Hol #1: Seoul, Korea

Documenting my (hopefully) many many holidays while I am out here! Took the first one to Seoul last week with Edwin and it was as shiok as the first, second and third time I went there. Flights from Shanghai cost around S$400 and it took a very brief 2 hrs.

So in Seoul, there are just a few things that one must do... SSSeoul:

1. Sip cuppas in any of the many many coffee cafes. We were in Itaewon when we chanced upon this remodeled house that has been converted into a vintage (love!) shop cum cafe. So we did a sit-around and lobo-ed away.  The place is owned by cool kids who clearly have rich parents. But they did the place in such a way that it feels like you're walking into some ah-ma's well-kept house, complete with clothes hanging on the plants in the garden, waiting to be air-dried.





 2. Shop till pok kai! Usually with the girls, we hit Dongdaemun and we spend hours in that one mall (Miglore I think). But this time, we went to apm & doota - both of which yielded pretty finds. Of course, I also had to make the mandatory stop at Ms Kim's in Garosugil.  I was pretty restrained this trip because I was with Edwin - after 9 years, I still find the need to keep up with appearances that I am a good wife who's responsible with the purse! Heh....

3. Slurp till pid. And eat we did - from bbq to budaejijae to kimchi stew to more bbq.  Found this budaejijae shop after walking around Myeong Dong for some time. Ultra song.

Erm, ok la, so that's not really food but its the famouse ice cream from Myeong Dong, so that counts for something??

4.  Selebrate. Ok I can't find a word starting with "S" but you get the idea. Yay!  

XOXOXOXOXOXO,

Tracy 

Carrroottsss.... giveee usss carrroottsss



Star-struck

Life seems to be happening in hyper-speed out here - wonder why it feels that way. The days seem to pass quickly with a zillion things to do. Weekends coming up are all packed with activities. Don't get me wrong - I am definitely not complaining! But I do wish I had more time to visit all the places I want to see in China (without having to take leave ha ha)...

But maybe the hyper-reality is also a result of all the soirees that I have been attending recently. Last night was someone's wedding anniversary cum birthday dinner bash. Sweet chap but I only met him like once before. And there was another dinner where a famous Chinese actress was present as the girlfriend. Miao Pu is a very nice and down-to-earth lady and certainly pretty!

That's her on a normal day

But most exciting so far has to be the press event launching movie featuring the Asian take on Dangerous Liaisons. It features a glamourous cast in Jang Dong Gun (*gasp/swoon*), Zhang Ziyi and Cecilia Cheung.  I have been to press events but second row? 5 seats away from Jang Dong Gun (*gasp/swoon*)? As a VIP? With a seat labelled with my name?!  Anyway, here are some pictures from the event - and yes, I was snap-happy. Very groupie but it's Jang Dong Gun (*gasp/swoon*) after all.

Me and Pin Fen. I was desperately ironing the dress the night before because I don't have my container of clothes yet and this is new. Thank goodness I splurged!



My veee eye pee pass! (Oh and my new clutch)



The horde of photogs and journos all jostling for a good picture

The photogs and journos deserve special mention. They were incredibly demanding and fierce. Just before the press conference started after being one hour late, they started yelling "可以快点吗？抓紧时间!!" (Can you guys hurry up already!) and when the stars got onstage, it was shouts telling the emcee to get out of the way, the director to move out of the shot ("We only want Cecilia and Dong Gun!") - talk about in your face. Even VIPs like me got a good scolding - "Put your mobile phones down!" (erm, guilty...)

But once the stars got onstage, it was a hushed silence. The x-factor of Cecilia and Dong Gun was really phenomenal. If it can be bottled, I will buy it at whatever cost!

Ms Cheung looked scrawny in person but fab onscreen. She was surprisingly funny and engaging when being interviewed. Halfway through the press conference, she presented Jang Dong Gun (*gasp/swoon*) with a pair of boy's shoes to celebrate Father's Day with him... so sweet hor. As for Jang Dong Gun (*gasp/swoon*), his aquiline nose was the topic of much discussion between me and Pin Fen, so were his dreamy eyes, tall frame and probably tight abs - a fine specimen of a man. Groowwwlll...

And on that dreamy note...

xoxo,

Tracy 

The men in my life. Lucky me.



