静安寺 + 上海城市规划展示馆

This outing is actually a direct continuation after our Sunday church service...haha! Service is from 8am-9am+ and after that I went to meet Xuan Qi, Li Seng & Jia Min :D

The initial plan was to meet Xuan Qi to cut hair and then go out. In the end, the cut hair plan was scrapped and that leaves me with ultra long hair now...HAHA!

Anyway, to the linguistically challenged in mandarin, this post says "Jing An Temple and Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre". The urban planning centre is a AAAA tourist attraction :)

Yes, China measures the value of its tourist attractions. The more the As, the more culturally rich or entertaining the attraction is. The As rating are given out by the China National Tourism Administration.

As far as I know, Huangshan has the highest rating of AAAAA. It's a 5A attraction - the highest on the CNTA attraction scale.

Ok, back to our outing...haha! We went to 静安寺 which is located at...静安寺地铁站. Wow, I had to tell you that right? LOL! 

And, fancy me just ended church service and now I'm visiting a temple. Blasphemy! LOL LOL! HAHAHA! Jk :D

We didn't go in the temple, we simply took pictures of it and with it on the outside. Haha!

静安寺's main entrance...You gotta read the sign from right to left...FYI. HAHA!

A wing of the temple

If you're sharp-eyed enough, you'll notice in the picture above that it's raining... -.- But thank God the rain wasn't that heavy and it wasn't that persistent...if not our day would've been spoilt :( Haha.

Some...temple tower? I don't know...Looks nice and temple-ly so, just take photo! LOL!

Me, Xuan Qi & Li Seng outside the temple :D

Ok, those temple shots were merely just an act of clocking mileage. HAHA! Next time when people ask "Eh, 你有去过静安寺吗?", we can reply with a confident "有" and show our pictures at Jing An Temple. HAHAHAHA! LOL!

The next stop that Li Seng planned is the Paramount Theatre located near Jing An metro station. It's some historical nightclub that serves as a meeting place for the wealthy elites of the Old Shanghai...years back. Yup, picture again! :)

Me, Xuan Qi & Jia Min at the Paramount theatre :D

Yup, another mileage clocked! LOL! We mentally have like a have a checklist of must-go places that we actually, don't really wanna go to but because it's historically and culturally rich, we gotta go...kinda thing? HAHA!

Anyway, did you notice in the picture above that Xuan Qi is the ONLY ONE wearing the ski-cap or whatever cap you call that? HAHA!

The first shot I took of them, the wind blew Xuan Qi's fringe up and revealed her big forehead! LOL! #likealuohanyu HAHAHA!

So in the second photo with me, she decided to wear the cap to put her fringe down to cover her forehead's glory. LOL!

Jia Min on the other hand, was fine with flaunting her own big forehead...HAHAHA! LOL LOL! Aiya, nonetheless, they're still really beautiful girls.

I think they're like the prettiest 2 girls in the whole bunch of 40++ exchange students from NTU :) Haha.

Jia Min then went on to say "People with big foreheads are very smart cos they have big brains". HAHAHA! Nice bimbo comment there. LOL LOL!

And somehow from there, I linked it to our GPA and Xuan Qi simply refused to disclose her GPA!! >:( tsk tsk tsk.

So I was like..."People with big forehead sure very smart one what! GPA sure high one. So why you don't wanna share? You don't share means ur GPA cui...means your Big Forehead Fake! You BFF! HAHA!"

Notice the bold letters...BFF...and I naturally abbreviated it and started called her BFF - Big Forehead Fake. HAHAHAHA!

Yeash, achievement unlocked - nickname for Xuan Qi found. Hahaha!

We also dropped by 上海友谊会堂 once again to clock mileage...LOL. This Shanghai Friendship Hall is actually built to commemorate the friendship between China and the Soviet Union. So...here's another clock-mileage shot...haha!

Me, Xuan Qi & Jia Min outside the Friendship Hall :)

Statue outside the Friendship Hall

The friendship hall is colourful indeed. Nice place to take photo...The photo of us with the friendship hall in the background is like taking a picture that says "Friends Forever" kinda thing...HAHA!

Our next stop is the last and best stop already - the Shanghai Urban Planning Centre / Exhibition. But, it's not near Jing An station...It's located near 人民广场 metro.

So off we were to 人民广场地铁站 :D The entrance fee for 上海城市规划展示馆 is 30元 but students get 50% off, university students included :D

So we flashed our NTU matriculation card and to our surprise, WE GOT THE 50% DISCOUNT! :D Haha! Yay! :)

Half price of this ticket! :D

Here's the picture roll of the beautiful sculptural exhibits of Shanghai, skillfully chiseled out on towering sculptures and miniature models.

