Shanghai Trip

Barely a week after Beijing, I was travelling to Shanghai on work on the second week of December 2018.. It was my first work trip in the new company which I joined after coming back from Beijing.. 

It was also on this trip that I picked up my China-issued laptop, in total complete Mandarin, and it took 2 days for the IT guys to reinstall all the softwares and reprogram everything back to English.. Except Chrome, which unfortunately is still in Mandarin..

So I flew with Malaysia Airlines to Shanghai Pudong Airport, and from there, I took Didi for the hour long 50km journey across Shanghai to Hongqiao where the office is, and where I would be staying for 3 nights..

Boarding Pass

Awaiting departure in KLIA

I prefer a window seat on flights that are lesser than 6 hours whereby I don't need the toilet

Breakfast.. nasi lemak yang tak telanjang

OEM ice-cream as dessert

Arriving in Shanghai Pudong in the late afternoon

In Didi car heading towards Hongqiao

For 3 nights, I was put up at Mercure Shanghai Hongqiao, which is a 10-minute walk to the Linkong SOHO, and next to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport..

It is a cool 4-star hotel with crisp decor (the banner above is shot here on the sofa).

Entrance door and sink

Semi-frosted toilet and shower

Living area and bed

I looked out of my hotel window and there it is.. Linkong SOHO which houses my company HQ

Free minibar replenished daily!

Remote control for the toilet, and it has a bidet!

Breakfast is included in my room, so here's the restaurant in the morning.. seating was kinda limited though..

Cereal

Restaurant seating from the entrance

Hot food

Hot and cold beverages

Pastry and porridge

Lobby

Reception

Lobby

Staff checking breakfast eligibility
She's wearing a tee with an image of a huge pig 

Dumplings and bao

Ramen... ok I think I overdid with the coriander and spring onions :)

After breakfast, I walked to work, in the cold..

Freaking cold ok

Just me, walking and doing a video recording

There's a cool tea shop at one of the office lobbies (we have about 18 lobbies)

Work day 1 was spent in this tea shop, there's plenty of conference rooms for staff to work..
I ordered the pomegranate tea, which is very delicious..
And it's on the house or rather the company paid for it..

We also have our lunch here..
I ordered the salmon and tea was poured into the bowl for the taste to infuse with the rice

Inside the office.. You must know your way or you'll get lost inside the building..
About 30,000 staff works here

From the rooftop overlooking Shanghai Hongqiao Airport..
The buildings behind are also part of our HQ complex

Must selfie on the rooftop!

It also comes with a jogging track all along the rooftop.. 

Lobby #16  

Somewhere in between the blocks

More in between the blocks..

One with the sign

The main plaza or Lobby #18 aka Pavilion

Next.. my weekend in Shanghai.. 

Impromptu Holiday: Beijing (last part)

Save the best for last, right?

Yes, this is all about the food I've had (or in one pic, I might have)..

Haidilao

Quanjude Peking Duck
We had a whole duck and this is all sliced up in front of us.
They also taught us how to eat properly.
The bill was about RM250.

Grandma's Kitchen AMP Mall..
We asked for recommendations because the menu is in Chinese.
We ordered a soup, omelette, prawn, fish, chicken with drinks the bill was about RM160..
CHEAP!!!

Some traditional restaurant nearby Forbidden City. The queue here is horrendous (about 1 hour) and they have quite limited tables, I think not more than 10 tables..
We ordered so much food that we cannot finish.. 

GoBuLI (Go Believe), we ordered one dumpling for each flavour.. I forgot how much it was because we paid cash just to finish up the loose change in this place.. 

Wangfujing Snack Street

Wangfujing Snack Street
Tell me the top left corner IS NOT A RAT.

Wangfujing Snack Street

Another shot of Grandma's Kitchen (my view)

My friend's fault.. we bought premium fruits, here it's about RM150.. RM100 for the grapes.. 

