Saturday 16 October 2010

Lazy Saturday

I woke up and went to the gym, then back at my apartment, I felt compelled to have something different for breakfast. Normally, I have a rather healthy concoction of yogurt, nuts, flaxseed and rice bran. But this morning, I felt like heading down the road and buying some street vendor food. The people working the store seem to get great amusement at seeing some white guy buying their food.

The lady serving the food grabs a plastic bag, and uses it as a glove to pick up food without touching it. Each item in the bag was 1 RMB, for a total of 5 RMB which is around $1 NZD. Not bad for a filling breakfast.

2010-10-16 - Shanghai - Street Vendor - 01 - Bag of stuff

Here's the food plated.

2010-10-16 - Shanghai - Street Vendor - 01 - Plated

It was pretty satisfying. However, it can't be healthy and I need to eat better. A KFC store has opened just outside the metro station beside my hotel, and I find myself in there buying a late late dinner when I arrive home late in the evening.

Having brought the food back to my apartment, I felt like some fresh air, so opened my balcony door to see the following view.

2010-10-16 - Shanghai - Hotel - 01 - Window view

Smog seems to be more and more common as it heads towards winter. On a good day I can see Jing'an temple in the distance, within the view shown above.

These pictures are actually pretty deceptive. You can see hints of blue sky shining through the smog in them, or at least I can when I look at them. In reality, what I can actually see is white and grey sky through the haze.

2010-10-16 - Shanghai - Hotel - 02 - Window view

Right now, I am relaxing enjoying the fresh air (?) and the sounds of the city coming through my open window and balcony door. All I can hear is cars on the road down below and a cacophany of horn sounds.

Junk food update

Was in Freshmart at Jing'an Temple looking for Crackerjacks, and found a new flavour of Milka chocolate... Strawberry Yogurt. Now, I consider strawberry to be the lowest common denominator of food flavouring. If you can make something flavoured but bland, then you are probably making it with a strawberry flavour. It's very big in the U.S.A.

2010-10-13 - Shanghai - Junk Food - 01 - Milka Strawberry Yogurt chocolate


Looking at the innards..

2010-10-13 - Shanghai - Junk Food - 02 - Milka Strawberry Yogurt chocolate


It was rather bland, unsurprisingly. The plain jogurt flavour was much more appealing.