more expensive
- Largely depends on the reviews for good and reliable products
- Most products deliver for free to your area, delivery time varies

2. Yihaodian.com
- Sells groceries in the beginning but now expanded to selling almost every household items.
- Well known for its good quality goods.
- Has a delivery fee for most items but will be waived if total cost exceed a certain amount.
- Very fast and efficient (I ordered the night before at 9pm and I received it at 9am in the morning)

3. dianping.com
- Similar to Yelp, User reviews for almost every shop in China.
- Very very helpful in decision making.

4. 360buy.com or suning.com
- Famous for electronics and gadgets. I haven't use it yet.

5. ctrip.com
- Similar to Expedia or Zuji.
- The largest website in China for booking flights and accomodation, domestic and worldwide.

This page will be updated regularly.

Shanghai Metro

Since I am taking the metro to work everyday, I shall give an introduction to the metro lines in Shanghai.

The public transport system is very developed in Shanghai, the metro has a total of 11 lines and you could actually explore whole of Shanghai taking the metro.

I think line 2 is the best and most convenient because it goes everywhere, including the major shopping areas, the bund, financial district, domestic and international airport and high speed train stations. Staying near line 2 indeed has its perks.

Fares
From wikipedia,
The base fare is 3 yuan (US$0.45) for journeys under 6 km, then 1 yuan for each additional 10 km. As of April 2010, the highest fare is 10 yuan (US$1.5).

Single-ride tickets can be purchased from ticket vending machines, and at some stations, at a ticket window. Single-ride tickets are embedded with RFID contactless chips. When entering the system you tap the ticket against a scanner above the turnstile, and on exit you insert the ticket into a slot where it is stored and recycled.

In addition to a Single-Ride ticket, fare can be paid using a Shanghai public transpot card. This RFID-embedded card can be purchased at selected banks, convenience stores and metro stations with a 20-yuan deposit. This card can be loaded at ticket booths, Service Centers at the metro stations as well as many small convenience stores and banks throughout the city. The Shanghai Public Transportation Card can also be used to pay for other forms of transportation, such as taxi or bus.

Before the ride
I'm always amused by the security checks. Yes, before entering the gantry there'll be an x-ray machine for the bags and security will prompt you for a bag check.
I heard from my colleagues that they had it set up for the World Expo in 2011 because of the high influx of tourists but it has became a norm now.

The catch is, although they raise their arms to stop you and say 宝宝检查 (bag check) , many people just ignored them and moved on. Occasionally, they will stop you if you have a large bag.
It always cracks me up to see their helpless expressions and restless voices but everyone just ignores them, sometimes I feel so sorry for them.

The metro system is really modern, the train comes very frequently and I haven't met a train fault/delay before. Especially during peak hours, the train comes almost every 30 seconds, which is really amazing. I was reading twitter feeds everyday about Singapore's MRT delays and faults so somehow I was glad I was here.

Train manners like queueing up behind the gates to get into the train, letting people alight before boarding is a norm here. Occasionally someone will rush into the train the moment the door opens, not allowing passengers to alight first and you will realise that it's probably some rude tourist from the North. When that happens, I will forcefully push my way out of the train. They really need to learn some logical train manners.  

In the train

The underground metro is relative clean, and you could actually eat and drink on the train. I always have my breakfast on the go. The announcements are made in Mandarin and English, so there's no problem understanding.

Don't be surprised if you hear loud music coming from one end of the cabin, its probably some beggers on train trying to get some loose change. They will stop the music once the train door opens to avoid being chased out and blast them once it closes. Its kinda irritating and locals usually ignore them.

Oh one more thing! During peak hours, suspicious old people will be standing around the stations, around the escalator area and platform. They are actually collecting newspapers from the commuters who bought/took newspapers, but the market is always too saturated for popular stations like Lujiazui that you will feel kinda sad for the ageing population here.

Other than that, I'm glad that smoking is prohibited in stations, rubbish bins are everywhere and restrooms are on the platforms.

Out of the station
Some big stations has Family Mart, which will be populated in the morning for a quick breakfast. Illegal taxi drivers/motobikes will be waiting for you at the end of the escalators so beware and take god care of your belongings.

Shanghai Traffic

The traffic is crazy in China. 

After 1 month or so in Shanghai I still have difficulty crossing the road. 

In China, zebra crossings are non existent.

See what I mean? Then what is the zebra crossing for when no vehicle gives way!??!?!? 

Another thing, China traffic law says that vehicles can turn right red, but that doesn't give you the right of way over pedestrian!!!!! Many times the car just brushed past me with 3cm allowance from my body and my toes are 1cm away from being crushed.

Sometimes you can see black cars parking by the side of the traffic junction and shouting some stuff, they are illegal taxis to ferry people to nearby places for some cash. I have never taken before so I have no idea how they work. 

Bicycles and motorbikes have disregard for the traffic lights and traffic rules. My colleague describes the traffic rules as flexible. Saha. They can go on the roads, go on pedestrians walkways, go in different direction from the cars and stop anywhere they want on the road.

Here comes the biggest irony:  

Bikers without a helmet on the road are actually legal drivers.

Bikers with a helmet on the road are illegal, because they are illegal taxis.

Oh wells, my colleague said the situation in Shanghai is much better than the rest of China, they only honk. In Beijing, they pull punches. HA yeah, I'm glad I'm here.