Sonya, Clara & Lydia: Shanghai

After Tokyo, we arrived in Shanghai for the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. We stayed at the Oriental Riverside Hotel (东方滨江大酒店) which is located within the Shanghai International Convention Center (上海国际会议中心), where the conference was held.

We were actually over at the Pudong (浦东) side which is across the Huangpu River (黄浦江) from the main Shanghai area. Our hotel is just across the river from the Bund (外滩), which is supposed a main tourist attraction in Shanghai but unfortunately, the whole area was under renovation, and thus not much of a view :( In fact, it seemed like the whole city is under major construction, probably for the World Expo (世博会) to be held in Shanghai next year.

We got our first view of the Huangpu River and Shanghai skyline from the breakfast dining area the first morning we were there. Justin went straight to the conference after breakfast and we were left to explore the city on our own.

On our way back to the hotel room, Clara insisted that we take a photo with the christmas tree.

The corridor outside our hotel room was long and quite dark which I thought was the perfect location for shooting a chase scene for a movie.

Our room was very spacious. We had a king-size bed and there was even an adjoining room with a single bed. Sonya immediately asked if that could be her room and her bed. She said she wanted to sleep all by herself in her own room. We agreed but I was doubtful that she would. To our surprise, she was so happy and comfortable to sleep all by herself in the room and she did throughout our stay. I was very proud of her. Actually, now I feel a little bad that she can't have her own room while we are in MIT. She probably feels jealous that almost all of her friends have their own room.

The rooms have full length windows facing the financial district in Pudong.

To the left is the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower (东方明珠), another tourist attraction with an observation deck at the top.

Sonya and Clara found the Shanghai mascot for the World Expo named Haibao (海宝) and from that day onwards, Clara wanted to take photos with it every time she saw one (which is everywhere!)

We set out to find a grocery store to get some mineral water, since the tap water is not for drinking, and also milk for Sonya and Clara. I asked the hotel staff and they suggested Super Brand Mall (正大广场) which is just one block away from the hotel. On our way there, we saw an open air food mall kind of place with a small playground next to it. Sonya and Clara, as expected, were thrilled to find the playground. Unfortunately, the structure was wet and they could not play.

I was tempted to try the food there but on second thought, I was weary if my stomach was up to it.

We found the mall. By the way, we later found out that 广场 meant shopping mall.

Unfortunately, like the city, the supermarket was under renovation but we found a convenience store at the basement and got our water and milk.

After leaving the heavy bottle of water back at the hotel, we took the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel over to Nanjing Road (南京路). This train system is different from the regular metro underground system. It is purely for tourist and costs a lot more. It was 50 yuan return for adults while it would only cost 6 yuan return for adult from the Lujiazui Station (陆家嘴站) to Nanjing East Road Station (南京东路站).

The small individual train cabins move individually through a tunnel just steps away from the convention center to the bund, near the beginning of Nanjing East Road.

The tunnel is decorated with what we referred as crazy lights and was pretty dark in places. Clara cling to me for a huge part of the journey.

It is something to experience once and never again.

We walked through the underpass from the station to Nanjing East Road.

We were immediately greeted with an overwhelming number of cars and motorcycles and people everywhere!

About two blocks down from where we got off the sightseeing train, the road becomes purely for pedestrains only (南京路步行街).

It was close to lunch time and Sonya and Clara were very hungry so we just went into the nearest shopping mall and tried to find food there. We ended up at a Japanese place because it was the most appealing.

After lunch, we continued our way down Nanjing Road.

Saw a man painting and people gathering around to watch him do his masterpiece.

Then I saw this woman selling something along the street. I took the photo from a distance in case she was sensitive about getting her photo taken.

Not far from her, I saw a man selling the same stuff. What appealed to me was the way they carried their goods in baskets hanging from both ends of a pole :)

Next we found this shopping mall just for kids. It was getting cold and we decided to go inside to warm up a little.

There were many bear mascots / figurines throughout the mall and Clara wanted to stop and take photos with each and every one of them.

Sonya wanted to take a photo with her and the bear but she just pushed her away which made everyone around laughed.

Obviously, she was oblivious to everyone and was just so happy to take a photo with the "bear bear".

Further along, there was a huge christmas tree assembled with empty Heineken bottles.

I think we walked at least 2 km that afternoon and if you are wondering how did Sonya and Clara ever made it that far without me carrying them? Well, you see, there is a shuttle that take people from end to end of the pedestrains only road. It doesn't stop anywhere in between except for traffic lights or crossings. The front of the shuttle came in many forms - train, dog, etc. Sonya and Clara really wanted to ride in the shuttle and that motivated them to just keep walking :)

And yes, we took a ride. It was only 2 yuan per person and we were exhausted :)

Other forms of public transportation :)

The traffic was really busy and I was glad that at major junctions, there were traffic wardens with whistles to help control the traffic.

Another interesting observation was the display of newspaper on huge notice boards. Not sure what kind of newspaper it was though. Just an interesting sight :)

Housing with laundry out by the windows / balconies for air-drying.

Found a sales person dressed as an emperor to draw customers.

We went back to the hotel after that and when Sonya and Clara woke up from their nap, Justin was done for the day at the conference and we went back to Nanjing Road to have dinner with another Justin Teo and his wife. I had left the charger for our portable DVD player in Singapore while we were back in August. Justin (not my husband... very confusing I know...) and his wife, who are back in Singapore and were going to be in Shanghai for vacation over the same period that we were going to be there. They were kind enough to get the charger from my brother in Singapore and brought it to Shanghai with them to pass to us.

To show our appreciation, we invited them to dinner at a restaurant, that serves Shanghai food, in a shopping mall along Nanjing Road.

We tried Tsingtao beer before in Singapore but never the premium version :)

I was not about to pass the opportunity to try some 臭豆腐 (literally translated means stinky tofu). It was not as bad as I thought it would be but it definitely taste better with lots of chili sauce :)

We also tried some regular tofu.

We ordered deep-fried cod fish on toast for Sonya and Clara. The individual pieces came with the numbers in the restaurant's name written in mayonnaise. Sonya liked it, Clara didn't.

Vegetables with crab roe.

Deep fried prawn balls with butter inside I think. Clara liked the crunchy bits a lot.

狮子头 (literally translated means lion's head). It was just pork balls in soup. The meat was too fatty for me.

Here's Justin Teo and Justin Teo :) You wouldn't believe it but both lived in Westgate last year. We lived in one of the low-rise apartments and them in one of the high-rise apartments.

Tried to get photos of Sonya but her eyes were closed in almost every photo. This is the best. I think the pre-flash from the camera caused her to close her eyes every time :)

Clara did better at keeping her eyes open :)

I ordered 汤圆 (glutinous rice balls) for dessert. I am glad that Sonya and Clara loves the glutinous rice balls just like me :) I now have an excuse to cook them more often and not have to eat it by myself!

There was also this red bean cake that came wrapped in plastic leaves.

Dinner was yummy and rather cheap. These crabs are supposedly a specialty of Shanghai but we didn't try them. Too time consuming and tiring and messy to eat crabs.