Food for thought

Before I came to China, everyone was going on and on about "watch out for the recycled drain oil!", "look for holes in the egg shells", "make sure the char siew bao doesn't taste like cardboard!" etc etc... but now that I am actually here, it is proving a bit hard to be asking to go into the kitchen everytime I dine at a restaurant.  And the questionnaire went out of the window (or onto the street) when one of my first proper Chinese meals was at a roadside stall, in a small alley which Ming Ming had to share that someone had peed in before when they last ate there.  A very brave friend, Grace, had salmon sashmi there, laid out nicely on a bowl of ice. I had so many questions that needed answering before she could put that first piece into her mouth - is that really salmon? Is the colouring on normal salmon so even usually? Is the ice from water that was taken straight from the tap? Have they EVER changed the ice??!! I am glad to report that she is perfectly fine and that meal turned out to be uber shiok cos it was cold and the soup was hot (eliminating question#3 from above) - and no, I didn't have any "salmon sashimi".

So in the past few months, there have been some good meals - some cheap, some expensive and some experimental. But three in the recent couple of weeks are freshest in my memory (get the pun? geddit?!). First up is the Art Salon in Shanghai with 3 other girlfriends. Quaint and filled with antiques and paintings, the place actually had a sign that said "Please speak softly and respect the ambience". Needless to say, the 4 of us had to be shushed at least twice.  The place did Chinese dishes that were served on dainty painted porcelain plates and we sat right by the window by the street. 

Greeted by old lights and memorabilia from days gone by

Exquisite tableware

Then the other night, Grace invited some of us over to her place to taste some beer-soaked roast chicken. Sounds ok right? Wait till you see the picture.

Drunken chicks

Yep, these are two whole chickens with beer cans stuffed up their butts. I had to ask the cook if she had difficulty stuffing the cans up and the answer was no (amazing!). Anyway, if anyone is interested to know, the recipe states that the beer can should be half emptied before the stuffing. The cans should also be poked with holes so that beer evaporates and is absorbed by the chicken.  The end result? Very soft buttery chicken but not much of a beer taste la. 

And the last meal is my favourite because I have been craving for it since forever. It is mala xiang guo or hot spicy pot. Had to have it when I was in Beijing last week. 

From left to right: Polka, pot and me. And no, we didn't finish the pot, not even half.

Funnily, I don't feel like I have to detox much cos my erm, digestive system has been working better since I got to China. It is probably the funky oil or fake eggs (or maybe the papery char siew bao I had the other day... hmmm) working their way through my system quicker.  Yay to "natural" laxatives!

xoxo,

Tracy

包子协会 - yep, that's what we will look like if
we keep eating the way we do now!



My revolving door

In the past month (actually just 3 weeks), I've seen a revolving door of visitors. I am super thankful for the company and with these folks, I've gotten to see a lot more of Shanghai. For example, my in-laws & mum led me through some tiny and dark lane to a Hong Kong restaurant that served shioks char siew; with Cat, we went dancing at one of the hottest clubs with one of the hottest visiting DJs (Steve Aoki anyone?) in town; and with Lianne, we walked miles along Changle Lu and Shanxi Lu and came across HoF, a fabulous dessert bar that is consistently rated the best in Shanghai and visited Sun Yat-Sen's home.

My parents above, my in-laws below, in Hangzhou.

First to arrive were the parents. MIL was supposed to come and cook but all that went out the window when her curry paste was confiscated at Changi Airport.  For the two weeks that they were here, they were out EVERYDAY, from noon to night. I don't mean to be the adult here, but seriously?! Sometimes I didn't even know if they were coming home.

Then they upped and ran off to Wuxi themselves, and forgot to call me when they arrived there. And the day they arrived back from Wuxi, they went out again!  Parents these days....



The dads in contemplative moods
 (actually I suspect they were just thinking about what to order at dinner)

  



Next up was Cat. Poor girl had to be fostered with someone else because there were just too many people in my house (sorry meow!). But with her, we explored Qi Pu road, with some of the finds from the previous post.  With her, we also tried to bargain down to 40% of the stated price and got pushed and cursed out of the shop... ha ha...

