1°17' N, 103°51' E Island Slacker's Travelogue: July 2012

Date: 29/06/2012
--Fudan University--
It was a bright & sunny day, despite the rainy weather forecast.

We waited outside the stadium while the graduation ceremony commenced inside.

Managed to catch a glimpse of what's going on inside the stadium.

That's Tuan!

Zheng Da Group Stadium.

This is the "shopping street" at the school's south campus.

My favourite Coco drink stall. It's better than any other bubble tea stores found in SG!
We walked over to the north campus and toured around the school.

The school's famous Mao Zedong statue.

The school's "not so grand" school gate. Haha!

Spotted water lily in one of their ponds.

This is the old school gate.

Tuan's museology faculty. Very old school building.

This is the north campus student dormitory.

Lotus pond.

Her super small dorm.
--Lunch @ 禾绿回转寿司--

This is not the best Japanese food I've tried. In fact, their sashimi and seaweed were not fresh. I liked the small side dishes though.
--Wujiaochang 五角场--

A glimpse of this suburb neighbourhood near Fudan. Lots of malls and international brands could be found here.
--Costa @ Xintiandi Style--

While waiting for my relatives, we sat at Costa and took a rest. Their coffee was alright, but my parents complained their americano was too bitter. Lolz!

The super high-end mall with very few souls around.
--Xintiandi--

The 石库门 houses and alleys made this place unique. It's like our Clarke Quay, just that there's no river.

--Dinner @ Crystal Jade--

One of my best dinners in Shanghai. Super yummy and affordable. How come our Crystal Jade in SG does not seem that cheap to me? Haha!

Check out Xintiandi at night. My pics were not good so I made a collage.
--Huaihai Road 淮海路--
Walked down to another shopping district from Xintiandi.

All the high-end malls are here! This is Cartier.

Realised their Mac stores are super big.

Played with slow shutter speed. Not good enough.

Saw their booths selling vouchers.
--East Nanjing Road--

On our way back to hotel. New World Dept store at night.

The famous neon signboards...

Yongan Dept store.

Aunties had fun doing line dancing.

A shop selling plane models in a modified old tram.

Dongya Hotel.

Yongan Dept store. The angle is not very good :(

The large thermometer found at Seventh Heaven Hotel.

One of my favourite food in China is the Chinese BBQ. Hygiene is not an issue to me. Haha! Anyway, it's like a must for me to eat BBQ in China now :) Too bad I only ate once during this trip, coz' I was too full on other days. Lolz!

Date: 28/06/2012
--Singapore Airlines SQ826 1.15am--
It has been 12 years since I last boarded a SQ plane. Even though there are many competitors who are on par with SQ, I still feel exceptionally welcomed when I fly with them. SQ service is still above average, and I have to mention their Chinese crew are up to standard.
The plane was a Boeing 777-200. Legroom was really good, especially for people who have long legs like me. Haha! Inflight entertainment was not bad, though the movie selection was boring. In the end, I managed to catch some sleep while listening to their music collection.
Our flight started with the warm towels (really miss this service) & before the meals, they would give every passenger the menu for us to choose our meal.
Breakfast was served at 3 or 4am plus.

Specially ordered the Vegetarian Jain meal for E.W's breakfast.

I think food menu is nearly extinct in most airlines, but not SQ :)

My breakfast. The noodles and har gao were so much better than MU. Lolz!

Sky is brightening up...
--Pudong International Airport T2--
Pudong T2 is definitely better than the older T1 which MU is using. We took a taxi to our hotel in downtown Shanghai. It has been 4 years since my first trip to the city. Shanghai did not change too much, but there are more developments at Pudong area.
--Majesty Plaza Hotel 南新雅大酒店--
The hotel is just located beside East Nanjing Road and near People's Square. Superb location. We were lucky to be able to check-in early.

Our room.

The hotel lobby and rooms.

Majesty Plaza Hotel.
--East Nanjing Road 南京东路步行街--
Tuan met up with us at the hotel and we bought our train tickets to Nanjing from the authorised agents at Seventh Heaven Hotel.
This famous tourist spot did not change much, but there are more international brands at this shopping street now.

One of the landmarks at East Nanjing Rd, Yong An Dept store.

Another famous landmark, Dong Ya hotel.
--People's Square 人民广场--

We walked towards People's Square area and passed by Moore Church at Middle Xizang Road. The church was under renovations when I was there in 2008.
--Shanghai Museum 上海博物馆--
Established in 1952, Shanghai Museum is one of the 4 most important museums in China. I missed my chance to visit it in 2008, so the museum became my "must visit" attraction in this trip :D

Museum entrance. Admission is free.
We visited a few galleries. First is "Chinese Minority Nationalities' Art Gallery". The collections reminded me of the one I saw at Hainan museum.

The second gallery is "Ancient Chinese Jade Gallery". Check out the pics below.

Will show more jade pieces when I cover Nanjing later on. Nanjing museum has more impressive jade pieces.
Third gallery is "Chinese Currency Gallery".

Old Chinese coins.

Silver bullion bars.
The fourth gallery "Ancient Chinese Ceramics" is by far the best gallery in the museum.

The fifth gallery we visited was "Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery".

Impressive artefacts.

Next up is "Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery"

Lots of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas statues are displayed.
We also visited a special gallery for Chinese Bamboo Carving.

Impressive word carving on the fan.
--People's Square--

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Raffles City etc.

Shanghai City Hall.

Shanghai Grand Theatre and surrounding buildings.

Shanghai Museum, shaped like a bronze Ding.
--Street scenes--

The public toilet found at People's Square.

Old building.
--Lunch at 避风塘--

Had our Cantonese lunch at this HK cafe restaurant. Food was average.
--Street scenes--
Met up with my cousin & family and we headed out for dinner.

The busy East Nanjing Road.

New World Department Store is also another landmark at People's Square area. Thanks to "SAMSUNG". Ha!

Esprit was having their mid-year sale! Bought a nice top at only SGD20!

Went to Raffles City for our dinner.
--Dinner at Pho Asia--

Tuan and I thought hard at what to eat for dinner. We decided to check out Pho Asia, which specialised in Vietnamese, Thai & South East Asian cuisine. I was glad that their food was really yummy. The sotong was so tender, and the tom yam soup was super spicy!
--East Nanjing Road Metro Station--
Brought my relatives to The Bund area. Took their metro Line 2 to East Nanjing Road.

Super blood big interchange.
--The Bund 外滩--
I think I don't have to introduce this place anymore. Everybody knows it!

The Peace Hotel South Tower.

One of the Peace Hotel's side gates. Super retro!

Citibank @ Peace Hotel.

Bank of China building.

ICBC building.

View of Pudong across Huang Pu river.
The weather was not good for photo taking. The city was covered by greyish sky and fog for the entire day.

The bund historical buildings.

As usual, it's difficult to get a good night shot without a tripod, but the place was so crowded with people. I doubt it's easy to snap pictures with tripod as well.