How about some Hot Pot and pork stone?!

  One last full day with Trisha and Shawn and we made the most of it (after spending the morning getting all their China purchases packed up). I was lucky b/c even after all their purchases there was still room for me to send them home with some of the stuff that I wouldn't need for the next month. 

   Once we left the apartment we headed out to find a supermarket where I thought that Shawn could buy a cheap CD case. You see, he needed it for all of his legal DVDs ;)  I had been to this super market once before and thought I remembered exactly where it was located but on the way there I began to doubt myself...and for good reason b/c it wan't where I remembered it. After standing on the sidewalk completely baffled on which way to walk I decided to try one other place...while walking there I began to doubt myself again. Well, all of this doubting worked b/c out of frustration I whipped my head around and in the center of my view was a sign screaming CenturyMart, the supermarket we were looking for! We made our purchases of CD cases and discounted Chinese New Year decorations then made out way to Taikang Road, AKA Tianzifang. This community is a layout of traditional longtang allyways and is so much fun to walk around. One of the things that Donald liked best about shopping Tianzifang was an old man selling Pork Stone. As it sounds from the name it is a stone that looks like pork. No joke! Donald told me that I must show this to Trisha and Shawn. For me, there is no guiding visitors through these allyways b/c it all a big maze. Luckily we just stumbled upon the Pork Stone and T&S loved it as much as Donald thought they would. Here are some pics that I found on the internet (sorry, the 3 of us were too distracted staring at the amazingly delicious looking stone that we forgot to take pictures)!

 

Yes, that is stone not pork!

   Luckily, checking out Pork Stone was not the only thing we did. It was a cold day so we grabbed some warm alcoholic drinks :) I also purchased one of my favorite treats for Trisha and Shawn to try, Steamed Milk. It is a custard like milky, slightly sweet dessert. Turns out that neither of them liked it very much. I also briefly forgot that Trisha goes not like eggs and apparently this dessert is mostly eggs whites! Ooops. Well, one miss among many winning food choices for them to try...I'd say that's still a good record for me.

   For our last dinner together, Shawn really wanted to go out for hot pot. Since I normally eat alone I have only been out for hot pot with coworker while traveling so I didn't know where to go in Shanghai. After reading up online about a few places we chose Hai Di Lao Hot Pot, located near the metro stop that I get off for work each day. Turns out that we picked correctly but were also not the only people wanting to eat hot pot during the new year holiday we arrived and were given #65. Once we figured out what was going on we found the electronic board that was calling out everyone's numbers...they were at #35! We had a long wait. This joint was prepared for people to wait a long time, the waiting room (shown in the picture above) was filled with small table with games on each one, there was snacks/drinks being served, a nail salon station, shoe shining, glasses cleaning and many other odd services that you could enjoy all while waiting for your hot pot table. They also give you a menu to fill out with your order so you can be ready as soon as you are seated (they had to dig an English menu out from the back room for us).

The menu. You could get things like, Laopai Blood Curd, Duck Intestine, Pig Trotter,
Bullfrog, Bean Curd Sheets, Shepherd's Purse and Amorphophallus Slices. None of which we ordered.

We opted for the mushroom broth base.

Shawn getting prepped to spill on himself.

   For those that don't know how to eat hot pot here is a quick tutorial. Order a yummy broth base, then order lots of thinly sliced meats (we chose beef, lamb and crab) then order tons of veggies (bamboo shoots, pea shoots, cabbage, mushrooms) and on top of all of that you need a starch (potato starch noodles) then some sort of tofu (tofu skins for us please). Get the broth boiling and start dumping all the ingredients in. Wait a few minutes and start picking all the cooked goodies out. Oh, I forgot, you have to mix your own dipping sauce from the sauce bar (sesame paste, peanut paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, BBQ sauce (Chinese style not USA style), sesames, onions, garlic, cilantro, hot chili oil, chopped hot peppers, MSG, salt, Sichuan pepper powder...any combo will do). Now take out all the cooked goodies, dip them in your sauce and enjoy!

We've made a mess!

   We all stuffed ourselves at dinner and needed to go for a good long walk. Since Trisha and Shawn had only seen The Bund in daylight I thought it would be a must to get them there in the evening. You see, The Bund is best for viewing earlier in the morning when all the old Chinese are out doing Tai Chi or in the evening when all the beautiful buildings are lit up. We hoped on the metro and made out way to the waterfront. We walked East Nanjing Road to see all the neon, bright lights and tourist then walked to see The Bund. Along the way we stopped to see the newly renovated Peace Hotel. The Peace Hotel was supposed to be one of the more tastefully complete renovations in Shanghai. It's true, the 1929 art deco hotel sparkled in all the right ways.

Can you see the little lite orbs in the sky? They are tiny, look carefully...there are about 5
in this picture. Those are lit paper lanterns released into the sky. It was very cool to watch.

Shawn taking in the view.

   We then made our way back to my neighborhood and tried to go to the Boxing Cat Brewery but it was closed still for the new year so we started walking home and stumble upon the Blue Frog Bar and Grill so we stopped for a drink. The rest of the walk home is when it got interesting...

   It first started with a little market with a 30 foot snake of firecrackers that lead around 2 sides of the store, the front and the ally side. We walked past quickly but then stopped on the opposite corner to witness this string of firecrackers. People set them off in front of business and homes to scare away any evil spirits that are nearby which is why it is such a big part of tradition for the New Year celebration. Check out this video:

   From the little corner store all the way to my apartment building we saw all sorts of fireworks, some even came from the middle of a large street with cars passing by.  Once back at my place we thought we were settling in for a quiet even...that was until I looked out my bedroom window and saw this...

All that red stuff are firecrackers, and the men weren't even done laying them out.
They kept bring out more and more HUGE boxes of this stuff to add to the pile. It was
going to be one heck of a display.

   We watched for 30 minutes from my balcony as they continued to lay out more firecrackers. It was starting to become a joke every time a new box showed up. We waited and waited for them to set these things on fire...finally we realized that they were going to wait until midnight. We had about 30 more minutes to wait. The men, all guards for the different businesses on that corner, set up barriers to protect there precious lay-out of fireworks. This extra time before midnight also gave the men a chance to test their fire extinguishers.

See the car at the bottom of the picture? It seems that they couldn't find the owner
to have them move the vehicle so they took rubber mats from the coffee shop and
laid them in from of the car as a shield. 

They were setting this up right next to a huge road.

Then it all went to hell about 5 minutes before midnight!

Fireworks were going off all around us, above, below, in front, to the left and to the right!
We even had to step back inside the apartment at one point b/c we were getting hit by debris.

   I'm still not sure what all the fireworks were for, I forgot to ask at work today. I was even starting to feel bad that I missed the New Year in Shanghai, it's supposed to be crazy with fireworks but it seems that I no longer had to feel bad b/c that evening totally made up for it! I think that Trisha and Shawn would agree. Fireworks will never be the same since I won't be in them at eye level.