Looking back on hindsight

Was reading a book review from Renoh’s blog on “Schopenhauer's Telescope” by Gerard Donovan.

Like him, I found a line from the book extremely impressive:

"[A person] learns that future is behind and the past in front, rather than the other way around, because he can't see the future with his eyes. But the past is visible because it has happened, so it's in front."

Ah, how very true.

Eat Drink Man Woman

I was craving for Western food during my stay in Suzhou so we went to several places to satisfy my taste buds.

Water Paradise Coffee House:
My personal favourite place to have Western fare
Pretty on the outside:
Nice on the inside:
But this restaurant has to pass the food test.

Nice garlic bread. It’s crispy and flavourful.

Gigantic Onion Rings. Makes me wonder how big the onion is.

Grilled Dory Fish in Herb Sauce.
Fish and Chips. Nicely done too.
The main courses cost an average of 30 RMB, which is like 6 SGD. I like the price. It’s food court rates for restaurant dining. Can you beat that?

Egg and Ham Sandwiches.
Bacon Sandwiches.
My Essential Cuppa. They named this concotion Roman Holiday. Reminds me of Audrey Hepburn.


The generous ice-cream serving. Actually, it’s the price of a main course. Ah, oh well.

Pizza Hut:
It’s cheaper here, for the universal offerings on the menu.
Pizza Hut is so popular we need to queue in the freezing weather outside. It must have been sheer craziness…but I was more in need of a respectable pizza than was I in need of warmth.

The mediocre garlic bread. Compare them to Water Paradise’s garlic bread. Shame on you, Pizza Hut. And you ripped us off, didn’t you?

Spaghetti Bolognese: (bloody expensive--$7 SGD for this 'feed the chickadee' portion)

Water’s fine though. There’s no weird sewage taste in this one. Usually, if it comes from the tap, even when boiled, the water tastes like shit. Drinking water here means stocking up on bottled water.
Chicken Wings. They look mild, but, whoa are they spicy!

Didn’t take photos with the pizza. Just gobbled it down like a glutton when the pan touched down on my table.
Nightlife of Suzhou at 观前街:

It's KTV galore land over here (the hip, the sleazy, the clean family entertainment joint--take your pick) :
The bicycles:
Chestnuts roasting by the roadside stall:

Shanghai Baby!

It’s another photos entry once again! My fingers are actually itching to type out a wordy morose piece, but since the festive season is still in the air, I shall restrain myself today.

Buildings and Highways:

[Road shots taken from inside the car using a Nokia N70. Sorry, digital camera ran out of battery.]

The skyscrapers are really tall, they soar above the highways.
Multi-tiered highways or rather, elevated highways: 高架

Interesting architecture (港陆广场)

Currently the tallest building in Shanghai, 420.5 meters high. (金茂大厦)
88 stories, houses the Grand Hyatt Shanghai Hotel on levels 53 to 87.
(上海环球金融中心) Building behind it: Touted to overtake Jin Mao Building by having 101 stories and being 492 meters high.

Microsoft making a statement on Shanghai’s tallest building at night

The famed Pearl of the Orient—iconic tourist attraction in Shanghai (东方明珠)

真杀风景! Nice cosmopolitan city, financial hub of China…but shamelessly ugly on the outside (and most likely on the inside too).

Public Transport’s (公交车) pretty good, traffic condition’s NOT!

I like this part of Shanghai. It’s less polluted and quieter:

Near the Shanghai Science Centre (上海科技馆)

An MRT station (地铁站) that people alight at to visit the Science Centre. This Science centre rocks! Better than Singapore Science Centre because it’s so comprehensive and the interactive department is definitely worth experiencing some hands-on science concepts! Didn’t visit it this time though. Need to spend an entire day there. By the way, their train is modeled after ours.

Some satellite dish looking object at the roundabout (世纪公园大道).

Ate Bah Ku Teh (肉骨茶) in this restaurant (Singaporean owned establishment):

(狮城阿隆肉骨茶)
Sounds like a 'finance' company from Singapore--loansharks!

Not very good. The soup takes too peppery. I like my bah ku teh soup more herbal. Putting pepper is plain cheating.

Oyster Omelette

Prawn Noodles (Teochew style)

Teh Tarik
Not good again. Too milky, I want to taste the tea in my teh please.

Still, it’s doing a roaring business because all of us people from Singapore and Malaysia miss our local food. Something’s better than nothing, right?

Lego Exhibition at a Posh Shopping Mall (forgot the name already):

I love Lego! These building blocks were my childhood companions.

Boo! (blur shot)
I am a pseudo Viking! But boy, am I fierce!
Mr. Giraffe and I

Dinnertime: Shanghainese Fare

Xiaolong Baos (小笼包)

Shrimp Dumplings and Spring Rolls (鲜虾饺子和春卷)

Sweet Glutinous Rice (八宝饭) Yucky!

Beef Noodles (红烧牛肉面)

Visited a bookshop in the same mall after dinner. Excellent place. Cheap books and great variety. All in Chinese though. No speed reading for me now. Didn't take night shots of the Bund (外滩)since this is not my first visit.