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Shanghai 2025: Chill and easy
posted : Sunday, August 10, 2025
Day 3, woke up and it’s still gloomy. Actually it wasn’t news already at this point because that was the forecast for the next few days, just that I think I was maybe hoping for pockets of non-rainy weather.
Got up early and decided to use hotel gym whuttt. That’s a first for me on any trip ahahah. A very well equipped gym though it’s old, matching the hotel’s exterior and in need of a refurbishment like the rooms. I half suspect that it is a temporary leased space though (the hotel does look like it’s still halfway through its renovation, rooms are refurbished but facilities like the lounge still looked very makeshift), because the signage at the reception area sounded like this is some sort of health and fitness club featuring indoor pools and stuff and we had to sign in too, so maybe they will charge the hotel or something.
 Obligatory “still raining” photo  Hit the gym! I think that sorts of sets the tone for the rest of the day as a take-it-easy kind of day as the only thing that was really fixed was a dinner at 四季民福 (but we also couldn’t take queue number in advance), more on that later. So like the day before we took our own sweet time at breakfast, before getting ready to head out. First stop is this IFC shopping mall - the attraction for me was an outlet of 阿嬷手作 which I’ve heard rave reviews on, and just to plan around it - lunch, etc. Also coz it’s in the Northern Bund area in the vicinity of our other stop of the day, which is Shanghai’s highest book store - 朵云书院.  There’s this tea lounge at the lobby and we popped in to take a look while waiting for our Didi and the staff was quite enthusiastic to explain stuff (which I did not pay attention to)  Walked around the mall a bit looking for food options and we landed in this place called 叶马 because the menu looked appealing to me  And boy I would remember this dish for a very long time. Braised pork and abalone.  And I would remember this drink too for a while. The 打.米麻薯 was a taro mochi milk tea drink and I get the hype now  Was supposed to be a dramatic escalator ride up towards the 三件套 but you can only use your imagination Headed over to 朵云 and at the entrance at ground floor we found out that we were supposed to reserve a timeslot in advance to visit the store. Which isn’t surprising, a lot of these skyscraper attractions have such system just that I didn’t pick it up before the trip ahahah. KH got a slot for a somewhat close timing, I didn’t, but the security guard just waved us on in the end lolol. I guess it’s coz they were way below capacity as many people probably didn’t bother showing up because of the weather and low visibility. So we kinda lucked out in a way.  It’s a bookshop.  Where I don’t pretend to have an interest in reading  Can still see the view, somewhat. This area requires the purchase of a drink to enter but I didn’t want one, and not that there’s much to see anyway. Headed back to the hotel to freshen up, before heading out for dinner. But KH was complaining about hunger (he had random hunger pangs throughout the trip and it’s almost essential to attend to it immediately each time) so we went up to the lounge for a pre-dinner cocktail hour. And it was a good thing we did because it occurred to us that we can catch the Bund’s 7pm light up moment from the lounge, which was sort of on my todo list but I haven’t figured out how to fit that in, and things just fell into place.  Yes, still raining  The light up at the Bund! Out for dinner. Was a bit late because at 4ish I checked and the queue (virtual) was quite short, half an hour later it had ballooned into a 3 hour wait zzzz dejavu. (Hence there was time and a need for a pre-dinner snack). We got there with still another half an hour to spare, but seats opened up and hostess asked if we minded sharing a 包厢, where we will have a small table of our own beside the main table in the 包厢 (much like those restaurants where kids get their own separate table lol) and we said we didn’t mind, in the end it was as exclusive as it can get and very private so that was a big plus. The other group was a group of Korean girls and they weren’t loud or anything either so more plus points. I guess the only complaint I had was the food? I really think I’ve had better Peking ducks elsewhere (Imperial Treasure for instance), this skin was so awesomely crispy but I felt that the meat was on the dry side. Plus the other dishes were so so too, I was very turned off by this stew thing that KH ordered ahahah.  Mascot?  Peking duck, one day I shall visit Beijing proper Post dinner activity was to a bar. KH wanted an old Shanghai 1930s vibe kind of bar (think old school mics with singers in cheongsam singing 夜上海) and we ended up at this very historic bar at 和平饭店. The entrance fee was daylight robbery IMO but oh well. 久久一次. Vibes were alright, we stayed all the way till closing (and for a bar, I thought they close quite early but maybe coz it was a Sunday night).  Strolling towards the Bund again  My drink was very potent apparently. And server cautioned me too cause he said I was flushed already hahaha that’s my usual state after a drink  Jazz band performing. One of the oldest remaining bar of this sorts apparently  We were one of the last to leave  Iconic Called it another night!  And signing off with this creepy looking past midnight view of what was a glittering skyline just a couple of hours ago. Why the need to switch off everything, I don’t know, could have just left a couple of essential lights on or something. |
