shanghai day day 2 & 3

been two weeks since i'm back from shanghai and i'm missing it already. 

i don't miss the uncouth people and the street urchins who kept harassing me though. 

imagine them tapping on your shoulders and thrusting their hands right up to your face.

i encounter beggars every single day and some of them really ruin my day. 

back to my trip . the second day we head over to shanghai happy valley . 

we went to the happy valley in beijing 5 years back but it was winter and most of the rides ceased operations.  tickets are a bit pricey at 200RMB (~40SGD) but we had a good time. 

they had a lot of thrilling rides to offer and we barely had to queue for rides :)

when drunkard meets drunkard under the broad daylight.. 

It took us slightly less than 1.5 hours to head over from East Nanjing to Happy Valley. 

Take subway line 9 to Sheshan station , cross over the bridge and take the orange shuttle bus. 

When we were alighted at the station, there were alot of sellers trying to sell us plastic raincoats at 1RMB. (~$0.20) we didn't buy because it was so overwhelming with so many of them thrusting the packets of raincoats at us.  we ended up getting raincoats at Happy Valley at 5RMB which was still very cheap. i figured vannie would be like " you can save 4RMB leh" hahahaha. 

 left happy valley to meet yifang at east nanjing commercial street for steamboat :) 

shanghai has quite a few famous hotpot chains like haidilao and dollar shop . 

we decided to try dollar shop since it's near my hotel and look at the amount we ordered. 

all these for only 60SGD in total. did i mention that the service was impeccable ? 

totally wish i could send some food over to my babes in singapore!!

rachel my baby lion seriously needs to put on some weight so she won't fly away. 

after dinner we walked down to the bund area to enjoy the night view. 

it was rather hazy that night which explains the mediocre standard of the picture. 

headed over to starbucks which just down the street to catch up and chill over frappuccino. 

something that i've always wanted to do with lyla yang in singapore. 

shanghai third day 

first stop at shanghai science and technology museum . 

it was 100RMB per entrance and we thought it had a lot to offer :) 

& i really like how shanghai's attractions are located near one another so there's minimal travelling.

S&T museum is just right outside science and technology station exit 7/8 

 dramatic boyfriend. 

robot playing  the piano while a little boy was singing on the stage !

there were a lot of amazing robots. some can play chess / riversi with you and draw a portrait of you.

i totally need one robot to cook for me. 

then it was dinner with sucheng at the some chinese restaurant at east nanjing again !

love the pork ribs so much i wish i could go back for more. 

part of the reason why i feel so safe at shanghai is because of my friends who are there. 

thank you for the meal sucheng :> 

& that's it for day two and three. 

it's monday and mine started off on a good note with yoga. hope yours did too. ^^

shanghai day 1 :)

i'm back from a five day trip to shanghai . i'm still adjusting to the humid weather in singapore but i'm definitely glad to be home. a new semester has commenced and i feel pretty regretful about missing the first week of school . definitely time to pull up my socks since the grades from the previous semester were far from satisfactory.. lord please give me the strength to pull through the final year !! 

anyway, many of my friends asked me " why shanghai? "

our original plan was to head to osaka but there was some rumour about harmful radiation which could be bad for females. we didn't want to take the risk especially when my mom is so protective of me. we decided to explore somewhere new and shanghai was our final choice. i was quite apprehensive at first because kun is such a cheenapiang who cant speak mandarin for nuts.  we went ahead with it anyway. 

