its funny how this trip turned out to be... initially, i was a little dreading to go overseas again for a holiday when my work already requires me to be travelling all the time.. but Candice's wedding is not to be missed plus i already missed out on the last shanghai trip in april with the guys cos of family dispute..
i wasnt too happy about not being able to be seated togethher.. and pple are unwilling to exchange seats... nonetheless, Candice put us up at Renaissance Hotel at Yu Garden... its pretty central and near to most of the things so tt made things really convenient for us. She met us for lunch immediately after we checked in and we had Portuguese food at this Macau restaurant which really filled us to the brim but everyone wanted Xiao Yang Shen Jian... which dunno wat it is.. but its really freaking cheap and turn out to be very good... no wonder its one of the people's fave, every stall that i see, its always long queue... we were at some shopping street, the girls left us to explore on our own while they left for pedi-manicure... so me and huazai went ard.. i spotted a few cK shirts which i really liked but the price puts me off... who the hell is going to pay $400, sin dollars for a cK shirt man???? I havent reach that level yet definitely... so i tried to remember how it look like and tried to get it tailored when we are going to the material market... but i guess some things, u really need to pay for it cos the tailors said without a sample.. they cannot just make the shirt with descriptions... So me and huazai we hanged out at starbucks, waited for almost an hour for the girls to finish up their pedi-manicure.. ktv was suppose to be up next but everyone's tired from the overnight flight which we din sleep well.. so we just went for a massage and headed back to the hotel..
2nd day, we went about the Yu Garden which is basically at our hotel's doorstep... its all the olden buildings refurbished, instead of the old run down roadside stalls u see in the chinese kungfu movies, its been taken over by the major brands.. like starbucks? diary queen? tt brought about something to think over... would u rather lose the rustic feel to a place and preserve the space or retain the feel and leave the place dilapidated? Nevertheless, huazai and me went about walking through Yu Garden while the girls are kind enough to queue up at Nan Xiang for us for breakfast... Nan Xiang is famous for their man tou and xiao long bao. There was a Da long bao too.. so big that people had to use straw to drink the soup from the bao.. amazing... textile market was next on the list as the girls wanna get some clothes tailored.. for me.. i just wanna try my luck to see if they know how to make the cK shirt. No one can resist having hairy crabs esp when its in season in shanghai... its a must have but too bad we only had it once for the entire trip.. simply no time and our stomach is too full most of the time. we went to this fu mao restaurant based on a fellow passenger's recommendation... its supposed to be more famous for its little lobsters... but it serves pretty decent baked hairy crab too.. so we tried and its not bad... The rest of them are pretty massage crazy... so we ended up going for massage again before the girls had to go for rehearsal for the wedding tmr.. Huazai and me slowly took our time and relax before deciding to go walk around the financial district and visit the Pearl tower before meeting the girls for dinner at Southern Barbarian.. food was good there... they had all sorts of funny beer too... so... we tried more than 10 different kinds of beer... till the manager thought that we are some beer connoisseurs.
Wedding day, the girls were up early.. 6plus am... they had to be at the venue... we werent really assigned any tasks so we can go later.. the hotel is pretty much like a maze... but its seriously damn cool to hold your wedding at the tallest building in pudong, overlooking Shanghai with your close friends and relatives... ambience was nice.. decor of purple with cream white looks smoothing to the eye as well.. Wedding lunch lasted till 3pm.. we were seated with candice's relatives and cousins, uncles... it was good to interact with them and chatting up, Gibson being so cute certainly cheers everyone up from time to time with his "yam seng" antics..
We headed out to the French Concessions after a brief rest to while some time away before a pre-party dinner arranged by Tom and Candice for the younger folks, it was held at a Sichuan restaurant which serves very nice "Kou Shui Ji", older folks were flatly rejected and post dinner party was held at a club called SIN.. with a man size bottle of vodka, bottles of whisky and boxes of cigars... u can bet that everyone is a sinner there.. not to mention many were falling sideways and all over and a few puked all over as well...
next day was almost our last day in shanghai, woke up at noon for lunch at Des Lys, a french restaurant, which we spent the entire afternoon there sipping coffee and tea after lunch before proceeding to massage.. yes again... den japanese buffet at night at Ri Yue Tang, beside the sichuan restaurant the night earlier... Candice family were having buffet there as well.. but we missed each other... but we met Candice and Tom for drinks after that before waking up the next morning for breakfast at Nan Xiang again before heading back to Singapore with a heavy heart.
Not that i get a lot of time alone on this trip, but i guess its the encounters that I had which made me really sit up and think what have i been doing? I've been holing up in this sheltered environment that i have been so overly protected and narrow in my scope that even when i am travelling the world, thinking that i seen a lot more than other people... i actually have been a frog in the well... I met candice and tom's friends who have achieved so much, gone through so much just to get to where they are today because of the competitive environment that they are in or where they come from. poor families, striving hard... getting to where they are now.. like Vincent, asst director of f&b at a hotel... tom, working in a company with a job scope that u thot only exist in movies? sabina liaising property in china from hk.. my job is indeed one which many would crave for.. seeing the world and stuff lidat.. its not that i dont appreciate it... there are many more places on the list which i have yet to visit and i want to visit... but i want more challenges... i actually crave for achievements, i think i found what i wanted to be a few years ago... its time to move on... first step now would be to start on my resume...
