Surviving Shanghai: Day 1 (Official)

Sept. 21 (Friday)

By "official" I meant, it's the real deal...those activities we sort of planned to do.

Since we started out late, we were not able to do everything in our itinerary for this day.  First thing we did upon leaving the hotel was to find a place to eat. We walked along North Sichuan Road, until we saw a mall with signages of food stores. There we tried Happy Lemon (it's cheaper there than here in the P.I.) and a Chinese restaurant. We order a roasted duck and a set meal like that of a shabu-shabu. Then we ordered "mi fan" (rice) but we were given a black rice that tasted sweet, which we felt was a dessert haha! There, you'll have to pay your food right after the waiter has gotten your order.

cute Hello Kitty cake! I want!

So after our late lunch, we took the Metro train to the West Nanjing Road. It's a long road of lots of boutiques! Truly a shopping haven! It reminded me of Shinjuku and Harajuku wherein all the brands are on the the both sides of the road.

From Nanjing Road, we took the Metro train to Century Ave. There we were on an elevated walkway and we got a perfect view of the best buildings and structures in Shanghai, most especially the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. We originally planned to have a dinner buffet at the tower but it costs around Php 2,500 when converted. So we opted to find something else to do. We wanted to go to The Bund, so we had to cross the Huangpu River. We went through The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel wherein we rode a see-through covered cart on a rail going to the other side of the river. The ride costs 90 RMB/pax. We didn't actually pay much attention to the voice over and the effects shown inside as we were passing through the tunnel, but for sure, it's not worth 90 RMB! haha

Jin Mao Tower

 Oriental Pearl TV Tower

 BFFs and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower

 I was surprised I can take a photo this nice!

it's very evident on this photo how tired I've been from walking the whole day

 that's our ride going to the other side of the river

That's the tunnel! Kinda scary haha!

Besides the Huangpu River, we also got a nice view of the French Concession on the opposite side. And to cap our night, we headed to The Apartment where we had our late dinner and some drinks. They serve sumptuous Italian dishes and good cocktails. Just like what its name suggests, it's a 3-storey apartment with a roof deck that somehow felt like Skye. One of its rooms was for house music and it felt a bit like Relik, while the other room was playing RNB and HipHop, which felt like Republiq. There were lots of expats and tourists at the place. We headed back to the hotel at 1:30am and it only took us around 36 RMB via cab.

I used the HDR effect of my Camera 360 app on iPhone 

 The ferry ride costs 2 RMB only. We should've taken this instead on the tunnel thing.

 So funny that this looks like the Empire State Building in New York haha!

 The French Concession

Felt like Paris over here!

Price Range: 70-200 RMB (drinks at 70+, food at 100+)

 the dining area (resto part)

 Roof Deck

 Shanghai party :)

 the room for "house music"

the room for "RNB and Hiphop" music

It's so cool because we found flyers/invites for Maroon5 Shanghai concert's after-party at The Apartment scheduled on the coming week.

Tip: Download the Wow Shanghai app because it's very useful in finding the perfect places for shopping, dining, partying, and more! It's complete...with directions!:)

So that's our 1st day in Shanghai! I got more to share about our second day. Stay tuned!:)


xoxo

Surviving Shanghai: Arrival Mishaps!

So I went on a weekend trip to Shanghai with my BFF. There's only 1 flight everyday from Manila to Shanghai via Cebu Pacific at 8:20 pm and it arrives in Shanghai at around 12mn. 

We got our tickets booked on sale last June and it only cost us around Php 5000+ roundtrip. About the visa, we got it 4 days after our application. Well we just renewed the Chinese visa we got September last year for a weekend trip in Beijing. I suggest you course it through an established travel agency because it's a whole lot easier.

We left Manila (NAIA Terminal 3) on Sept. 20, 8:20 pm. During our trip, the plane was less than half full. And 90% of the passengers were Chinese. After more than 3 hrs in the plane, we're finally in Shanghai. You better grab those tourist maps you can see on your way to the immigration.

neck pillows:)

The Pudong International Airport was almost closed when we got there. We were starving but got no place to eat. Our check-in at the hotel is at 12 noon and we have 12 hours more to go. We thought we could hang in the airport but we're wrong. Then an English-speaking Chinese guy with an "airport service" name plate approached us and offered us help in getting an "airport hotel". At first we thought that's the "per hour" hotel at the airport but we ended up booking a hotel, which was a 15-minute ride from the airport. initially the guy told us it will only cost us 300 RMB so we agreed. We bought snacks from Family Mart, the only open convenience store in the airport. Then we got out of the airport, rode a van, and arrived at the hotel. There we were charged 398 RMB for our room. Thank God, to the Chinese-speaking South African guy, a hotel guest who was nice enough to do the translation. The place was a bit creepy. And the bathroom was see-through! So we slept for a couple of hours and left the hotel at 10am. They gave us a free ride from the hotel back to the airport.

