At Tianzifang - drinking out of urinals and watching candy

After class a bunch of us decided to go to Tianzifang and in particular, to a toilet-themed restaurant that a few of them had been to in Taiwan. Tianzifang is full of small boutiques filled with arts and crafts, lots of bars and food stands, all crammed down narrow alleyways which makes it very easy to get lost.

We found Modern Toilet after asking many times for directions. The place has 2 floors, gold and velvet seem to be the theme (beyond the toilet theme).

The menu is on a giant board which was a major pain to read off. For a burger and a drink you are looking at around 80-100RMB. As I had nothing to compare to, my friends told me the food here was much better than the restaurant in Taiwan and that in Shanghai the food is served on regular plates and not toilets (unless you order the ice cream).

 Nice place for a date...!

 Vinegar drinks?

 Giant toilet on the wall and poop cushions...

 Even the plastic food looks yummy!

Later to cool off we found this ice cream place... I quite like the first flavour ;)

Then we passed the Candy Lab where you can stare at guys making rock candy and make them very nervous (aww bless them!).

Snacking at Yuyuan

Some classmates wanted to visit the Yuyuan Gardens but it closes by 5.30pm and as it was already 4.30pm when we met up we just decided to look around.

They were super keen to try out the 汤包 (tang bao - soup dumpling). The famous Nanxiang restaurant is always pretty full and has a variety of different payment levels. (check my previous post for details)

Instead we went to the plaza opposite which has dim sum baskets you can just pick and choose.

 Tang Bao comes with a straw but don't expect meat inside! The wrapping is pretty tough - not recommended to eat it...

生煎 - meat with soup/juice, pan-fried

Prawn dumplings

Later we went for a walk and found this t-shirt store with some cute designs for 99RMB. 

It also seems the metro stations are stepping up security and many (I only noticed they were young teens) were asked to check not only their travel cards but also their ID cards...

A week of food, drinks, shopping and live music

Last week had been rather busy, mostly seeing my Indonesian friend before she left back to her home country. It feels rather sad that in Shanghai people come and go so quickly but I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to have met so many different people.

We went to have dim sum on Sunday after my HSK 4 exam. We went to Lynn's on Xikang Lu which is a modern Shanghainese restaurant and does an 88RMB dim sum buffet. It is quite reasonable price and food. Afterwards we slowly walked up to the indoor market on Nanjing Xi Lu which is the plaza where you can find all the fake brands.

I had been before last time I was here but I was on my own and rather scared so to be here with my confident friends was a completly different experience. We were led through one shop's hidden back door to a "cupboard" where they sell glasses and fake Ray Bans etc, then further in a "cupboard" is full of fake rolex watches and LV handbags, Prada etc. The amount of foreigners they brought into here was crazy.

After we finished shopping we went to have chicken in a clay hot pot in a very small restaurant near where I live. For 5 of us we paid only 30RMB each (£3!). The food was good and the service lovely, run by a husband and wife who are very kind.

 

I'm not sure why but the weather got really strange last week and the pollution got so bad that I'd read news online that we were being advised to not even go outside. For a while I couldn't even see outside my window! Luckily it cleared up after a day and things went back to normal.

 

On Tuesday night my friends and I went to Hai Di Lao on Beijing Lu. I didn't know but apparently you can ask for a free apron (one per group). The service is great as always and you can get your nails done, shoes polished, play cards, board games, make origami birds and stars etc as you wait. 

 

I went back to Nana's Green Tea for some lunch after class one day and thought to try something new. The Hokkaido noodles in carbonara sauce was really nice, like carbonara soup!

On Friday night my classmates invited me out to the House of Blues and Jazz located near The Bund on Fuzhou Lu. It was 50RMB cover charge to enter and was soon packed and the band started playing at 10pm. Drinks are expensive here but service isn't as bad as the reviews I'd read are. The bar felt very American/Irish and I quite enjoyed listening to jazz. I was so tired though so afterwards I didn't stay too long.

Ready for another semester at Jiao Tong University

I walked through the university to go to my private class at Hongqiao Lu but as I walked through a taxi driver called me over. He seemed to need help and the man in his taxi asks me if I speak English. I said "yes sure" and he blinks at me "oh you are Chinese?" and I explain I'm from England. So he is looking for the international student building so I give him directions but then he needs me to ask the taxi driver to wait for him. I have to translate and come to an agreed time for how long the taxi driver is willing to wait and where he will wait. They were both very grateful I could help them and it made me feel very happy to help that I can't wait to become a translator now!

