Week 2 of my life in Shanghai

So it’s week 2 of my so called life in China.. So the classes started this week… I haven’t had any decent internet connection here in Shanghai.. Still BB / FB / twitter / Blog – ing using a mobile broadband service which is slow like hell…. Overall the 2nd week has so far been much much better than my 1st week.. At least I’ve been learning new chinese vocabs so I can order my own food more or less now…

Talking about food there’s one thing in China that stands out more than the rest… and that thing is their food.. my favourite kind of foods are snacks in particular.. i was raised surrounded by msg-fueled snack and toxic candy ( white rabbit brand anyone ? ). I found the value for money and the arrays of snack here in Shanghai to be such an amazing thing.. 1 box of flavoured Pocky is about 5 rmb in your local supermarket, That’s an equivalent of around 80 australian cents..

And then there’s the flavour factor, have you ever tried Braised Pork Flavoured Lays ? it’s Pork-a-licious.. There wont be any shortages of choices while I’m here that’s for sure

Will post some more soon..

Day 2 – Apartment Hunt

Today,

We’re going for an apartment hunt. We arrived in Shanghai without any permanent place to stay so we need to find ourselves an apartment. First we went to the Fudan university dorm to have a look at the dorm room.

Anol is checking out our rivals for our future drag race competition.

DJ DePokol – My Cousin / Housemate / Partner in Crime

Please MTV.. Pimp My Ride

Note : this is not my Ride.

After we visited the student dormitory we went for a quick lunch and found a small and dodgy looking Realty agent. I was full of doubts at first but after asking what apartment is available for rent she showed us a brand spanking new apartment that was available to us. The apartment is so close to the university (5 min walk), is in a very safe and clean neighborhood. The apartment attracted so much attention that 2 other realty agents was about to show it to a few other prospective clients when we put the down payment on the table and sent all of them packing. Ho ho ho bad luck boys and girls.. looks like we just stole your dream apartment ! Picture will follow soon..

After we finished with our apartment hunt we went back to our apartment for a quick rest and then headed to Wal-Mart. yes you read it right, we have Wal-Mart in this neighborhood ! It looks very similar with the Carrefours in Indo to be honest.

The Mall across our Hotel in Wujiaochang

Before we head back to our hotel we grab some takeaway dinner and tried a bubble tea place that is always packed. Makes us kinda curious to test it out, it turns out to be a major disappointment. The original milk tea that I ordered have a very overpowering tea flavour which makes me almost can’t taste any of the milk.

The always-packed-but-not-so-good bubble tea place Happy Lemon.

Back in the hotel we had our dinner and then sleep, what a day. All this effort really drains our energy both physically and mentally. Well looks like it’s the end of Day 2, Ciao for now..

Day 1 – Start of a New Journey

This is Day 1 of my new life in Shanghai.

Arrived in the airport at 7.30 am and headed straight to the hotel Ramada at Wujiaochang. We promised our self that we will wake up in an hour to go to breakfast, but we were so tired that in the end none of us wake up in time and we wake up at 1 pm instead -_-” . Then we walk towards the nearest shopping centre from our hotel and had Japanese for lunch.

Seaweed Roll

Seaweed Salad

Hotplate Beancurd

My Order – Pork Chop Ramen

After lunch, we all walked around the suburb to another mall and then went back to our hotel. A quick rest then me and Anol went to pick up Carrie in the airport. This is where i learn my “Word of the Day”.

Word of the day

Airport – Fei Ji Chang

After us the 2 China newbies went to pick up Carrie in the airport. We headed back to the hotel for a quick rendezvous and then went to dinner at one of the Chinese restaurant in Wanda Plaza. And here is where I experienced the myth of authentic Chinese food, that all the original food in china is full of MSG and are sparkling because of their oil content.

This is Dish no 1 – Some stir fried chicken dish which is pretty good !

This is Dish no 2 – Some Stir fried fish in a bowl full of oil and vermicelli

Note : you can smell the MSG from 1 meter away – TRUE STORY !

This is Dish no 3 – Some Stir fried prawn with some veggies

This is Dish no 4 – Kungpao Chicken Stir Fried with beancurd and some greens

Note : Notice how i start to love to use the word Stir Fried..

Life in Shanghai lesson of the day

While I heard the crime rate in China especially Shanghai is pretty high, I started to realize one thing, and that is the HUGE ASS padlocks they stick into their motor bike’s wheel. If it was me I’ll be multi-purposing these bad boys as a kungfu weapon !

This is how they installed it into their bikes

Well.. This is the end of day 1 for me. Day 1 have been shocking to say the least. The reality of life in Shanghai exceeds all my expectations of China, more fun and interesting things will soon follow as my life in Shanghai continues, Ciao for now.

A sun setting in a blessed city.

I recently had the chance to enjoy the sunset. What a daily phenomenon. Standing in the foreshore in what is said to be the most isolated city on earth, Perth. The calmness, the slow-paceness…. it sure is quiet around here (compared to where I come from, for example) but living in a place where this is all there is… builds a habit to see beauty in the simplicity.