& that's how i became a translator for five awesome days .

shanghai's huge but it's pretty convenient and super cheap to travel by metro . we took metro from pudong international airport to east nanjing station (which was where our hotel was located) and the entire journey took us slightly more than an hour . morning peak hour was insane but we managed to stay sane through the crowd. it only cost us 7RMB (~1.40SGD). our hotel was only 5 minutes away from the station . it was a relief that kun managed to locate the hotel with the aid of the directions provided online . i was in desperate need of a respite after so much travelling . 

we booked shanghai fish inn bund via agoda and we paid SGD250 for 4 nights. the check in time stated was 12 pm but the hotel kindly let us check in earlier since there were available rooms. they even upgraded our room to a pretty & cozy suite (pictured above) that totally lifted our mood. we were so impressed with our humble abode and the service provided by the friendly staff. 

outfit of the day :) 

it's pretty chill over there at shanghai so it was a good time to throw on my blazers. 

we went on wednesday and it was already very crowded. 

there's a very famous xiaolongbao stall called nanxiang xiao long bao. 

the queue was insane ( as mad as those iphone 5 queues) so we didnt bother. 

it's a bustling area with many shophouses selling food , souvenirs and apparel. 

apart from food & beverages , always try to bargain. 

i've read and heard about how the local retailers like to jack up price to earn more. 

always cut the price by more than half. don't bother showing them mercy man. 

when we reached there, I didnt dare to cut the price by a lot because i haven't bargained in a long while

so yepp, my bargaining skills were a little rusty but after some practice in shanghai, i went full force. 

competition is very stiff because there are so many shops selling the same stuffs. 

 First destination of the day : City God of Temple & Yuyuan Garden . 

I thought the Yuyuan Garden was quite interesting and served as pretty backdrop for phototaking. Indulging in flora and fauna once in a while could be very relaxing. 

Entrance fee for yuyuan garden was 40RMB (~8SGD) which was worth the money

I wouldn't say the same thing for City God of Temple which was 20RMB . 

Neither of us holds the joss stick so it was a pretty waste of money since there wasn't anything special . 

Second destination of the day : Tian Zi Fang 

One of my favourite places in Shanghai ! It's an arts and craft enclave which houses many quaint cafes , mini bars, restaurants and retail shops . It reminds us fondly of the haji lane back at home. Wished we had more time so we could chill there.  We settled at his western restaurant for lunch where the service was really impeccable. The waitress really took the effort to make sure we were comfortable in our seats. While the food wasn't up to standard, the ambience and service made up for it. 

Last stop : XINTIANDI . 

It's pretty much like our paragon / clarke quay where prices are pretty steep for local standards. 

We visited this shikumen open house which was 20RMB each and it was not bad . 

Apart from this open house ,  it was just streets of shopping malls and restaurants. 

We decided against spending a bomb at Xintiandi so we head over to our hotel area to eat instead. 

and if you're visiting shanghai, you must try this. 

xiao yang sheng jian 

it's like a bigger and fried version of the xiao long baos. there's one outlet near our hotel which is just opposite of exit 6 , line 10 East Nanjing Station. Kun loved it so much so we have it everyday. It only costs 9RMB (~SGD 1.80) for 6 pieces. They serve noodles and soups too. Every patron in the store will order this. Wished we could bring them home to satisfy our cravings now :( 

shall blog about the rest of the trip soon. 

two days since i'm back in town and i'm adjusting pretty well . although it feels weird that i'm not facing random food stalls on the streets when i'm out , i'm kind of happy that i'm back teaching because work makes me complete. sometimes i think i'm quite a workaholic which is not a bad trait i would say ! it was my fourth visit to bangkok and probably the most happening one.. in a good/bad way.

cecelia and i on the flight departing for bangkok . 

we had a speedy flight. the past few times, the flight took three hours plus but this time round it took only two hours plus. we were so surprised 0.0 i was really glad that tiger airways depart on time because i know that they were known for their flight delays. we managed to snap cheap tickets for about 200 odd :) 

