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I wrote this 2 days ago but then my old computer suddenly froze and restarted by itself a couple of minutes later. I didn’t save a copy so I’m now writing the whole thing again. -_-
The weather isn’t very good today and I’m feeling a bit sick because of the sudden drop in temperature. I have nothing to do today except for watching 6 (or is it 7 already?) episodes of Heroes 3 and munching on an egg tart but first, I’m going to finish with this blog entry.

So far, I went shopping only once since I came back to Shanghai last month. Well I bought a few things online as well but that doesn’t really count. Nothing beats going shopping in person.

One of the places where most people in Shanghai must have gone to do shopping at least once is Qipu Road (Qipulu). I’ve been in Shanghai since 2004 but I still don’t know the names of the buildings there. Everyone just know this area as Qipu Road. If you know where to look, you can get anything (clothes,shoes,bags,hats,belts,etc) ranging from very bad quality to very good quality there. Girls like to go there but the guys I know don’t really like the place. Most of the things there are for girls.
Deenoo’s wife,Rosie is in Shanghai since September and she will be here for a few years I guess. Anyway, she wanted to go shopping at Qipu Road and Karina was taking them there. I went along too.

There were many people buying bags outside. The quality is so and so but if you like to change bags very often, then those RMB 29 bags are great.

I didn’t take any photos inside the buildings. After getting my purse stolen there last year, I’m very careful with my things now.

One of the things I like to do there is to eat. I’m always famished after walking around there for hours.

Those two girls were having some kind of noodles.

Karina and I bought squid skewers. It’s one of my favorite street food in Shanghai.
I want to try baby octopus skewers one day but I’m a bit scared. haha

There were people cleaning but the place was still a bit dirty. After years here, I don’t mind eating in such an environment but I know some people who refuse to eat in ‘dirty places’.

Deenoo, Rosie, Karina and me.
We saw some African guys from Tongji University there and Deenoo happens to know them. One of them kindly took this photo for us. My blue AF top looks weird here. I was in a hurry to leave and just wore the first top I saw. It is supposed to be off the shoulder but it won’t stay horizontal & kept slipping down. That’s what happens after too many washes in the washing machine. Rosie kept pulling my top up but it kept falling down again. I told her not to bother with it. That’s the RMB 29 bag I bought. Rosie bought the same one too. I bought it because it’s big and I was going to put all the things that I buy inside but in the end, I only bought around 4 or 5 things. That’s a first for me.

I had dinner with Biliana, Asif,Aki and Desmond that evening at 1001 Nights restaurant. Nice food but the place was too dark for me to take good photos of food. The only photo I took is of Aki’s stitch. Desmond reckons that it doesn’t look anything like Stitch but Aki likes it.

I like this photo because of the candle. There were candles on each table and Desmond lit this one.

It’s almost 4 a.m right now but I’m still up because I’m backing up some files and going through all the photos that I had taken in Singapore. I have to send some of them to Lisa later.
I’m a bit hungry right now but I’ll just drink water and wait a couple more hours until I have my breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, having breakfast in Singapore was really.. hmm.. different. Nothing bad but it took me a few days to get used to it.
Desmond and his family took me out to have breakfast many times during my stay in Singapore.
The first time I had breakfast with them, I thought Desmond was kidding when he phoned me early in the morning and told me to get ready because we were going out to have breakfast. I’m used to having breakfast at home and don’t usually go out to have breakfast. At most, maybe I’ll go out to buy breakfast and go back home to eat.
For someone like me who usually doesn’t eat much in the morning, it took me a few days to get used to breakfast in Singapore. They eat so much! What I also wasn’t used to was the fact that they can eat sweet things like kaya with bread but then also eat otah or other salty things. If I eat bread and jam, I usually don’t eat bread and cheese or roti,etc. I don’t like to ‘mix’.

Here’s what we had for breakfast when I went out with Desmond and his family the day before I left Singapore:

Toast and kaya (I love kaya! ) , otah, roti prata, eggs with soya sauce, coffee. There was another plate of roti prata to my left but it’s not in this photo. By the time I took this photo, we had already finished eating some of the food. I was already feeling quite full but I continued eating a bit more because there was still so much left.

(Someone ate an egg on this plate and was having a second one. This explains why there is already some soya sauce on this plate.)
According to Desmond, this egg was boiled a bit too long. Here’s how they usually eat it: pour some soya sauce on the semi-boiled egg, mix the whole thing and then eat it. Erm.. Or rather, drink it. It might look a bit disgusting to some people but it actually tastes good. I think I took a photo of the egg when it’s mixed with soya sauce. It should be on Desmond’s laptop. I will upload it another time.

Roti prata with .. erm .. I don’t know what. I forgot what it was. I’ll ask Desmond later.

I will write more about my trip to Singapore. I’ve got to resize the photos first

I have ‘disappeared’ again for almost a month. I’ve been busy. My sister and cousin are going back to Mauritius today. Long story…but anyway, now I finally have time to do whatever I want. When I think of the number of times I’ve ‘disappeared’ in the past, I wonder why some people still come and read whatever I write here.

Photos for my previous entry…

A simple dinner at a Japanese restaurant on my birthday.

Birthday girl…

…and Des.

Papaya milkshake!!

No photos of food this time. hehe . Only a photo of the papaya milkshake that I had.
I never liked eating papayas when I was a kid. I used to think that the smell was horrible and the taste even more disgusting. Being the kind of person who likes to give 2nd (and 3rd, 4th and so on… ) chances, I bought a papaya earlier this year and realized that papayas aren’t as disgusting as I remembered them to be. They are actually quite good.

I’ve left Singapore a couple of days ago and I’m now back to Shanghai. I still have so much to write about my trip to Singapore but all that will have to wait because…….. it’s my birthday today.

Feeling a bit weird today. I’m now 24 and unlike 2 years ago, I am no longer able to say that I don’t feel any older.
I feel very old already. I keep wondering what I’ve managed to accomplish during all those years and where I’m supposed to go from here.
Happy Birthday to me.