A single word to describe how I first felt about Shanghai is “depressed”. I was not only scrutinized by the immigration officers for my passport being too new and the blue IC being thinner than usual, conned by the driver on the first taxi ride in Shanghai, but encountered a few ugly incidences. The receptionist at the inn I stayed for three nights and some taxi drivers were some of those who showed annoyance to English-speaking people.
The first evening was saved by my old friend and her friends who became my first Shanghainese friends. A few delicious and delightful typical Shanghainese cuisines were introduced to me. I ignored the fat content, calories and metabolic syndrome when the stewed meat melts inside my mouth. Shanghainese love Bean curd. During my stay in Shanghai I tasted many different dishes of bean curd. They are cooked in different ways but all are equally delicious. My friend taught me to throw one or two sour plums into the yellow wine. The salty, sour and fragrant plum really brings up the flavor. And I chose “fermented glutinous rice” for dessert and found out to my amusement that it is glutinous balls stuffed with peanut in fermented glutinous rice which is similar to the pulp from rice wine (ကေဇာ္). I straight away fell in love with it. After dinner, I took a walk to capture Xintiandi which was cozily crowed with expatriates and the rich locals on the Friday night.
Friends, food and fun – hmmm… I was relieved to know that Shanghai was not that cruel to me.
