Shanghai 4th April 2008, Friday (Day Two)

Yay I woke up at 6.30am, it was already so bright outside and if there were birds outside, I'm pretty sure they were chirping happily too hahah.

My mom was already wide awake when I climbed down the bunk to sit next to her. Here, my bangun tido face:

Oh, one more hahhahah.

Ish my mom is so cute with her sepet eyes. Why suddenly sepet ahh? Musykil lak aku. And yeah when I woke up my eyes get damn bulat and terbeliak liddat. Wateverlah.

"Waaa look at that!! They're growing... something yellow."

It was quite nice the scenery on the way to Shanghai. I noticed along this strip the villagers grow some sort of yellow flowers, probably for their tea industries, or their flower industries, or something la. It was really cun jgk la.

Ok back to sleep.

I woke up when we really reached Shanghai, which was at 930am. We gladly hauled our bags, our dinner containers, our smelly selves to the door where there were already people waiting for us with two buses hehe. Nice nice.

Yeah I'm in Shanghai!!! First impression? Love it already heheh.

Yeayyyy I'm anxiously itching to spend my RMBs la wehhhhh

We were quickly whisked to our respective rooms and were told to come down again by 10.30am for a visit to Yu Yuan Garden. It was quite maniacal trying to be ready on time and have breakfast at the same time. But all that we managed to do were brush our teeth, change into clean panties and rushed downstairs to have a decent meal.

And Yu Yuan Garden is so infused with China's culture, architecture and landscape. It was truly very China, albeit modern and scrambling with cars, bicycles, carts and people. As it was the Ching Ming festival and China is on holiday today, the streets were full of tourists, their citizens and add another two buses full of us.

Their streets are lined up with stalls selling intricate carvings, tanglungs, ornaments, household appliances, silks, Olympic souvenirs, pets. A varied array of stuffs for tourists and their people alike.

Outside of Yu Yuan Garden.

Inside. Waahahah tak mandi tp kalau bab jenjalan I'm always so fresh and willing hahah.

This shop sells jade only.

These people were lining up to buy this really, fricking mad famous dumplings in Yu Yuan Garden.

There is a famous bridge in Yu Yuan, but as you can see from the throngs of people behind us, it was just impossible to go there. So we passed on that one.

Btw, need to be careful about ur belongings. Just in case. Shanghai is safe la, but not as safe as Beijing. Beijing to me is 100x safer than KL, but that's another story.

Where do these people came from la wehhhh. Gila sempit.

Owh to take this picture was a challenge. People were just walking in front of us, disregarding the fact that we were clearly posing for the camera, by simply waltzing through, breezily traipsing in front of us, buat bodoh. Grr. The cameraman had to extend his left leg so that people stopped walking in front of us, just to get a decent shot.

Some sort of old, rehabilitated buildings being converted to a museum, shops, gallery. The whole shizz.

I saw shops! :p

Most of us signed up for this ancient craft, which is the art of cutting pieces of paper and replicating your side profile. You just gotta sit still in front of him for 30 seconds and he'll cut colored papers, and some of the resemblance was quite uncanny. But I can't say he's a master in this craft la, cuz some of our profile came out almost indistinguishable from the real us, and for some of us you can only note some semblance. But it was an OK experience, I mean we were just watching Majalah 3 where the host went to Shenzhen and had hers made there, but we didn't know there was a guy who could do the same thing here in Shanghai too! So naturally, all of us lapped it up and practically camped at his stall.

And apparently, their own people were just as awed about the craft as we did. Look at them crowding up my mom. View from the master's side of the stall hehe.

Oh, I also bought two hand woven tiny umbrellas from this guy. Ape motif aku pon agak kurang pasti hehe.

Ish belom apa2 dah shopping. Also I managed to haggle nice kononnya farmers's painting for RMB30 each, medium size. Bought 3 of 'em. And 1 fine embroidery painting, done with silk threads for RMB50 each, slightly bigger size hehe. Happyyyyyy.

