day 8: so out of it, can't think of clever title...
Wake up, eat a home cooked meal again at the home. More veggies and such. Take a cab out to god knows where to meet up with a friend, Lisa, whom I met on my last visit. She was kind enough to take the day and night off to show us around Shanghai a bit. Once we met up in her neck of the woods, we took another cab to the Weitan, or The Bund as it’s known in English. Jason and I were familiar with it because we walked most of it in the drizzling rain carrying our luggage the first day we arrived in Shanghai. We enjoyed it much more this time, taking a leisure stroll on the walk right along the Huangpu River. We walked around there for a bit until we had to take off for Dong Jia Du to see if our suits and shirts fit right. A quick little taxi trip there again, and Jason and I are trying on our new duds. Pretty sharp, with only a few minor adjustments needed. We wait around for my Aunt Wendy who is supposed to meet us there, but she’s running late. We decide to go grab some more xiao long bao’s nearby where they took us last time. As soon as we show up at that little restaurant, my cellphone rings. It’s my aunt Wendy, and she just got to the tailors. Oops. She comes to meet us at the restaurant while we eat just a few dumplings between the three of us, Lisa, Jason and I.
Now four people strong, we head out in another taxi to meet up with Uncle Monty for an early dinner. Once we saw how much food we ordered, we realized we probably shouldn’t have eaten all those xiao long baos. We have a very tender pepper steak, crab cakes, fish, steamed dumplings, shrimp, a Chinese version of foie gras (goose liver) and these great asian tortilla-like snack filled with an eggplant dish. I’m sure there was more than that, but that’s about all I can remember.
From there, Lisa, Jason and I took a nice walk to the market where they are known for selling all the knock off brand name goods, like sunglasses, purses, clothing and more. Can't recall the name of it at the moment. Most notorious for the guys that come up to you (and by you I mean someone they think is obviously not from Shanghai) and ask “DVD? Rolex? Purses?” Eventually, after refusing, they will ask the ever enticing question, “Sex DVD?” We still politely refused. And then just flat our refused. Some of those guys are much too persistent. Jason got pretty good at saying, “Bu yao!” which translates to “I don’t want!” We walked around there for a bit, but didn’t have the patience to purchase anything.
Once again, another taxi is taken back to my uncle’s place to relax after a long day of walking. We hang out for a little bit there, clean up ourselves before heading out again. Lisa takes us to Xin Tian Di (sp?) to a bar called Soho. She wrangles some good seats for us, and we sit down to have some drinks. It’s pretty different as they have a guy standing on a podium right in front of the bar and he’s signing what are apparently big Chinese pop songs. After he’s done, two girls get up on podiums and start dancing to some dance music. And then eventually another girl gets up to sing more Chinese pop songs. After hearing quite enough (but still thoroughly enjoying ourselves) we head to the rest of Xin Tian Di. It’s very similar to a Third Street Promenade, except it’s not one straight street, it bends and curves through tall modern stone buildings. We walk around there too, and finally settle on another bar to sit outside of and grab another round. It was nice to just sit and people watch in a popular hot spot. Jason noticed one girl working the foreigners, trying to get a “date.” I don’t think anyone could get away with that on Third Street Promenade.
Thinking our night had ended there, Lisa surprised us by taking us to one last spot to grab a late night meal. A very VERY spicy Szechuan restaurant that serves hot pot style. There are two bowls in the middle over the stove, one in the middle which is very spicy, and an outer ring that is just broth. Lisa is from the Szechuan region and loves spicy food, and devours tons while we try and tolerate the burning. My lips were burning to the point of being numb but it all still tasted great. Lots of garlic and cilantro and, of course, chili oil. Noodles, vegetables, beef, pork, and something like crawdads were boiled and consumed. Once we got to the point of bursting, we called it quits and headed home. Got in our cab, said thank you and goodnight to Lisa, and called it a night.
Now four people strong, we head out in another taxi to meet up with Uncle Monty for an early dinner. Once we saw how much food we ordered, we realized we probably shouldn’t have eaten all those xiao long baos. We have a very tender pepper steak, crab cakes, fish, steamed dumplings, shrimp, a Chinese version of foie gras (goose liver) and these great asian tortilla-like snack filled with an eggplant dish. I’m sure there was more than that, but that’s about all I can remember.
From there, Lisa, Jason and I took a nice walk to the market where they are known for selling all the knock off brand name goods, like sunglasses, purses, clothing and more. Can't recall the name of it at the moment. Most notorious for the guys that come up to you (and by you I mean someone they think is obviously not from Shanghai) and ask “DVD? Rolex? Purses?” Eventually, after refusing, they will ask the ever enticing question, “Sex DVD?” We still politely refused. And then just flat our refused. Some of those guys are much too persistent. Jason got pretty good at saying, “Bu yao!” which translates to “I don’t want!” We walked around there for a bit, but didn’t have the patience to purchase anything.
Once again, another taxi is taken back to my uncle’s place to relax after a long day of walking. We hang out for a little bit there, clean up ourselves before heading out again. Lisa takes us to Xin Tian Di (sp?) to a bar called Soho. She wrangles some good seats for us, and we sit down to have some drinks. It’s pretty different as they have a guy standing on a podium right in front of the bar and he’s signing what are apparently big Chinese pop songs. After he’s done, two girls get up on podiums and start dancing to some dance music. And then eventually another girl gets up to sing more Chinese pop songs. After hearing quite enough (but still thoroughly enjoying ourselves) we head to the rest of Xin Tian Di. It’s very similar to a Third Street Promenade, except it’s not one straight street, it bends and curves through tall modern stone buildings. We walk around there too, and finally settle on another bar to sit outside of and grab another round. It was nice to just sit and people watch in a popular hot spot. Jason noticed one girl working the foreigners, trying to get a “date.” I don’t think anyone could get away with that on Third Street Promenade.
Thinking our night had ended there, Lisa surprised us by taking us to one last spot to grab a late night meal. A very VERY spicy Szechuan restaurant that serves hot pot style. There are two bowls in the middle over the stove, one in the middle which is very spicy, and an outer ring that is just broth. Lisa is from the Szechuan region and loves spicy food, and devours tons while we try and tolerate the burning. My lips were burning to the point of being numb but it all still tasted great. Lots of garlic and cilantro and, of course, chili oil. Noodles, vegetables, beef, pork, and something like crawdads were boiled and consumed. Once we got to the point of bursting, we called it quits and headed home. Got in our cab, said thank you and goodnight to Lisa, and called it a night.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home