More interestingly, we went to the cool club with the hot (as in supposedly happening, not handsome) DJ that I was talking about earlier. And boy were we bored. The nutty DJ (pale and skinny Jap with long hair and a goatee) sprayed Moet (who sprays MOET randomly!) on the crowd on the dancefloor and then he drank it and SPAT on them, China style. Thank goodness we were watching the whole horrific scene unfold from the second level. The crowd was standing armpit to armpit (because they had their arms up all the time) and it was just.... not Mambo.

 




自拍 queens



And finally, Lianne came. We did the usual tourist stuff and then some. Super siong and yet rewarding was probably the trek down Changle Lu then Shanxi Lu then back on Changle Lu. With her, we discovered some innocuous heritage site (again hidden amongst a street of shops), went to the Book City, snooped around Jing'An Villa and found Feiyue heaven.  And we had the funniest (!!!) adventure on a three person motorbike (aka tuk tuk) but that's a story for another day.



Say fishballs!

Thanks to them, living in Shanghai has become a lot more of an adventure. I've forgotten what it is to be lonely and it has been great coming home to a house full of other people's clothes and shopping (including my dad-in-law's 400RMB KITE! Don't ask.).  I think they all left loving Shanghai and finding that the city offers up a little more each day.

But I'm also looking forward so some me-time in the house, alone, vege-ing out, ordering take-out and generally just stoning instead of roaming the streets of Shanghai everyday. Maybe I'm really ready to be alone? Say only la cos Edwin is coming up next week... woo hooo!

  

xoxo,

Tracy



Mummy and me





Cultural sights

To my husband: You should stop reading this now before you get a heart attack. If you clicked to read this post, it means the faux title that was meant to bore you didn't work. Shat.

Today's post is for my special girlfrens (aka furries). The theme is Less Words, More Pictures (with prices and descriptions). But let me provide a brief backgrounder before we get started proper.  This is just the beginning, tip of the iceberg, blade of grass in a forest, white puff on a cloudy day, star in the milky way... you get the idea. So keep that in mind and also the fact that I've only been in Shanghai 2- months. Here goes!  (S$1 = RMB5 hor)

Floral white dress from Qi Pu road, RMB 80 

Same shop as above, RMB50

Print of dress above - cute right!

Qi Pu road, RMB 80

Qu Pu road, RMB 100

Where is this Qi Pu road you ask? It is a cluster of very gross buildings with small shops that sell to boutiques and retailers at wholesale prices in the morning and are open to casual shoppers in the afternoon. Many of the so-called Korean stuff can actually be found here. Just need to dig a bit and be thick-skinned about asking for discounts. But Cat and I overdid the bargaining and got shoved out of the shop, followed by curses. Ha ha...

Cut label shop, RMB 300, on 60% off

Same shop as above - Balenciaga woh! Also around  RMB 300, 60% off

Most expensive dress. Says Gucci on the tag  - I don't think so! But too pretty to pass up + the shop assistant chased us down a street to settle at RMB 500

Bought it from a super strange "shop" that was set up in the courtyard of a home. RMB 80. Uber flattering!

At the aforementioned "shop"

And my all-important first boh liao purchase from Taobao, rainboots at RMB88!!

And finally, the symbol of Chinoise orbid-chic, Feiyue sneakers! Couldn't resist buying two. I am sure you will agree when you find out what the prices are.

RMB 60 - Did I hear you say WHATTT?!!! 

RMB 35 - Fainted yet?! Envious yet?! I accept orders.

So that completes my shopping odyssey (for now). My feet so need a break. Thank goodness they rest well in Feiyues... heh heh..

xoxo, 

Tracy 

Rah rah ... ooh la la

Today hasn't been the best work day since I started work in Shanghai.  RAAHHHH!  But what the hell, shit happens right? Just so happens this is cow manure type of size la. Still! It doesn't dampen the fact that I've managed to do lunches on my own for three days in a row! Ok, so maybe it isn't a big deal to most people but it is to me. I don't actually recall ever having lunch on my own when I was working in Singapore. Not sure if it was because I'm incredibly needy or it's just that I am so popular I've always had lunch buddies. But, because I've been eating alone, I've been able to curb my social eating habits which means, I've been eating less!