On our way out already. We're off to have a quick lunch at a nearby McD where I only managed to have a chocolate sundae and a pineapple pie. Tak kuasa aku nak line up panjang2 sial. Orang mcm semut.

After that we were zipping off to another side of town, a gallery where they were selling cheap knockouts, rejected original goods, pure imitation of branded items and one thing for sure though, you cannot really tell lah. Original? Knockoffs? Imitation? Rejected? We're in China where the line is truly a thin and indecipherable one. If we're long enough in Shanghai we might be able to pinpoint the exact shop where people do actually sell rejected goods, at a fraction of the original price, as China is where a lots of company set up factories to take advantage on the cheap labor and all. But then again lah, I dont' know how to put this politely, but they kinda cheat a lot too you know. So sometimes whatever they claim it to be, you really cannot trust them a 100%, maybe 5% jer. Out of their long, unsolicited spews of claims and evidences in broken English, you just simply cannot trust them blindly.

"This leather. You smell! Leather!" --> Ye la kot. But the smell quite funky, maybe it's leather but cheap ones

"This factory make, to export US." --> This claim could be true, as they do have American factories in China, like a whole load of them here. These companies send their fabrics to the factories to get it sewn, constructed, completed. And some of the items technically got left behind, 'tertinggal' liddat and are being sold in the black market. Or or, as what I've heard from China people, they are commissioned to manufacture certain products and are given the prototypes, with an agreed amount of items for them to produce according to the contract. And what they did is produce more than what was agreed, and the extra goods are sold in the black market. Or something like that la. But then again, who can tell whether these stories are truly beyond any hints of doubt? I guess we'll never know.

Being here in China, you kinda get that "Tawakal jer la" a lot.

"Kedai tu halal ker?" --> "Tawakal jer la"

"You beli ________ (insert any items here) tu dijamin original ker? Walaupun they claimed it as rejected?" --> "Tawakal jer la"

"Ayam2 dia jual kat market tu, dia tulis ayat2 Arab kat kedai dia tu, mmg sah ke Muslim yang sembelih eh?" --> "Tawakal jer la"

Ekekekekkeke. How can you not love China kan??

At night we were brought to a South East Asian restaurant, not necessarily halal (belasah la) but they were specifically told/instructed to procure their chickens and meats from a Muslim vendor before serving us. Buleh caya ker ni? Tawakal jer la hahahahaha.

The restaurant is situated opposite of this mall. You know, I'm not that hungry now... heee.

Please ignore the gargantuan arms. I assure you I have lost considerable weight hahahahahahh. Lame lame.

I bought a cheongsam top some time back but only managed to wear it today. Heh when in Rome, babe.

Oh man I'm so in love with cheongsam tops. I plan to have a good collection of them in the future. They're slenderizing, accentuates only the right curves, and gives a subtle hint of seduction. Eeeeee I love China (did I say that out loud?)

Right after dinner we headed straight to Huangpu River, The Bund!!! I've been restlessly waiting for this cruise trip, man.

Shanghai Tower! The view of Shanghai's city and skyline at night is just outta this world wehhhh. They lit up the buildings along the river at night with colorful show of lights and illumination, it was wondrously pleasant to be viewing it comfortably from this vantage point. Ish Shanghai is so so so bloody syok sial. I so recommend this cruise at night or during the day, whichever way you can see the magnificent display of modernisation and innovation of the city. Well Shanghai IS the biggest city in China, followed by Beijing kan. So you can imagine the vast tranformation of this city from way way back la.

A slightly closer view.

There were choruses of ohs and ahs and wahhhss from us on board, along with "Brr sejuk!"

Lepak arrr brader. Mana ada sejuk sangat ponn. Beijing lagi gila babi chilly nak mampos (Though I did wish for something to warm me up, tetapi hep!! Mak aku ada hahahahaha)

Muka kontrol but I was so teruja and secretly happy and euphoric inside.

Angin ruined my remos :(

Ok ok one final shot of the same pose and the same background. Sheesh rilek la bila lagi nak showcase/ parade my pictures around kua kua kua.

I love love love Shanghai !!