Spatrachina Volume Five

ZhuJiaJiao Entrance

My 1st weekend in China was a visit to ZhuJiaJiao, another river township about 45mins drive from Shanghai City. Accompanying me were Yufei and her parents. It was a smooth car ride in their family car to the township, and being a Saturday, ZhuJiaJiao was filled with Shanghainese wanting a short getaway from the bustling city life.

Map of ZhuJiaJiao

ZhuJiaJiao White Wall Buildings

ZhuJiaJiao was a Rivertownship by its own rights. Although it was not as famous as its neighbours near Suzhou, it was more well-maintained. The clean white walls were great contrast to the well preserved tiled roofs and wooden pillars. Once stepped into the township, the streets were flanked with stores selling its famous rice dumplings. I didnt manage to get a bite into one, but a quick look at the ingredients made me felt thankfully I didnt. Well, it wasnt that bad actually. It was just that the dumplings were made with only 2 strips of fatty meat, a far cry from our normal rice dumpling here in Singapore where one can find at least 3-10 ingredients ranging from meat and red bean paste to yolk and scrimps. After the seemingly never ending stores of rice dumplings, the pork trotter stores were nex to dominate the streets. Seems that JiangNan really loves its pork trotters big, fat and braised.

ZhuJiaJiao Township

Selling Rice Dumplings

But the main highlight of the street hawker fare for me was the Stinky Toufu. Funny, but I actually didnt find the smell offensive at all! In fact, I was lured to the smell that I couldnt resist buying a portion to sample. It was simply heavenly! The crispy skin together with chilli and a special sauce was perfect in the mouth, the bursting into the white and steaming hot flesh was like any fried toufu. But this is no normal fried toufu. The stinky flavour added a certain taste that was hard to really describe, but it certainly will be something I will be eating a few more times before I hit my return flight home.

Stinky Toufu Seller

My 1st taste

Too Hot To Handle

Luckily no more trotters for the rest of the trip. Lunch was at this restaurant by the river, and looked all the bit like those river side inn u see in movies. The rustic look brought me back to the ancient era for a moment. The dishes served were also very homely, with small scrimps boiled in salted water, braised shell fish with spring onions, steamed river fish (with lotsa tiny bones), and not forgetting a sampling of the local ZhuJiaJiao Beer. It was one of those very light tasting beer, which went really well with my tongue. ( even though I dont really like beer, I had 2 servings)

Shell Fish Cockles

Small Prawns in Salted Water

ZhuJiaJiao Beer

Even though ZhuJiaJiao was the 3rd river township I've visited, I've yet to take any of the river cruises. Until now. As I stepped onto the sampan like wooden boats, I felt like I was really going for a wonderful ride. And a wonderful ride it was! The water was calm and with the clear weather, it was a picturesque moment on the boat. The river was like a major traffic route for the township, with main intersections and minor arteries serving both heavy and light traffics. I got to see the sights of ZhuJiaJiao not accessible by road. At the cross Junction, I was flanked by histroical sites on all 4 sides!

A narrow river alley

Me and Yufei on the boat

Boatman Paddling

Me with the sights on the river

Me by the boat side

Yufei and Family

The river cruise was a short one filled with lotsa great sights. I almost felt land sick when we disembarked the boat:P But that feeling was quickly placeated with my 1st tasting of the Malt Candy. It was a very soft lump of malt sugar melted and to be constantly twisted with the provided 3 sticks to make it soft. The Malt candy was actually rather tasty and not as sweet as I would have imagined. It was a bit tough to eat though, as seen from my photos. But nonetheless, It was an interesting candy to hav.

Yufei and her Malt Magic

Trying to manage my Malt Candy

On a Bridge

Our day trip to ZhuJiaJiao ended in the late afternoon and we made our way back to Shanghai. After bading farewell to Yufei's parents, we went to the famous BuXingJie (literally meaning Walking Street, the English name actually is Nanjing East Road). Basically, it was a street flanked by shopping malls on both sides, more or less like our Orchard Road but easier and more user friendly for shoppers due to the lack of cars. The wide walkway provided much freedom to explore the shops on both sides. I also spotted something really Singaporean. Yes, the very famous Raffles City Shopping Centre in Shanghai!

BuXingJie

Sunsetting

Raffles City

We walked in the direction of The Bund, the famous area of Shanghai. Well, more of a representative area of Shanghai with its multi-national buildings on one side, and ultra modern buildings on the other side of the HuangPu River. As usual, my itchy tongue wanted to eat again. I bought a stick of grilled octopus from the roadside which tasted really rich with flavours. The Bund at night was a magical place, with all the lights and people admiring the skyline. However, we were there rather early, so the lightings were not switched on yet. Still, I managed to capture the Pudong's financial district from the Bund.

Pudong District at Night

Me with the Squid