Confessions Of The True Foodski: Amazing Shanghai..

This trip to Shanghai was back in 2009 when i was wanting to take a break from work and get away from all the stress. Actually, wanted to go to Hong Kong but hesitated and chose Shanghai instead (not sure why). I went solo and i had the need for that feeling of traveling alone around the world and this was just testing the backpacking waters and see what is in store ahead of me.


My early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines.


Transit plane at KLIA to Shanghai on Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysian Airlines was having a damn good offer for destinations around Asia. I went to look up for Shanghai flights and got a S$359 economy class return flight offer, so without hesitation, i booked online immediately. This was my first flight on MH after hearing good reviews about it's service quality, which MH stands for 'Malaysian Hospitality'. I had taken a 4 day leave from work for this trip which was from Friday to Monday. The first thing on my mind about this trip was, "How am i gonna find me some Halal food in a land which is mostly populated with Chinese!?" i thought to myself. Then i googled and searched online for a Halal food website and found Zabihah, which is a Halal food guide online. To my amazement, i found a shops that actually sell Halal food. Printed out the list of address and just hope that i could find my way around Shanghai to these shops. Flight to Shanghai from KL was about 5 hours and 20 minutes.


My MH inflight meal of the day.

The inflight brunch that i had was decent. Cod fish Fillet with Spinach Omelette, sauted new potaotes, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes was the menu i chose instead of the Famous Nasi Lemak, which is a signature dish on all MH's flights. Crossaint was soft and moist on the inside. But the only gripe that i have was the tin fruits which was served as the dessert. Come on MH, you gotta to have more standards than serving tin fruits with syrup on your flights. Flight stewardess was at their charming best, dazzling their elegance with beauty and finesse in fulfilling their jobs and reputation as "The Best Cabin Crew In The World" moniker. But i find it amusing that the male inflight purser was wearing a horrendous green jacket with a bow tie. They should just stick with the normal tie i suppose.

Inflight entertainment screen.

Landed in Pudong International Airport.

Flight was uneventful but with slight turbulence over the South China Seas. Onced landed in Pudong International Airport, we were told by the Captain not to disembark, as some health officers are coming into the aircraft to check on each of the passengers body temperatures before disembarking. This was due to the global H1N1 outbreak at that time and i was getting a bit uneasy. I got a slight flu prior to this flight and i was hoping that my body temperature doesn't shoot up. Few of passengers in Business class were allowed to disembark while those with high temperature needed to stay in the plane. When it comes to my turn to put the thermometer in my mouth, i was afraid that the temperature would go up. When the officer took the thermometer from my mouth, he looked at it and asked me to retake my readings. After the second try, i was given the 'okay' sticker and allowed to disembark. Close shave there. I wasn't planning to get my holiday screwed by a body temperature check. So i headed to the immigrations and within minutes, i was thru and officially in Shanghai, baby! Then headed to the Maglev bullet train, which is one of the fastest train in the world today, heading into the town area station to take the Metro to my hotel.


This train could travel up to 500mph...but it only goes for 416mph bcoz of peak period.

My hotel room. Not bad.

Greeted with heavy rain in the evening.

Once i settled down in my hotel, heavy rain started. I was to go look for dinner at the time but, due to the heavy rain just ate biscuits that i brought from home instead. The next few days i visited places like Nanjing road, Pudong Oriental TV Tower, Madame Tussauds, Shanghai Urban Planning Center and many more. It's places of interests are easily accessible by taking the Shanghai Metro which is equivalent to Singapore's MRT concept. So moving around was not a problem for me. but the biggest problems i have faced is, noboy seems to understand a bit of English. I had trouble explaining to them asking for directions, so did the next best thing, i wrote down my English into chinese translations with the help of Google Translate,....hehe.

The name of this restaurant was Anadolu.

Very nice interior.

Doner Chicken Kebab with rice and Tortilla wraps..

Light milky pudding with caramel sugar

Freshly made breads.

Salad of Cucumber, diced tomatoes, lettuce as starters.

Came across a Halal food establishment called Anadolu Turkish restaurant along Hengshan Road which i believe is like the 'Clarke Quay' of Shanghai. It has rows of food establishments, entertainment and hair salons and offices too. I was surprised that even in China, there is Turkish cuisine, not cooked by their nationals, but by the Chinese locals. This shows that in terms of catching up with other global cuisine, China is beginning to be more open to accept food from other countries and be exposed to other cuisines. I ordered a starter, a main course and dessert. Salad was fresh and chilled. Main course was the Doner Chicken Kebabs, served with rice and Tortilla Wraps. It was good enough to fill my empty stomach. The dessert was the best out of the meal. Silky, sweet and light pudding. Mmmmm.....That dish alone, made my day. Overall, it wasn't as authentic as the ones they have in Turkey, but give them credit to have the balls, to try and replicate and i appreciate that.