Shanghai, Day 3 - Part 4 (Dinner & Xintiandi)

Dinner was at a restaurant specializes in Szechuan cuisine. The place is "interiorly decorated" with anything red & oriental as if in CNY.

there's a conventional soy bean grinder at the entrance....but unfortunately this place dun serve any soy bean milk or taufufa (beancurd pudding).

the place is almost fully built in wood, even the staircase!

wooden pillars with red curtains...

we went up the stairs to the first floor where the dining hall is located.

we were there right on time before the show starts...guess what show is it??

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I was seated at front (first row) hence got a good view of the performers...

the foods were served simultaneously throughout the show.

The first dish was glutinous rice with crispy roasted duck skin. It was filling and the skin was indeed crispy...though I prefer to have some duck meat as well ;-)

Dish 2: Buns with spicy minced meat...The minced meat cooked with a handful of cili padi!

Warning: Need some careful filtering before consumption.

Dish 3: can't remember...I think it is pork slices with some garnishing

Dish 4: Tomato soup.

Dish 5: Steamed fish in soy sauce.

Dish 6: Stir fried veggie.

Dish 7: Stone-grilled prawns.

a closer view...u can see that they served the stones on the tray as well...

Dish 8: This is not supposed to be a dish but more of a dessert...this is sort of sticky glutinous flour coated in grinded peanut powder..Yea, it was sweet like "tong yuen". I don't get it why they served sweet stuffs in the middle of the meal!

Dish 9: Fried glass noodles...it was good...the glass noodles absorbed the shrimp paste flavour...and tasted like dry "mee udang"...The crab shell is for decorative purpose though...there wasn't a single slice of crab meat found!

Dish 10: Steamed egg (flooded in soy sauce)...the steamed egg itself is waterish...and when I poured in the soy sauce, it looks like as though the bowl is flooded with soy sauce but it was actually the steamed water mixed with soy sauce.

dinner was so-so...not impressive but enuff to fill our stomach after a long walk.

We left the place at 7pm and have another 2.5-hour bus ride back to Shanghai...

Reached the city at almost 10, and we were brought to this popular clubbing spot....situated in between the malls.

yea, it is Xintiandi

used to be old Shikumen (Shanghainese townhouse/terrace house of 20th century), this place has been re-developed into an entertainment hub, with bistro and pubs along the pathways.

there's nothing much to see as the malls are closed by 10...hence we lingered awhile on the cold streets around Xintiandi before deciding on whether to go clubbing or back to the hotel...

I went into the alleys and back to the main street....nothing much to see....coz people were merely here for a drink, this place is sort of Changkat Bukit Bintang, Clarke Quay or Lan Kwai Fong...perhaps a toned down one.

lol, but I was expecting some wild shows....hmmm...like pole dancing (as in Patpong, Bangkok)...or strip dance...hahaha!

so, I decided to go back to hotel and have my own sweet time of pampering myself...*while my roomie is out clubbing, I owned the room to myself!

yea, and did my own strip dance in the bathtub...with open window blinds...no one is looking anyway!

alrite..just kidding...I dun do strip dance...

and with some time left, I went to "kacau" the cute girls bunnies and chicks!

yea, I mean the real bunnies (rabbit) and chicks...

These cute animals were at the hotel lobby for display as it was nearing Easter day soon. And lucky them...they got to feast on cucumbers, carrots, leafy greens the entire day! Hope that they dun over-eat!

Quiet Friday Evening @ Kenny Rogers

Quiet Friday evening at Kenny Rogers outlet....

(*this was 2 weeks back)

seems like this whole place belongs to me coz most tables were unoccupied...

so peaceful and relaxing after a hectic working day. Liked the ambience and the solitariness.

had a quarter roaster meal, and then discovered that their selection of sweet indulgence is really tempting...but I was full then...so perhaps next time ;-)

with a few more restaurant & cafes such as Subway, Secret Recipe, Papparich, Starbucks etc, I guess this place would be my target dining spot for the time being...

in case you are wondering where this place is...

well, this is Wisma Scope International, next to the KL-Seremban highway.

Have a Nice Weekend ;-)

Here's this week "Friday entertainment", dedicated to u all!

Sweet & Savoury

I'm not a person with sweet tooth, but when it comes to certain sweet pastry, I will definitely 'hunt' for it...

Well for my case, Shanghainese mooncake would be one of them. Been blogged about it in the past year, but am still crazy over it. 

*yea, I know I'm abit outdated with this, but hey this post isn't about mooncake or mid-autumn festival.

I wouldn't get bored with it even if it is available all year round. But this thing is seasonal (during mid-autumn lah...), hence I have to endure my cravings till another year :-(

another seasonal sweet stuff that I craved for would be this McD taro pie...the fillings has some kind of taro sweetness and the skin is crisps enuff that I could only ask for more!

so addictive darn yummielicious!

