"I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps... and find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap..."
- Frank Sinatra, New York New York
And literally, this Chinese centre does NOT sleep.
Nope.
Never.
I was not too keen on hopping onto the next plane bound for Shanghai. Nothing really special, except for the Xiao Long Pao at Yuan Yu Gardens and the (mis)adventures we went through just to find that Neverfull Louis Vuitton bag.
The only thing I liked are the bright lights which are delightfully epicurean to a cam whore like me.
Gasp! A boutique designed with LV Monogrammed Wallpaper and... it's an actual Louis Vuitton Store. But nope, the Neverfull and the Alma Vernis patent bags are not found here. |
I forgot which mall is this... because of the lots and lots of malls that peppered the city. But I was struck most with the architecture and design. So Art Noveau. |
Eggs. Have it your way. I like mine HARD boiled. These trays and trays of eggs are actually the wall design of some bar in Xin Tian Di. |
The three kings. errr... Emperors :-) |
No, I don't read Chinese. I forgot which building this was, but at night you are transported to a magical realm of lights. |
Shanghai is still up until the wee hours of the morning. This is the street right across our hotel in Nanjing Road. |
The "Europe" in East Asia is actually Shanghai. |
Even though we can't read it, we at Nestle know it very well. It's Nestle's Pure Water. |
No, it's not a condom statue. It's the official mascot for the Shanghai World Expo 2010. |
Proven: Chinese Magnets! |
Goofing around like some celebrities in Xin Tian Di |
Shanghai has so much to offer, but it is one city that I may not go back to in another lifetime unless extremely necessary. The culture, however, is more westernized than most parts of China. I was so dazed with the throngs and throngs of people marching and flooding the streets like army ants, at any given time of the day.
We braved the jungle of the streets, the nightmare of the markets and the unfamiliar cuisine to experience what it was like to fly high in Shanghai.
And boy, did we.