Thoughts in Strife An anthology of the incomprehensible thoughts of Strife

A day out in the town and sleeping in

The Oriental Pearl Tower

Saturday was pretty good, as a colleague of mine volunteered to take us out into the town to see some of the tourist sites around Pudong. This is where the Shanghai World Financial Center is located, as such it was one of our stops. However, before that, we got a chance to see the large ring pedestrian crossing, and also a new attraction in town, an underground Apple Store, one of 2 in China, and the larger of the two. They had everything except 3G iPads, but generally most of the prices are a little more expensive than Malaysian prices, at around 2888 RMB for a 32GB iPad (roughly rm1.6k), which doesn't make it any more attractive to buy it here than back home.

The ring crossing, as well as some random pedestrians and "tour guides"

One thing about this whole area is, that as a major tourist destination, there are loads of people looking to earn some money selling your pictures of the area, with or without you in it. These people aren't so bad, as if you say "No", they get it and move along. The other kind, which I'll explain later on, were far worse.

The Apple Store in Shanghai.

SWFC Tower.

We walked on from the station towards the Shanghai World Financial Center, which wasn't that far. However, along the way we encountered loads of people selling things, and approaching us selling Rolex watches and whatnot. One guy followed us for almost 30 meters, with his prices dropping from 1 for 200RMB to 3 for 100RMB xD. We went into the center, got lost looking for the entrance, and finally found it. The tickets cost around 100 - 150RMB, depending on which floors you want to visit. We went for the 100th Floor pass, which was the most expensive.

Entrance area at the 94th Floor.

The Oriental Pearl Tower, as seen from the 100th Floor (400+ meters)

The foggy day meant that visibility was a bit out. That and the lack of sun meant that colors were not that vibrant. Thankfully while I have pictures on this blog, its not a photolog

The corridor along the 100th Floor, abound with tourists.

The 3 adventurers of the day (from left to right, Thomas, Elango and me)

Salad with croutons

Salmon with eggs, toast, grilled tomatoes and potato

We stopped over at an Element Fresh outlet, a restaurant that specializes in fresh foods (lots and lots of salads). We were apparently still in time for the breakfast menu despite coming in at 2pm All 3 of us had the same thing, the Salmon with eggs, and we had a spare salad to share. It came with a free flow of coffee, which was good too. All of that came up to 212RMB, but the portions were awesome. Thomas told me that they also do deliveries, for free. You'll see the relevancy of this at the end of the post

Cheeky kid and the cute waitresses.

We got a show along with our food, as a kid brandishing a fluffy sword came up to the door and started whacking it, shocking the waitress. His father promptly twisted his ears, and he left for a bit only to return later. At one point, the kid put his arms on his waist, which the two waitresses emulated in kind. I was a tad to late, but in the picture you can see the waitress on the left still in her pose xD

The Bund

We walked a short distance, and found ourselves at the Bund. Interestingly enough, there were not that many people out, and so it was great for taking photos of the place. This place was pretty interesting, as they had a lot of restaurants again (most people in Shanghai love to go out to eat, or go out to shop, it seems), and even a Paulaner Biergarten. Finally, we took a cab back to the Metro, and said farewell to Thomas as he had a previous engagement. Elango and myself took the Metro back on our own, it was an adventure on its own But it did save us 20RMB, so that was cool

We didn't do much after that, and I spent the evening relaxing and studying my software. Most of Sunday was spent the same way, as after breakfast, I continued studying, and went out to grab some grub from Burger King around tea time. The highlight was around 8, when I ordered some food from Element Fresh I ordered a Macaroni with Parmesan and Mozzarella, with grilled chicken, and it was freaking awesome. It also cost 86RMB, but it was still much cheaper than room service, with a similar lead time, so it's all good. That's pretty much it for now, since it's late, I'm gonna knock off and get a head start on tomorrow. Signing off

Delivery bag from Element Fresh

The tasty contents of my order *drools*