Mr Shi Dumplings, Beijing
I would rate it 5/5. Perfect. 

KFC on the High Speed Rail.. ok we dabao but ate in the train cos we were rushing to catch this train

Metal Hands Coffee
The chocolate mousse cake is da bomb. 

Airplane Food on Cathay Pacific
Hong Kong-Beijing 

Airplane food on Cathay Pacific
Kuala Lumpur-Hong Kong

With this, this ends my Beijing series..

Ask me again, I think I will spend another week in Beijing and just enjoy the city, shopping and things like that.. since nothing much touristy I have not done..

Coming up next, Shanghai series..  Yes, just one week after Beijing, I flew to Shanghai, for work actually.. and then I extend my stay and have a look around the city and explore it a little..

Impromptu Holiday: Beijing (part 6)

Have I not finished writing this series?

Well, chill ya.. this is the second last.. haha the last one will be food..

The last few days in Beijing was spent going to places around the city.. just to look see look see..

First stop is Temple of Heaven..

The entrance to Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven

Rare to get nobody else in your photo

Zero humans

Of all the "temples", this is actually a working temple.. introducing Yonghe Lama Temple.. the burning incense sticks to you right away, and you know this is a real temple..

Admiring the temple

They say, turn the wheel for good luck, so I made many many turns...

The front of the temple

The most inner building

There's many alleys one can take a break.. but be warned, the terraces are very dusty from the incense dust

Last stop of the day is of course the Olympic Park.. This is the third Olympic Park I have visited (after London and Sydney) and I love how quiet it is.. maybe it's well into late November and winter is picking up and temperatures are dropping below zero.. You can see how cold I am from the pictures..

Paparazzi hiding behind the bushes for a shot of me

Up close shot in front of the main stadium aka the Bird Nest

Trying to get the entire Bird Nest into one shot

This is the "I DONT GIVE A FUCK" face

Turning the other direction against the sunset, and the background is the Aquatic Centre aka The Water Cube

All in all, I think Beijing is a nice place to visit.. Engineering marvels.. the chocked highways.. the seemingly-walkable distances.. the boys.. 

I will surely revisit again.. 

Impromptu Holiday: Tianjin

You know when in China, you just need to go elsewhere, to another city, and take the high speed rail..

Because it's China..

Engineering marvel.. They can build anything and anything under the sun..

The trip to Tianjin takes about 30 minutes from Beijing South Railway Station (ok, there's plenty of railway stations in Beijing so you need to know which station to go to get your train to wherever you want to go).. We decided to buy the first class seats, even so, we got separated because it's so full..

Just a day trip to Tianjin and look at the port city, tried some expensive food, and then look around walk around and head back to Beijing at night.. It's tougher to get tickets back to Beijing at night due to the reduced number of trains, but we managed to get on the next train which leaves in just 10 minutes - and we still had to undergo security checks and what nots..

Beijing South Railway Station
Fucking huge.

Train is here, all aboard, first class in the first car!

China Highspeed Rail train

Waiting for departure

Arriving in Tianjin Railway Station..
I'm lost.. 

Riverbank

Take a rest first, and admire the riverbank

Suntanning

The Tianjin Century Clock as it is called is all clock and no tower. The large face of the clock is surrounded by bronze sculptures of the twelve signs of the zodiac, quite strange to see in China. The clock has two large arms, other than the one on the clock face with the sun and the moon on each hand.

Square St Regis

The weather is so nice to just sit on the grass in the park away from the bustling and hustling of the city and take in all the sights and sound..

Another clock tower
Why do they need so many clocks? 

Main thoroughfare across the river with numerous Roman sculptures

Finally found a golden cushion to sit on

This used to be a stadium but then they converted it into a supposedly nightlife-entertainment centre
but all you can see is just... nothing..
Some people were jogging around, some bars were open, but that's about it.. 

Inside Tianjin Railway Station and looking for my boarding gate!
Help, it's so huge!
And we're out of time...