CNY Period

When I returned to Singapore for the Chinese New Year holidays, it was 5degrees in Shanghai and I managed to escape the dip in temperature during the CNY period. I heard it snowed a couple of times too.

When I returned to Shanghai, I thought it would be cold but it was a cooling 14 degrees! Such a wonderful weather for travelling and exploring!

And there were fire-crackers everywhere, its like a war! From the morning I arrived till the time I was in bed the explosions never stopped. 

I guess that's how they like the CNY to be: the festive atmosphere.

In any case, I'm ready for new year: a lot of travelling to do in this year!

维心日面

I've been on a ramen hunt for the past few months because I missing those Japanese style noodles.

Using dianping, I found this 维心日面which is highly rated near my office, at B2 around Lou Shan Guan train station.

The place stocked many japanese manga (comics) and magazines for customers and the menu is very japanese, only ramen and some sides and one or two pictures

The soup was quite good, I could taste the essence of pork cooking for 2 days but it wasn't salty enough.
But maybe it was modified to suit the local's taste.

The noodles were better than ajisen's, springy and the meat was delightful. The egg was the bomb.

I had missed those soft juicy soft boiled eggs with red yolk ever since I tasted them in Japan and I had researched on how to replicate those eggs and turns out that it was very scientific: The eggs had to be be fresh, boiled in a specific temperature for a specific amount of time, then another temperature for some time.

Overall, a little expensive for ramen, but it sure was close to what I had in Japan and I would definitely come back for my fix of ramen.


维心日面

长宁区天山路762号泓鑫时尚广场B2楼(近古北路)

Xi'an

 Xi'an is one of my must-go list in China because I wanted to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at least once in my life so this 4 day holiday presented itself perfectly. I bought the 1.5hr flight for 1300 yuan, which was considered okay for this peak travelling period.

I stayed in a hostel "Han Tang" which was quite nice and cosy and the staff were very helpful. No plans beforehand, I went out with an Irish lady I met on the first day, Terra Cotta warriors on the second day, climbed Hua Shan on the third day and visited the Shaanxi Museum on the forth before returning to Shanghai.

It was a nice cultural town, very touristy but very convenient because most of the economy depends on tourism. The government actually does a really good job taking care of tourist in Xi'an e.g. airport express buses, cheap official safe transport to attractions etc. Winter is the off-peak season so tickets were off-peak prices, saved me a lot of money.

One of the famous mutton dishes. Its all halal in Xi'an!

The City Wall

Big Goose Pagoda

The Halal Food Street

Its like attending a small China history lesson, learning about the Qin dynasty. The Terra Cotta pits that were exhibited were actually only small part of the guard post for Qinshihuang's tomb and the rest of the tomb is actually still intact, underground which is many times bigger than the pits we seen.

They said of mercury river which symbolises the seas and oceans and mechanical traps that protects the tomb. The tomb has actually very good feng shui, mountains and rivers, jade and gold (mining in the mountains), that's why he chose that place. There is also clay musicians, a zoo, acrobats, the other palace officials etc buried with him.

The famous kneeling archer

Pit no. 1

Yeah its crazy huge

So I went mountain climbing on the first day of the year

This part is crazy steep. You can't even see the bottom. I had to climb like climbing a ladder.

They named this Gold Monster but i think its really exquisite

Overall it was a really educational trip! One tick off my must-go list!

2013

Happy New Year everyone!

So it snowed heavily on 29th December, the last day of work. It was the first snowfall in Shanghai at -2 degrees.

I was travelling in Xi'An for the new year holidays so I was out of town for a little while and its the beginning of the year, the busiest period at work.

Will update soon, stay tuned.

Shanghai Winter

Winter is coming...

So they say that the winter in Shanghai is a wet and cold weather, means that the cold will chill you to your bones, as compared to a dry winter in Beijing where the cold is only on the skin surface.

