♥ The Shoes Factory

Shanghai Day 3
Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Young at heart, we were still able to wake up early and take public transport to old Shanghai. On our way to our metro station, we past by a special beef pancake shop ( we tried it, its nice but oily!!)

Highly recommended to take cab to old shanghai because we took public tpt and continued by foot there. By the time we reached, we do not have enough time to go to the Bund anymore...

Again, converted old houses with Startbucks, silk shops, handicraft corners, restaurants so famous so with their tea( yum cha) and xiao long bao. Very super long Qs at Nan xing Xiao long bao for takeaways. Do not need to worry much abt getting lost because there are directions to recommended restaurants. its a very touristy place.

6:14 AM

Shanghai Day 2 - World EXPO
Monday, July 19, 2010

Regretted not buying the 160RMB day tix in Sg…so we had to wake up at 530am to queue up for the ticket. Sequence of getting into the EXPO is as follows:

630am- start queuing for the entrance tix
8am – Counter open
815am – bought the ticket, start queuing for the entrance

10am – passed the security check
10am – had lunch at Singapore pavilion. U can ask y we ate at Sg pavilion, we were too hungry n there’s no queue

Did I mentioned we stood from 630 to 10am. Some ppl bought chairs at 15RMB. The rest of us just squeeze together (imagine the sweaty arms!! )Trying to cut Q and create personal breathing space, pushing here and there…..i would say it’s a good experience. U just got to be rowdy there.

1030am – got ourselves into Singapore Pavilion through the back door n found that it is such a disappointment…really pity those who had to Q for 2 hours just to get inside to watch a 7min MTV.

Singapore/Malaysia Pavilion

For those who want to go to the China Pavilion, have to start queuing @ the entrance at 5am…this is madness, this is China. We went to pavilions with little or no q, or Qs that move very fast – Italy, Philippines, Holland, Tunisia, Africa, Brazil, NZ, Singapore,Sri Lanka, Pakistan. Pavilions with super long Qs are England (4 hours) , Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia. I think basically it’s either its too beautiful inside or its just crowd control less than adequate.

In conclusion, EXPO is definitely not for the weak. Its hot (but there’s water cooler @ accessible locations) . Be prepared to stand and squeeze and feel “China!!”

China - at night. It is the biggest pavilion, although be did not get to see it, we sneaked a peek from the exit. basically lots of history and icons of china.

Spain

The Philippines

One of the restin areas...alot of ppl are zzzzz by noon...

Africa:

Lets learn a new country - Latvia!

NZ Pavilion which reminds me of ADM building back here at NTU Singapore…

Italy Pavilion – the best , its like MOMA, and the service crew had uniform designed by Prada

Holland – not very nice, but we can oversee the rest of the Pavilions from here. Like England!

England

Brazil

Pakistan

6:52 AM

Shanghai Day 1
Sunday, July 18, 2010

We were all prepared for flight delay actually. But it turned out that Spring Airlines from Guangzhou to Shanghai was delayed only for 1 hr, probably because it landed at the super old HongqiaoTerminal 1, where rest of the airlines land at Terminal 2.

Old Terminal 1 doesn't have trains to the city!! Had to take cab to Duolun Rd (~90yuan), a well-known cultural street in Shanghai. Although it takes abt 10min to walk to the nearest Metro Station, it is voted as one of the must visit street - antiques, crafts and the famous Old Film Cafe which screens B&W movies.

Old Film Cafe

Shanghai Koala Guesthouse...very homely and showers r hot!

Shanghai Metro

Renmin Square - was trying to identify this building known as the Peace Hotel built in 1929...which is supposed to be iconic n famous because of its "old-shanghai" architecture. But all buildings here look the same - very Victorian style...and we saw Park Hotel instead.

It is wise to download all the Shanghai apps u can find in iTunes. Do not need internet connection, but when u see an iconic place, u can just open the app, locate the place to read abt it! So interesting!!

Next we conquered the few famous streets in Shanghai. Changle street, Xinle Street, both well-knowned for the French influence in the early days. Basically just shop houses with maple trees surrounded- shopping. Forbes actually recommended this cheap Grape Restaurant. It is real cheap and the food is alot!!!

Another shopping district is Huaihai Rd ( divided into East, Middle and West), stretches about 2 Metro stations. You can find H&M, Isetan, Crocs, Mango, Sephora, Nike etc etc...

5:39 AM

Angel, pls guide me...
Thursday, July 15, 2010

A meaningful lesson learnt these few weeks made me relook at the decision i made 7 months ago. A feeling of embarrassment sets in, but it is a good test. Its a lesson to relook at the decision, to fine-tuned it and make it look more presentable. Again, repeating wat I said 7 months back, I do not have any regrets because i know i've done my best. Calamity always come after a big storm. Now it would be wise to prepare the boat for a larger storm if there is.

7:52 AM

Here comes Teadot
Friday, July 2, 2010

Step aside TCC and Starbucks, this is awesome: http://www.facebook.com/pages/teadot/99673625790

The menu contains different kinds of Latte. We ordered caromile latte and mocha latte,each approx $6. Both taste very very nice and refreshing. What amazed us was when we ordered our drink, they actually placed our teacups in the boiler to boil off the bacteria. On top of that, they actually had stop watches to time the mixing machines. And when the tea came after waiting for about 5min, guessed wat, its so personalised!!!! i wonder if we can make special request on the picture we would like to see on our tea?!

8:01 AM