To Shanghai and Back

Yup… I am back from Shanghai! I went to SH for the long weekend, so it was a really short trip of only 4 days 3 nights. In fact, it was shorter than that because I had to go for a plant visit on Monday and attended a meeting on Tuesday noon. Thus, effectively I only had Sat and Sun to explore Shanghai.

The first thing that struck me when I hit the Bund, was the familiar feeling of being in New York City. Besides the fact that people around me were speaking Mandarin instead of English, and the occasional spits and spats (SO GROSS!), Shanghai definitely has the buzz. Just like New York.

The sky scrapers, the honking, people pushing and shuffling… ahhh, I did kinda feel right at home. ;p

Anyway, BF and I got bored after a while… It was too crowded to shop or do anything else, thus, we headed back to the hotel, took a power nap and got ourselves ready to eat hairy crabs and party!

O yah, hairy crabs. Couldn’t believe how bloody expensive one can cost… especially a female crab since they are in season now, i.e: they are full of roe. Well… I do have to admit that the roe of the hairy crabs is indeed sweeter and has a more robust taste than our Sri Lankan crabs, BUT nothing can be compared to our Chili Crabs or Black Pepper crabs. Plus, the hairy crabs are so darn small… maximum effort in digging the flesh and minimum flesh to dig and eat. Not worth it.

Ok, after the hairy crabbys, we went out partying. Clubbing in SH is so, so, so expensive. NO Shit.

We went to Bar Rouge at Bund 18, supposedly THE bar at the moment. Cover charge was 200 RMB and drinks are NOT included?! Goodness, that’s S$40?! Drinks cost at least S$18 each… well, no wonder the place is full of Ang Mohs and expats from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Hmmm… oh, and the view of the bund wasn’t that great either. All in all, not worth it. Super NOT worth it.

Then we went to “Guan Di”… ahh, that place was pretty cool. Played good Hip Hop music although the music was a little dated. No Ang Mohs, mainly Chinese expats trying to groove to hip hop. Definitely more casual and less pretentious.

So we grooved till about 4 am, knocked out and woke up at noon the next day to eat the best xiaolongbao in SH. We went to “Nan Xiang Man Tuo Dian” at Yu Yuen, where it was basically a huge tourist trap. However, the Xiaolongbao was excellent! Definitely better than all the ones I’ve tried in Singapore and Taiwan. This Nan Xiang wins hands down.

That basically concluded my Shanghai trip. All I did was eat, drink, party and sleep. Actually… much more happened, but I am just too lazy to write lah.

Well, I wouldn’t mind going there again if the next trip is FREE. Or else… I’ll rather go to Beijing.