Esthee H.

Did you know?

The Chinese hot pot has a history of more than 1,000 years.

The hot pot is a super popular cuisine all over China.

 So what's a trip to China without having hot pot?!




Check out this 麻辣火鍋, so super red and indeed it's as spicy as it looks.

No this wasn't the famous 海底捞火锅 because we had to take a cab if we wanted that but we were all too hungry and lazy so we settled for the one that was near our hotel and it's called DOLLAR SHOP. hahaha

I had tomato-based soup because the one I had at 海底捞 was soooooo good.
Sadly, this was only so-so.

Oh and one tip I've learnt from the local Chinese is that you should avoid ordering beef as much as you can when eating out.

Because they tend to substitute beef with chicken or pork as it is cheaper but still charge you the price of beef anyway.

I'm not saying they do this in China all the time. I'm just saying this is what I've heard from the locals. So yeah. Maybe such lack of ethics is happening everywhere in the business world, I'm really not surprised.

But I must say the service standards of China has really up-ed one notch these days.

They provide aprons to prevent staining your clothing, hair bands for ladies with long hair, plastic pouches for your handphones so they don't get oily, etc etc. Of course, you should know by now that the 海底捞 in China also provides manicure sessions for customers. WTF right. Go eat hot pot can get your nails done at the same time. I wonder what else they can come up with. Dental checkups, maybe?

But I really can't care less for these random things. Just bring me ma foooooood.

Hot pot craving satisfied!

Till my next trip to China!

My next stop turned out to be China. Having been to China for about 2 whole weeks previously, I've basically done all there is to do in Shanghai and Beijing. So this time round, I wasn't that keen on all the tourist-y stuff but I had company that was willing to do them. So I gamely followed. Afterall, how often do you get company that wants to go out in China? Almost never.

So I went out in Shanghai to The Bund and Nanjing Road.

China, being China. Is of course, filled with people. That's what really turns me off about China I guess. You can never get onto public transport without having some form of body contact with another sticky human being.

We took cab this time though, so no complains.

Traffic in Shanghai.






Crowd was madness.




I honestly think that The Bund is a beautiful place, anytime of the day. It's a reminiscence of the past Shanghai that's modern and prosperous. If I was a Shanghainese, I'd be so proud of this place. Come in the evening to catch the sunset! And stay abit longer to catch the night skyline of the place.
That's about all that we did in a night in Shanghai. Walk walk and walk along the Bund and afterwards to Nanjing Road.

Here's my darling companion for the trip. Amazing girl, this Megan is. Sadly, this friend of mine has decided that she's had enough of travelling so I guess this marks my one and only adventure with her. Fun times are short but nevertheless precious! All the best, Megan!




BEIJING

I think Beijing was more exciting though. It definitely has more of the Chinese flavour than Shanghai. Zahed and I went to Wangfujin Street, and this time, we took the train!




Squeezy, sticky, perspiring bodies pushed against you, YES.

If you are looking for Orient China, without a doubt, this is the place. What other place can be more Oriental than this?!









Zahed was on a mission to sample all the weird food you can find in this street, which includes scorpions, spiders, animal penises, starfishes, etc. Here are some of them.

Scorpions on sticks.



Bull's testicles, anyone?










On a normal day, I wouldn't be that crazy to wanna eat these stuff. But Zahed was so onz about having them that he offered me a taste of them. So I tried the starfish, and a SCORPION. :S

This is him, anxiously waiting for his fried starfish wtf.


And me, with our starry fried friend.



It tastes nothing Orangey, though that's all that it looks. It is quite horrible actually. It's all sandy inside and when you bite into it, all you taste is sand. I felt like I was eating sand and it was really quite difficult to chew or swallow anything like that. We both spat it out, like after this first bite.

And then, we had the scorpions. I wouldn't have eaten it at all, really. It was only because they sold 3 scorpions on one stick and Zahed didn't wanna eat all three. So i took one, for the sake of being game and brave and #esthertheexplorer.







What does it really taste like?

A fried teeny piece of cracker. I dunno. Tasteless, just fried. Oil and some crunchiness.
It wasn't a disgusting taste, so I ate it. So small anyway, no taste!

I tried this fried milk ball thingy too. It sounded okay to me, so I thought i'd try it. But it's just oil and butter and I don't know what. Pretty tough to eat, and totally not tasty.



Of course, none of these could fill out stomachs. We went to a steamboat place for lunch which allows you to have your own pot in front of you while you order stuff which you can share. This place is called XIABU XIABU and there are joints available all over China. So here's our mountain of meat and vegetable which really didn't have enough space on the table for all to be placed.



Yummy meal for the price of 10SGD! :D I can't tell you how much I loved it.
This is one of the reasons why I love China.

And this was at one of the roadside restaurants which a Chinese girl brought me to after we had our body scrubs done at a bathhouse.

I was scrubbed like a pig by the auntie but it felt hella good. :) I love body scrubs cos I feel so freaking squeaky clean afterwards!

Tomato-based braised beef noodle soup. SIBEI NICE WAH LAO.



For the price of like 2SGD! Yummy. I loveeeee cheap and good food.

Oh, and I just had to share this, pretty pictures taken by Zahed. :D

CHECK OUT BABY'S NAKED BUTT HERE.

















I love having friends who carry pro cameras because they're always so willing to take chio pictures for you. Hi-res pics on their own camera still so willing to email you afterwards!!! Pictures to keep for life. <3

And the friendships forged when we're overseas, even if it's just for a day, I can't even say how amazing it is. Some of them I've only seen once, and yet every memory is so deeply etched in my heart.

This is specially for Megan, Zahed and Ruisi.