Arrival
I arrived at Shanghai's modern Pudong airport. This massive structure is built on a large grassy expanse, and from the first look far from downtown. It was about 85 degrees and extremely humid, so much the weather fogged up my glasses when I stepped out of the airport. Driving around Shanghai is friggin chaotic! bikes, taxis, pedestrians, and motrobikes all vying for asphalt. At point we were driving and Suren realized we on the wrong side of the road. For some reason it didn't feel out of place from the hypocracy of the city.
Suren and Jie took me to a restaurant that had Italian style decor with Shanghai style cuisine, nontheless a contradiction but Oh So Delicious!!!
Here's what we had:
Raw fresh water shrimp slightly pickled with with chinese cooking wine, peppercorns, sugar and soy sauce
Fried pumpkin with salted duck egg and chives
Steamed Baby crab with ginger and salt - the roe was oozing out
Deep fried whole frog - Think bone-crispy potato wedges from Ralph's Market (it's a U.
Fried mackerel with basalmic-like vinegar
Stir-fried yam leaves with garlic and Oil
Oyster with soy sauce, green onion and black bean
Homemade chicken soup - and lots of it!
I love sashimi and liked raw crab (Korean delicacy), so raw shrimp was just up my alley. Frog does taste like chicken. Suren warned me not to eat too much shrimp for fear I might not be accustomed to the food in China. I then realized I forgot to buy stomach pills.
We then went to downtown Shanghai, to the bar area where we went to two bars/clubs: Zapata and Paulander. Both were geared toward western tastes, which reflected the crowd. I didn't have enough time to experience Zapata, but I was told it's a awesome dance club flooded with expats. Paulander was of a german bar with benches and long tables--kind of reminded me of the interior of Berkeley's International house. I downed a Munich beer while listening to some old school 70's dance remakes.
Suren galed us with stories of his insane antics as a young adolescent, but i am not going to post them here because this is a travel site!!