never again!

right before we left the "emergency hotel" haha

We're supposed to take the MagLev train but it will cost us a lot more so we settled on the regular Metro train. That's Line 2 from the airport. You better pay attention while in the train because at Guanglan Station, you'll have to get out of the train, transfer to the other side and ride a new train because if not, you'll end up heading back to the airport. It's kinda weird because when the train reaches Guanglan Road, it does not head to the next station, but goes back to the airport. When we noticed that the train was pulling back, we got off immediately after two stations back. We went back again to Guanglan Station and rode the right train after. Anyway, so we got off at East Nanjing Road, then transferred to Line 10 and got off at North Sichuan Road. Our hotel is at Dongbaoxing Road so it took us a really long walk to get to our hotel, most especially because we started walking at the wrong way. haha!

Note: The SHANGHAI METRO app is very helpful. Be sure to download it before going to Shanghai. It navigates you around Shanghai by telling what Metro Lines to take and which stations to go. It even calculates your estimated travel time. It's an offline app so you can use it even if you're not connected to the internet.

We stayed at Jinjiang Inn. It's a group of hotels so there are a lot of branches in Shanghai. But for the Dongbaoxing branch, we're really satisfied. They got good service and they got really nice rooms. We booked it via Agoda, and 3 nights cost us about Php 4,000+. It's super worth it! There's LAN in the rooms, plus cable TV, and heater at the shower. They also have wifi at the lobby. Room keys are cards, and these cards are required to be inserted in the elevator to bring you up in your room.

After a few minutes of rest at the hotel, we went out and started exploring the city. That's what my next post will be all about....

xoxo

Shop now at Southshore!

Who says you can only wear something sexy during summer? With Southshore Beach Shop, it feels like summer all year round! You can wear those comfy clothes you wear at the beach even when you're in the city because that's the Southshore style -- "from the shore to the city".

And here's the good news...Southshore's new collection is out! Here's a sneak peek on their Holiday 2012 collection:

NICA skirt

IYA tank top

HEATHER wide pants

ANYA cropped top

ZEBRA ZIPPURSE flipflop bag

They got nice items right? Shop now at their online shops:

http://southshorebeachshop.multiply.com/

http://www.facebook.com/southshorebeachshop

Besides online, you may also find their items at the following shops:

1. Hoola Clothing, 50th Ave, Robinsons Galleria
2. Hoola Clothing, Pop Culture, Alabang Town Center
3. Sueno Boutique, Makati (across Cash and Carry)
4. Mystic Brew Cafe, BF Resort, Las Pinas

More than fashion, Southshore is also concerned about our environment. This is why it has launched the "KEEP IT BLUE" campaign.

KEEP IT BLUE is a campaign that aims to preserve the health of the seas surrounding the Philippines. Having 7,107 islands, imagine how many gorgeous shores are out there :) Without clean and healthy sea water, we wouldn't enjoy our beaches. So let's give back to our mother nature and keep it blue!

Be part of the Keep it Blue campaign today. Bring your Keep it Blue tote bag on your next beach trip and be a walking reminder of keeping our seas clean and healthy :)

 Php 99 only!

Read more about the KEEP IT BLUE campaign on:

http://southshorebeachshop.multiply.com/photos/album/2/KEEP_IT_BLUE_Tote_Bags#

HAPPY SHOPPING!:)

xoxo

Smart LTE Launch

This is indeed the fastest!:)

Last Saturday, Aug. 25, Smart finally launched the world's fastest mobile broadband technology. The Smart Long Term Evolution (LTE) has the power of speed up to 42Mbps! How cool is that?! For more info, visit http://www1.smart.com.ph/bro/lte

A lot of guests visited the event in Resorts World Manila to witness the unveiling of another technology breakthrough in the Philippines. But since I arrived really late, I wasn't able to catch much of the highlights of the event. Probably one of my best achievements was having photo ops with Iron Man haha!:))

the gamers?

Iron Man!!!

There were different booths at the venue that allow the visitors to experience the fastest internet -- Movies, Games, Music. I was able to try watching a video on Youtube and it didn't buffer at all.

 Online Gaming = cosplayers

What, 47.96 Mbps?!? This is insane! I waaaant!!!!

So after a few photos at the event venue, we had a bit of window shopping and we proceeded to Thousand Cranes for my BFF's post-birthday dinner. We just love food! We finished everything that was served to us. haha! Plus our good friend Abbie, also came to join us.

 An #OOTD shot inside Charles & Keith...borrowed their sunglasses! LOL!

 I fell in love with this eyewear from Charles & Keith! Gosh, Php 1699!

 Shabu-Shabu! Yummy!

had so much fun over dinner :)

xoxo!