Young @ Heart

X: i will be goin to Genting to attend a concert in the evening. Will not be coming home tonite.
Y: alrite. Have u book ur accommodation yet?
X: nope...
Y: where u gonna sleep then?
X: at the street...
Y: serious?
X: yea, no more rooms for members if book during last minute.
Y: what if u caught cold and fell sick?
X: well, i m just sixty, still young & strong. Dun worry about me, i can take care of myself.

well, she is sixty, but still wild and young at heart as sixteen!

Hangzhou, Day 3 - Part 3 (Lei Feng Pagoda & West Lake)

After all the porky & meaty dish, it's time to burn the calories...Yes, we were brought to climb the stairs...

up to the top of the Pagoda!

we are kinda lazy bum...but reluctantly we got our ass out from the comfortable bus and started to climb the stairs...Luckily halfway thru there is an escalator (if u look carefully into the picture u'll see the escalator is tucked in the centre, between the stairs).

The bright flower greeted us at the Pagoda entrance. I climbed up the stairs and soon after reached to the top floor. It was windy. People were up there to enjoy the breeze and the view.

here's one lake view from atop pagoda.

the middle floors of the pagoda are some exhibition halls that display the famous legend of the white snake & some artefacts.

After lingering at the pagoda for some time, we went down and headed for a boat ride across the West Lake. Nope, we are not boarding our boat from this dock. There is another dock situated some few miles from here...and worse thing, we gotta walk towards there to get to our boat.

Our walking journey took more than half an hour. Along the way, I captured some nice sceneries.

The above & below pics are a few nice view of the lakeside.

more blossoming flowers along the way while walking to our boat.

another serene view....so awesome!

finally we were on the boat that sails across this famous Hangzhou West Lake.

a single boat can accommodate around 20 person.

if u like nature, u will get to enjoy the view much, otherwise it is pretty boring.

 

around the lake u'll get to see the pagoda, some Chinese structures, greeneries and all that...

nothing much to describe here, just sit back and enjoy the peaceful lake view ;-)

upon alighting from the boat, we still have another walking journey back to our tour bus. This trip involves alot of walking!

Pleasant view throughout the journey but was tired of walking (coz long time no exercise!). Luckily we have 2 hours of rest in the bus while on our way back to Shanghai ;-)

Hangzhou, Day 3 - Part 2 (Lunch)

When it comes to lunch, I was excited all over like a kid! coz finally something to fill my growling stomach...I didn't take much breakfast in the morning, just a piece of cake & fruit juice, hence I got hungry after some walkings....

Upon reaching the restaurant, we hurriedly head to our private dining room coz most of the tour members were hungry too. 

This cold dish were already on the table 'greeting' us when we got in.

yea, a lone miserable cold dish of beancurd with pickled veggie...

It was served even before we arrived...

no rice being served yet...but dun care...jst whack la...hungry ma...

Next dish was crab (??!)...okay, this isn't crab nor crab stick...nothing close to that at all. It's some sort of flour, cooked with Chinese black sauce and has a chewy kinda texture. Perhaps the chef tried to prepare some sort of vegetarian crab, but failed.

Dish 3: Sweet & Sour Pork...it was plain, purely pork without any condiments. Each piece of the pork was coated with caramelized sweet sauce. Like it!

Dish 4: Stir-fry veggie.

Dish 5: can't remember (forgive my bad memory, somehow I dun have any recollection if I have eaten this)...not sure if it is chicken, pork or fish though...

Dish 6: this looks like some sort of veggie dish, but no, there are several pieces of pork belly hidden underneath! u just gotta dig them out!

Dish 7: Lala...

the lala's nowhere to be found, only the shell visible. Again, u gotta 'search' for the 'treasure'.

Dish 8: Buns with very salty black dice pork. The buns were fluffy and pairs well with the salted pork. Like it!

Dish 9: Shrimps! my fav coz the shrimps were fresh and bouncy!

Dish 10: Chicken soup. Taste so-so oni...

Dish 11: "Tong Po" pork...so fatty, so succulent...so heavenly!

just look at those layer of fats!

well...for most of our meals, the rice was served last.

Imagine we were eating all those dishes without rice and suddenly it was served on our table when we have almost finished our meal...*shake head

Here's the place....we were seated in a private room located at the first floor...The ground floor is reserved for grand banquet.

such a huge hall, similar to hotel's ballroom size.

this place is spacious and full of 'grandeur' charm...the interior is a fusion between western colonial and Chinese style...I kinda like this place (I mean the overall interior, not the food though)

Overall the food is OK, enuff to satisfy the hungry stomach. Tastewise mediocre to good, but the most impressive dish is the "Tong Po" pork, hehehe!