i've always booked ecotel bangkok ever since cecelia introduced it to me on our very first visit to bangkok a few years back. it was relatively new then and very reasonably priced . the hotel was clean , location was not too far off from pratunam shopping area and the service was commendable. i remembered that we liked this bell boy so much that we tipped him even though we were pretty 'cash-strapped' from all the shopping. this time round , it was a nightmare. we found bed bugs and kindly requested for a change of room. the manager on duty ( can't believe they assign such an important post to someone so crude ) hollered at cecelia over the phone so we head down to speak to them. thought all would be alright until we encountered his horrible attitude - he threw the keys and muttered some thai obscenties under his breath ...  this time round i spoke up since he must have thought cecelia being so petite and all is an easy target for bullying. he was like " okay sorry go go " , rolled his eyes and went on with his work. went up to the new room and encountered yet another black face room service guy . he made it so obvious that he was super unwilling to change bed sheets for us by throwing the bed sheets on the floor . SPEECHLESS REALLY. did a quick check on the bed and realised there was yet another big stain on the bedsheet. we were tired and very upset by then. horrible experience right from the start.  we decided to head off for massage before we check out and headed off to grand hyatt hotel .

both of us goofing around with her iphone in the morning at grand hyatt. 

we had such a comfortable stay at grand hyatt. thanks to cecelia and her mom,  our trip took a turn on a brighter note :) it made me adamant to work hard and earn more money so that i can stay in hotels with impeccable service such as grand hyatt at bangkok. from the service at the front desk to the service of the bell boys... PERFECT. the bell boys even took down the taxi number to ensure that we would reach our destination safely. 

checked into another budget accommodation that we found through agoda - citin pratunam 

the rates were slightly higher than ecotel but very affordable still ! we had a really good time there thanks to the helpful staffs as well. they actually provided a free tuktuk service at regular time slots to shopping areas like platinum mall . perfect for the both of us . while the location can be quite hard to find at first , the problem can be solved by showing the drivers the map. we loved the fact that they had a massage and spa parlour at the top level of the second building ! 300 baht for an hour of thai massage . just chuck our stuffs in the room and head for the massage ; how convenient :) they had a gym which is currently in the works. i guess it will be up for use in near future. can't wait to head back there again ! 

bought so many pretty and printed stuffs this time round. i think i've grown smarter after the previous trips to bangkok . buy only if you like it and not because it's cheap . didn't buy as much as before but i genuinely love all the steals i got this time round. here's a quarter of the stuffs i got . spot the topshop bralet and zara shorts replicas ? :>  can't wait to share every single piece with my baby lyla yang ! 

& a big hug to my travel partner cecelia low . i'm looking forward to serve your limbs again hahahaha . 

will blog about lou's 21st party the next time . have a good weekend . 

P.S i miss you sonia oh. you will probably not get to read this soon but i never miss you this much before oh my . stay safe my bestfwen <3 

another week flew by and we're on the third week of january 

how i wish time could stay still so we could catch a breather 

finally managed to catch up on some school related stuffs

no motivation and determination :( slipping into mediocrity ...

anyway , this week was a tough week for kun 

apparently he had to do extra duties because he didnt take good care of his gun:/

while his platoon mates got to enjoy their friday , he had to book in at 7 in the morning

& he got his posting result which he had mixed feelings because

1) he's happy with his posting because he got his first choice

2) majority of his closest pals are posted out :( 

last tuesday was cuitian's black and white 21st at MBS suite

lucky girl who got this suite (with a free upgrade thanks to her friend) at only 200 bucks!! 

didn't managed to access the infinity pool because it was closed :( 

better luck next time i hope. 

all the starving girls 

it was a tuesday night so most of us had stuffs before that 

by the time we arrived, there weren't much food left for our starving tummy :(

ted baker watch for cuitian <3

sonia's logic behind the gift " to treasure time " hahahaha

so my nan hua clique gave me a tiff & co necklace with the key 

and the very cheesy sokee went " you have the key to our hearts "

i nearly died laughing . 

sonia recently uploaded the remaining pictures of our korea trip from her DSLR. 

loved how the pictures turned out :) 

looking these pictures made me missed seoul alotalotalotalot 

the cooling weather , winter fashion , food and skincare shopping

i've been actively using the samples given to me and some of them were really good 

i loved the products from innisfree in particular :) 

housewife look-alike

in real life i can't even handle a bunsen burner :/