top of page

Joanna . Polkad0tsBeauty

Thanks so much for visiting! 

 

 For more of me, follow me on

Instagram & on my YouTube

Channel @polkad0tsbeauty

 

RSS Feed

RECENT POSTS: 

ARCHIVES:

Snippets of my #Asia2015 Trip - Shanghai Edition

✈️Shanghai

Hi everyone! I am back. I finally got over my jet lag (after a week) and ready to start creating blog posts and videos for you guys again! But first let me share some snippets of what went on during my Asia trip with you lovelies!


During this Asia trip, I went to 3 different places: Shanghai, Huang Shan and Hong Kong. If you have been following my Instagram (@polkad0tsbeauty) you would know this trip's main purpose was for my dearest brother's wedding. Since there are so many pictures to share with you guys, I have decided to write a post for each of the 3 places separately. As you can tell by the title, I will be sharing my stay in Shanghai with you guys in this post!


#Shanghai Day 1

We didn't do all that much on the first day as we arrived in Shanghai during the late afternoon. After checking into the hotel and rested up a little we went out for dinner at this fusion Shanghainese restaurant called Mei Lin Ge. The food was different from the typical Chinese food that I'm used to, however the dishes were interesting and quite delicious. This was my very first time trying out this tasty cold abalone dish (picture below). Have any of you tried this before? This dish is now definitely one of my favourite Shanghainese dishes!

#Shanghai Day 2


Day 2 in Shanghai was all about sightseeing. As this was the very first time of me being in Shanghai, there were so much for me to do and explore! During the first part of the day, I visited Yu Garden and Shanghai Temple of Town God. Although the architectural buildings and structures are similar to those I've seen before during my previous China trips (i.e. in Beijing and Silk Road), but there will always be those subtle different touches within the structures that resembles the different cities or the dynasty that they were built in. And must I say, those are always interesting to see (introducing the nerdy architect/artsy side of me! - haha).


When lunch time came around, it was not an issue looking for food as there were so many restaurants within the area. However, it was not easy to decide on which one of them to dine in. There were quite a few dumpling houses and a large variety of Chinese restaurants. We ended up going to this restaurant (I completely forgot to get the name of it) that kind of reminds me of Richtree Market Restaurant (those who live in Ottawa/Toronto may have heard of), except only filled with Shanghainese food.


We decided to go there because the food appeared very appetizing and we thought it'd be a great place to try out a variety of local food that we have never tried before. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong place to go to - the food wasn't all that great there. (Now, I am no real foodie, but I do love food, enjoy watching food shows and enjoy cooking from time to time.) For example, there were too much dough and too little pork inside the buns and in other dishes there were not enough flavours yet the food was trench in oil. Although the food didn't taste that great, but it was still worth posting their pictures up - I mean, I do have to admit, they do look good in pictures!

After lunch, we subwayed and walked around the core downtown area of Shanghai. In general, the subways in Shanghai looked quite similar to those in Hong Kong. The only shocker to me was that, there were security checks before getting to the platform. I am not sure on how they determine on which individuals to check, perhaps individuals with larger bags or luggage - luckily, I did not have to go through it.

Xian Tian Di was one of the downtown areas we visited. It is one of the shopping and entertainment districts of Shanghai. During the few hours I was there, I noticed that there were many foreigners there just hanging out in different coffee shops, pubs and restaurants - some looked like they were on a business trip or actually working in Shanghai and others were just tourists. And all the sudden I felt more at home or that this was the place to be as I am used to the multiculturalism of Toronto.

After walking around Xian Tian Di and enjoying a cup of Matcha Latte at Starbucks, it was time for us to visit the famous Oriental Pearl Tower. Regardless of the wrong shoes that I wore that day for walking, it was definitely worth the pain to be able to view the tower and the surrounding buildings from the other side of Huangpu River.

Finally, we finished the day off with some authentic and this time, delicious Shanghainese food at Old Shanghai Alley Restaurant on Nanjing Road. The food was so good that I forgot to take shots of all the dishes we had. Apart from the dishes shown in the pictures above (Sweet & Sour Sparerib and Xiao Long Bao) we also had a chance to try out some local Shanghai Noodles (one of my favourite dish of all time) and Shanghai Vegetable Rice. I have to say, each and every single dish we ordered definitely had their own local taste to it. Just a side note, the authenticity of these local dishes were confirmed by my lovely Shanghainese sister in law.

Just to share a few differences that I noticed from those dishes in comparison to the ones from the Shanghainese restaurants in Toronto, the Shanghai Noodles' noodles were a little skinnier and saltier and the Shanghai Vegetable Rice dish had more flavours to it and actually had pork or much more of it in the dish. Overall, it was a great experience and was the perfect way for us to call it a night.

#Shanghai Day 3

Day 3 was part 1 of my brother's big day (stay tuned for my upcoming posts for part 2 of the wedding). It was not only filled with happiness, but it was also an interesting experience. While Shanghainese food were different from that of what I'm used to, their wedding festivities were a little different as well. Like most cultures, in Shanghai they would also have a full day of events and celebrations. However, all the celebrations were over food. There were endless amount of food for both lunch and dinner, dishes after dishes to the point that dishes had to be stacked on top one another or they were switched to smaller plates in order to fit on the table. In a Shanghainese wedding, during lunch time they would invite almost everyone they know to the venue. And as for their dinner session, they would only invite their close friends and relatives.

#Shanghai Day 4

After packing up our luggage, we went for a quick breakfast at the hotel we stayed at. Shortly after, we were off to Pudong Airport for our flight to Hong Kong. And of course, as usual I needed a drink in my hand while waiting for the flight.


Thank you so much for reading

&

Have a wonderful Monday!

#polkad0tstravel // see you at my next stop

❤︎Joanna

connect with me:

bloglovin: jilikethat

instagram: polkad0tsbeauty

modimize: polkad0tsbeauty

pinterest: polkad0tsbeauty

twitter: polkad0tsbeauty

youtube: polkad0tsBeauty

business inquires: pokad0t.beauty@gmail.com​​​​​


Share:

Comments:

bottom of page