That's the *name* of a nail colour by OPI, believe it or not. My manicurist regularly recommends it. It wasn't until I visited Shanghai did I realise its association with "shimmer". There is indeed 101 shimmery things to see, do, eat and touch in Shanghai. Was suppose to visit El when she was there but i only managed this trip this year, long after she'd left. I've heard a number of scary and exciting stories about other people's visit there but couldn't quite identify with them as I've never been there. Soooo...an opportunity arose when I had a meeting to attend at the Hilton Shanghai. The challenge at the back of my mind all through the flight was how to check Shanghai out as much within 2 days. ha ha! hope my colleagues aren't reading this! Anyways, with three eligible bachelors (status changes when you're in a different country according to 1 of them), we arrived pretty early on a thursday morning and was immediately welcomed with a gush of freezing cold wind. It was 12 deg (just nice!) but strong winds were making it felt more like 0 deg! Brr!
My experience at the Hilton is always a pleasant and an irreplaceable one especially when I'm travelling for a short period of time. Not giving free publicity to Hilton, just because they have me on their Hilton Hhonors list, but it's true. Thankful for the fact that KL and Shanghai has no time difference, my friends and I were all hungry at the same time. Now the hardest part, ie to get 3+1 "bananas" to communicate in Mandarin to the taxi driver. Yikes! I was literally hopeless and pathetic! We eventually hit the Bund and NanJing Road in search of dinner after some degree of walking in the wind. Looking high and low for anything seemingly decent, we found and settled for a cafe/bar with pictures of familiar cuisine. However, as we were excorted to a private room, I had my doubts about the quality and authenticity of food they serve. True enough, the menu was skanky! Picked on our diseased-looking dinners, half cursing and half wishing we'd at least know enough Mandarin to ask for directions, we managed to get out of there in surprising time. Anyways, we got into another cab and found our way to civilization in the form of Singapore aka Xintiandi. Made a bee line for Taiwanese franchise Din Tai Fung and enjoyed our seconds. Yummy dishes of seafood siew-loong-paus and desserts made up for the cold and the getting crummy food earlier. Xintiandi is a really neat place, something like a Bangsar with rows of high end bars/pubs/chic restaurants...a hip joint to see and be seen, type thing. It's nice la. Refreshing to see such a lovely atmosphere which is almost familiar, minus the cold. Later that evening, the wind had calmed into a breeze and the friendly thursday night had invited more locals, expats and tourists alike, hustling around Xintiandi doing their own thing. The scent of fresh mixture of brews and a plethora of the sounds of music complimented and completed our after seconds-dinner caipirinhas.
We went back to The Bund the next night for authentic Shanghainese dinner at a cool development called Three-On-The-Bund. Name of the restaurant is Whampoa Club. After a 4-course scrumptious meal, we took a walk along the river flashing away our touristy gadgets while local street people poke and prod our elbows and arms in quest for our extra change. It was apparent that we were tourists, I guess. Then again, do locals walk along The Bund and take photos on a friday night? *shrug*...It was a pretty sore sight to behold of young mothers with their babies half wrapped up and elderly men and women roaming the open cold, begging. Sigh. I didn't enjoy that part, to be honest. What we all did enjoy was our earlier visit to ChenHongMiao that day. This area consists of refurbished ancient temples but it's more like a shopping area now. There's even a Starbucks in one of the squares. I was delighted and impressed. This place is yet another hotspot for tourists and touts. We were also poked and proded at by droves of men and women making a sale of sorts. Teas, cheongsams, household embroideries, DVDs and even handbags (ahem!). Got myself a few souvenirs though. :)
So if you're planning to take a short 2-3 day break to Shanghai because AirAsia flies there for peanuts, you should definitely consider this list of places to visit and things to do:
1)The Bund - eat at Whampoa Club, walk along the river, admire the architecture of buildings along it. 2) Nan Jing Road - high street shopping, bumping into lots of people, get on the lazy-man tram for a short tour around the area. 3) Xintiandi - drink, eat, live jazz bands, exclusive souvenir shopping, be seen and see beautiful people. 4) Chen Hong Miao- get more economical and practical souvenirs, buy genuine copies of anything u want, havva a cuppa grande skinny latte at the green franchise and 5) The Tower- check out the revolving restaurant/bar with a scenic view of Shanghai city.
After two short days, I've concluded why Shanghai has a shimmer. Visiting the home of my ancestors has definitely instilled a sense of indescribable pride in me. However, that's basically only what it is: the home of my ancestors. Home is where the heart is, they say and my heart is in Malaysia.
[photos to be inserted soon]