Afterwards I decided to try a beginners guided meditation class that I found on the website Spiritual Shanghai. I left a bit early from my flat to go to People's Square to buy some stationary ready for starting my course next week. I was surprised how long it took me to get there and I decided whilst I was in the area I would drop by my favourite place to eat beef rice. The restaurant is called Forever Young on Fuzhou Lu which serves rice in hot stone bowls - very hot but very tasty!

I then walked along East Nanjing Road to get to the Metro to go to the class. It is really pretty to walk here at night and always lots of people and things going on.

The class was actually in this lady's house which she was kind enough to invite people in to teach them meditation. There were 4 of us in total and she explained how it would work and did a Deeksha blessing which is pure energy being put into us to help us gain clarity. I have to say I did feel it briefly and it was an amazing feeling. I haven't yet been able to connect to my inner divine but I will continue practising.

I got a little lost looking for the Metro again but that is what I love about Shanghai that I never panic and just flag down a taxi is very quick and easy. When I get back home I feel much better.

Back to Jiao Tong

I went to Jiao Tong to enrol for my next semester - well actually I already enrolled, I just needed to get my class schedule and textbooks. I couldn't believe it took me over an hour to do this though! And that is without the testing portion! Queues were crazy long and I was surprised it seemed a lot less organised than the last semester enrolling process.

First I went to a room where they confirmed my details then sent me to the 4th floor. There I queued and sat down for 2 seconds where I wasn't even asked which class I wanted to be in and given a piece of paper with my schedule and told to go to get my new student card made. Another long queue to have a photo taken for the card and then went to get my textbooks. I spent 260RMB on textbooks and that is even minus one textbook that a friend kindly gave to me before she left.

Right then there was a huge storm and downpour! I seriously had never experienced so much rain, I felt grateful for coming early and not getting caught in the rain although I was very hungry and wanted to leave to get some lunch. It took an hour for the rain to stop and the thunder and lightning to pass. The rain was so heavy that it caused the canopy to collapse!

I hurried home in case it started raining again but was stopped by a girl asking me for the main gate of the university. I did my best to direct her although I'm not too clear where it is exactly myself but she kept asking and wouldn't take "sorry I don't know" for an answer.

I stopped by my little snack shop outside my house to get some lunch as I was starving! Back in my room to eat and then the drilling started again. I was so annoyed I decided to go out for a while and headed to West Nanjing Road to Krispy Kreme. I miss English tea so much that this is the only place I actually find the tea tastes like English tea!

Afterwards I went to get some dinner at Ramen Play. I quite like this place and they have many choices. The prices are little more expensive than other places though. I wasn't too hungry so opted for the udon noodles which came in a steaming hot bowl!

 
After dinner I walked around the shops here and saw a man selling cute puppies. I am not sure if they are ok or not but they brought a lot of attention and were so very cute!

I then left and walked and walked, enjoying the night life and the cool evening. I eventually found myself near Jing'an Temple and decided to take the bus back home.

Quanjude, famous Beijing roast duck

I met up with Jorge and Joseph and we went to Dongchang Lu which is over in Pudong to go to the cinema to watch Batman, The Dark Knight Rises. When we arrived we were told we would have to wait 4 hours for the next showing which cost 120RMB or we could wait 30 minutes and pay 140RMB for a VIP showing. Since we had dinner plans to go to Quanjude we decided to go for VIP.

It was a small private screen with about 10 other people. The seats fully reclined and were really comfy!

I saw the movie in England already but I really enjoyed it and wanted to see it again. It's also interesting to watch with Chinese subtitles.

Afterwards we walked to the ferry and saw the Shanghai Tower getting windows put in. I have been seeing it for the past year and it's progressing really fast and expected to be completed in 2014.

We then took the bus to Shanghai Railway Station where Quanjude is located.

The roast duck is really lovely, much better than any roast duck I had before and I highly recommend it! The service was pretty good too compared to another duck restaurant I'd been to (Duck King). The duck gets carved at the table and they serve the chest meat which is apparently very important and recommend it is dipped in sugar and garlic. I actually didn't like it much as it is quite fatty but the manager stood over us to see our reaction at eating it so we had to enjoy it!

The rest of the duck on the bones they ask how you would like it served and we had ours put into soup. The duck meat we ate with pancakes and we also ordered a few other dishes. In total for 3 people it came to around 300RMB.

After dinner we headed to The Bund as it was such a beautiful clear night it was perfect for some photos. We also managed to stop by and see the World's biggest sofa...