It also helps that these places are populated by the hip and haps, so today as I was eating my dainty pasta, there was a cute Chinese manager of the restaurant + a uber hams French on my left.  Vous tres cute, I wanted to say.

Anyway, to avoid looking tragic, and not keep staring at people with friends, I now have a sorta routine (if you can call it that after 3 days)
1. Saunter in like I'm a regular, even though its the first time I'm in the shop.
2. Look bored/disinterested at counter.
3. Order the first thing on the menu so I don't erm, ah... ...
4. When the above is in too-cheem Chinese, order the simplest thing on the menu.
5. Decide at last min whether to eat in or take-out depending on crowd and seats available - cos it is so uncool to say I will eat in and then not be able to find seats! They don't do the tissue paper thing here, so darn backward.
6. Have fully charged phones but leave them on table in nonchalant manner (complete with hair flip when placing phone nonchalantly on table). If I must (cos I am so popular people text me all the time), I will reply to a message, then repeat (6) again.
7. Have book on hand - preferably small, Penguin-published type. I took this ginormous book with me today and it was so not cool.
8. If no book, magazine will do. But again, not the Female, Her World type of dictionaries. UK Glamour, Newsweek (yucks) or Fortune (double yucks) kind will be good.
9. Eat sloowwwwwlllyyyyyyyy, like the spiced carrot soup is world-best, made by rabbit-endorsed carrots.
10. No dripping or drooling.
The above have helped me look generally look fabulous, I think.

Juice and pumpkin soup at Elements Fresh, Xintiandi



Pesto chicken salad with mint and carrot juice at Wagas, just opposite office

Hmm... just realised the meals are colour-coordinated. Anyways, friends are back tomorrow in office so we'll see I can keep up this independent (read: tragic), healthy (read: I NEED RICE) diet up. I suspect not la!

xoxo,

Tracy

Nooks & Crannies

As a new city to me, Shanghai holds intriguing surprises all the time. I can be walking down some nondescript lane and then come across a totally quaint neighbourhood or be at someplace to see something but discover something else entirely different altogether.  Here are some of the fun parts of Shanghai I've discovered in the past two months: 

Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art - My first weekend in Shanghai alone and I decided that I should be brave and venture out. Took a cab to the museum which was super boring but I then noticed there were people walking PAST the museum to get to the street beyond it. Following the crowd, I then realised this was a heritage street celebrating the fact that famous Lu Xun used to live on.  It was a very well-preserved street with quaint alfresco cafes. I meant to enjoy a cuppa there but um, had to dash back to the hotel because of toilet issues. 

Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art & Duolun Street

Invited by someone to have lunch at this fairytale castle in the middle of Shanghai city. Moller Villa was built by the owner of a dog-racing track for his daughter. The story goes that the daughter had a dream about a castle, and upon waking and telling her father, her doting dad immediately put pen to paper and sketched the castle of her dreams and built it for her.  It is now a hotel cum restaurant. Hoping to go back there for afternoon tea soon. 

Moller Villa - the stuff of dreams

Ok I know there are all starting to look the same but this is my favourite street of all. It is a cluster of around 10 streets of around 20 households each. The neighbourhood has been carefully preserved because famous folks used to live here - Zheng Xiaoqiu, a famous actor and director and Sheng Pihua, the first deputy mayor  of Shanghai. Ya, I have no idea who these people are too la. But the street is so reminiscent of my childhood spent in the then yet-unspoilt Geylang, in my grandparents' house.  The flashback was so intense. There were people playing mahjong, someone practising piano (I so know your pain!), folks cooking, playing with the dogs and kids returning home from school. Some of the lower floor apartments have been converted into shops and cafes. Again la, I wanna go back and lim teh!

Nanjing Xi Lu

Ok this is a little auntie but I was with my mum and my in-laws, so that explains ah! At the most touristy Tian Zi Fang, we stumbled onto (maybe "into" should be the right word) a vegetable market. Has to be one of the cleanest and driest wet markets in Shanghai. Feast on these strange veges!

Mottled corns

Spikey cucumbers

Skinny eggplants

And finally, went to a shopping place - Qi Pu Road. Its not a quaint or haps find la, but I did find a piece of heaven here! ha ha...

xoxo, 

Tracy