The sculpture of the Oriental Pearl Tower :D

Me & Xuan Qi with the sculpture of 东方明珠塔 :)

They also had many panel displays of the Old Shanghai and the New Shanghai, contrasting their architectural and landscape differences. Here are 4 of the nicer and more informative panels on the Bund :D

Still on the first floor, we looked at the mini model of the Bund on display. The 黄浦江 water looked too blue to be true though. LOL!

Model of the Bund by the Huang Pu River :D

I'm not done with the first floor until I've taken picture with the mascot...HAHAHA! So here's a nice cute shot of me with the mascot :D

Who's cuter? Me right? ikr...LOL :D

On the second floor was more historical - books, pictures, miniature models, TV screens and all...really starting to clock mileage...HAHA!

Attempted self-shot which wasn't all too good...haha

2nd shot graciously shot by Li Seng :D

OHH! MY YELLOW UMBRELLA! I got it for only 10元 when we took the metro from 静安寺 to 人民广场 station.

There was some china Watson's shop thingy selling all sorts of stuff...but only the umbrella caught my eye :D HAHA! That shop leads you straight to the metro station.

I'm supposed to talk about the construction exhibits right? LOL! Ok...back to that...shall let the pictures do the talking :D

Some huge book talking about the history of China's buildings or something..haha! I was just amazed at the size of the book. LOL.

Doorway to the past...no, it's not a literal doorway...LOL

Old TV screens showing some old TV shows

Yes there are a few of such TV screens...haha!

Ok there are actually tons of them...HAHA!

The next model I think is super nice...It's the nicest miniature model on level 2. It was like some cutesy lego display with lights, sound effects and video effects. Here are 3 shots of it...1 in the day, the second with the pond litted up and the night version. Haha.

Morning

The pond turned BLUE!! haha

Night view of the place...See the litted patches of people and all? Those are TV screens

Xuan Qi & I with the lego temple display...haha.

The next very nice display is the old-school train model with a nice olden yellow background. The whole train model and its lighting emitted a really nostalgic, old, historical kinda feel.

The train model :)

Take 2 :D

The side-view of the model :D

Postcard shot of the model :D

Once again ending off with a shot of Xuan Qi and myself :) 

The other 2 - Jiamin & Li Seng - were more interested in taking the models and sculptures on display than themselves with it. Haha.

Well, Xuan Qi and I had a different photography philosophy I guess. Haha! You need to be in the photo to show you've been there right? LOL.

Cutesy model of some street in Shanghai...haha

It says 黄陂南路...yeap, you're looking at a miniaturized version of it :D haha

The next 3 photos are really mileage-clockers. HAHAHA! It's just, nice models of historical stuff...so, the like-minded shall continue to appear in the photos...HAHA!

Me & Xuan Qi with some China boat? haha..yeah, sorry, clock mileage shots are like that. LOL!

Us again with the old-school trishaw....It looks rather comfortable though. haha

Old school car? Haha...Yeap, something like that. LOL LOL!

Next up is the nicest model in the whole building already. When we walked in we were like "WOW...SO NICE" It's a mini-model of the WHOLE OF SHANGHAI :D

The model of the whole of Shanghai...taken 1 floor above by Xuan Qi :D

Xuan Qi actually went up to the 4th floor to take a photo of the mini-Shanghai...YES, that's how big it is...Here are a few shots of it at eye-level...haha

The mini-Shanghai model :D

The mini-Shanghai model, take 2, landscape shot :)

Once again, the ending shot will be of us...haha! But with Jiamin and Li Seng in this time because the miniature landscape was simply too magnificent to not take photo with. Haha!

Li Seng, Xuan Qi, Jia Min & Myself :)

By the time we covered this beautiful miniature landscape of Shanghai...the staff were already walking around and telling people the place closes in like 5-10minutes time!!!

We still had 2 floors to cover!! NOOOOOOO!! So, we immediately went into kiasu-have-to-cover-everything-rush mode...HAHA!

Ok, that was Li Seng actually. Xuan Qi and I were happy just strolling along and taking random photos and enjoying each other's company :) Haha

Mileage clocker shot 6? I lost count of my mileage clocking pictures...HAHAHA!

In our last 10 minutes, I was also awed by their miniature Pudong International Airport model. It was really nice.

Looking at it gave me a really surreal kinda feeling...like I was in outer space looking down at the airport kinda thing? haha

Model of the airport :)

Close up view...Can you see the cutesy planes? :D haha!