Despite a wet and cold winter, here are some essentials at home that you should be equipped with for the winter

1. Humidifier
The weather will turn dry and your skin/face will feel tight after a bath, so a humidifier in the house keeps the humidity level higher than outside. Also, your AC heater also makes the room drier than usual so switching on the humidifier before you sleep keeps your body hydrated.

2. Moisturiser/body lotion
When your skin is dry, it starts to itch. When it starts to itch, it never stops. Slapping on body lotion and moisturiser will prevent your skin form being dehydrated. Apply 2 times a day, in the morning and after your shower in the evening.

3. Heater/radiator
The winter is really cold, especially for me, someone who had never spent more than a month in winter weather so a heater or radiator in the room really saves your electrical bills as compared to switching on the AC, and it's less dry.

4. Room Slippers
The floor is too cold, especially in the morning, and TCM says that the cold which travels from the floor to your feet to the rest of your body affects your body functions. No idea on that one..

The rest of the stuff like thick blanket, thick pyjamas or sleeping socks will probably be helpful for some who are more sensitive to cold.

Stay warm in the wet Shanghai winter!

11.11

November the 11th is a very popular day for the Chinese!

1. It is known as the Valentines Day for all singles, because of the 11 which looks like two single person.

2. Its a online shopping festival known as Double One Festival for taobao.com and its subsidiary Tmall.com when you get huge discounts on almost all the items you buy stuff online.

I, for one, was camping at home to get some very good deals to prepare for winter. The event was huge, with hourly discounts on stuff for 1yuan, the festival was hugely successful.

Just look at the numbers:

A whopping total of 19 Billion yuan spent on online shopping, Tmall alone had 13 Billion yuan of sales, tabao had 5.9 Billion yuan. Its so crazy!!!

So the next time you want to buy something near November, wait till 11th November for great discounts.

Zhu Jia Jiao

My friends were here for the weekend so I brought them to Zhu Jia Jiao, a bus ride away from Shanghai

Here's how to go from Wikipedia:

The most affordable way to get to Zhujiajiao is to take a bus from the bus station at the Puanlu（Chinese: 普安路）bus station near People's Square.
Be aware, People's Square is a very large metro station with twenty different exits! To get to the bus stop at Puanlu, exit the metro from Exit #1 and follow the street (Xizang South Rd.) toward the Yan'an Elevated Road. Cross the street going under the elevated road and turn right. Walk underneath the elevated road as it runs along a park (housing the Shanghai Concert Hall) on the left side. At the first street crossing, you should see bus stops on your left. The bus to Zhujiajiao is one of the first ones on the left after crossing the street. Make sure you take the bus line called Hùzhū Gāosù Kuàixiàn (Chinese: 沪朱高速快线) - they usually use pink buses.

This should take around 1 hour and the fare is about 12 yuan. The buses each way leave every 15-30 minutes. There are other bus lines, but they can sometimes take up to 2 hours. These cheaper options do not take the main highway, are much more crowded at peak hours and stop at every stop, filling the bus to absolute standing capacity. Don't worry about where to get off, Zhujiajiao is the end terminal. Also, make sure you don't miss the last bus back to Puanlu, which departs at about 9 PM.

you actually don't need a ticket to get into the town (unlike Xitang), but u could get enterances to some attractions with the purchase of tickets.

The Qing Dynasty post office looks vey interesting.

Using dianping app, we found a restaurant for lunch.
Most restaurant sells the same stuff, seafood.. meat.. vege.. etc. so its just a matter of taste and price.

We walked around the ancient river town, its very similar to xitang but the river is much closer to the walkways and its smaller.
Its really a lot like venice (athough I haven't been to venice before) with the river by the side and some riverside dining or coffee sipping would be perfect in this weather.

You can see these everywhere, most of the shops sell the same old things but we didn't buy it because it looks too fattening.

you actually need less than 5 hours to finish the entire town so it could be a half-day trip and then head back to shanghai for more exploring.