At the top floor, the view is really good. So I decided to take a photo :D HAHAHA! Who else can I ask? Li Seng was already rushing to see all the stuff he hasn't seen...hahaha. Jia Min was bunny-hopping along.

Yeah, my photo-partner-in-crime Xuan Qi helped me to take this awesome shot from inside the building. Isn't the view nice? haha

Me and the outside world view...LOL

Ok, we all took together in the end...but that was after Li Seng had chiong-ed finish all the exhibits. Haha!

Me, Li Seng, Xuan Qi & Jiamin :D

The 人民广场 view from the building :)

It's still early! The place closed at 5pm! Office hours indeed man. LOL! So we just simply walked around snapping random photos.

Some random building photographed by Li Seng...I thought the camera angle and clear blue sky was nice. Haha

Me with my failed bowl of kway teow from some 小吃摊...HAHA!

Me & Xuan Qi at some random pretty, colourful statue :)

Near one of the 人民广场 metro exits is a very nice patch of colourful flowers and all and it's also littered with many nice buildings...we spent the rest of our time there taking photos before heading to our next destination :D

Me jump-shot! Pardon my zao-geng jump shot...LOL LOL!

Best jump shot of the whole trip thus far! :) I really love this colourful, happy, jump shot :D

No-jump-shot shot. LOL

Nice building shot by Li Seng again...haha

Look at the fluffy, cutesy clouds! :)

When I saw the clouds I was like "Wow, the clouds look like fluffy pockets of marshmallows! :)" And Jia Min was like smiling in agreement "That's a really cute description". Wow, first time she supported my comment! LOL LOL LOL!

Yup, last shot at this awesome possum place - ME WITH MY YELLOW UMBRELLA!! :) :D HAHAHAHA! And yes, Xuan Qi, I borrowed your word "awesome possum". HAHA!

Me with my YELLOW UMBRELLA!! :) :D

From 人民广场 we then headed to Carrefour......AGAIN. IKR. But this time, I'm going with a different group of people so it's fine :) LOL

Previously, when I went to Carrefour with my housemates, we went from 花木路地铁站 which really tore our backsides...HAHA!

This time, Li Seng checked the map and realized that Middle Yanggao Road metro station is much nearer...like half the distance...HAHA!

So we took train to 杨高中路站 instead of 花木路站...He's a good Tekong platoon sergeant after all...HAHAHA! LOL!

We had dinner near Carrefour at 大拇指广场 I think. 大拇指广场 is like just beside Carrefour...so we went in and ate at Food Republic...if I didn't remember wrongly. LOL

The thing about such atas coffee shops is...you can't pay cash -.-" You gotta buy their stored card, add money to it and when you're done eating, take out whatever stored value is left at their service counter -_-"

Yup, dinner was fine. The company makes it good :D Haha...Nothing much left to talk about right? Shopping  in Carrefour lor...haha

Ohhh, Xuan Qi got Jia Min to take a picture of us shopping...I was pushing the supermarket trolley and Xuan Qi? She's sitting on it...HAHA! #likeasmallgirl LOL

How shopping in Carrefour works for both of us...haha!

Yupyup, it was a fruitful day indeed...how many places we covered? Or in army terms, clock how much mileage? HAHA!

We covered 5 main places today! :D Not bad...and I got a new nickname for Xuan Qi!! HAHAHA! BFF - Big Forehead Fake! LOL

If you're wondering why I'm so obsessed with giving her a nick, it's because most of my close friends have nicknames. HAHA!

Nicknames shows a sign of closeness...HAHA! Ok, this is only half true...but, most of my best friends have nicknames :D HAHA!

She also can be considered my BFF la...After FOOT 2012, we've forged a really strong friendship and we've shared extensively with each other our thoughts, dreams, problems, random stuffsss and all...

So yeah, she's not just some pretty girl tryna hide her BFF (big forehead fake), she's also my dear BFF [best friends forever] ♥♥♥ :) HAHA! :D

Ok, we're like in our mid-20s and we're still using all these small-girl phrases...HAHA! BUT WHY NOT? LOL!

I think name-calling and act-cute abbreviated labels given to people gives a relationship a really light and sweet side.

When you call him/her by that nickname, it's funny, yet somehow there's that common understanding behind that nickname that reminds you two of your friendship history. Kinda thing?

So yeah. Sorry but I'm always philosophically grounded and like to crystallize the reason behind small things that I do. HAHAHA!

Yup...so that's a day well spent with my BFF and her housemates :)