Good morning, Shanghai! We headed down for our breakfast. To my pleasant surprise, upon entering the breakfast area, the hotel staff greeted me by saying ‘Happy Birthday’ in Mandarin after scanning me into the restaurant with my room card. What a delightful way to start my day!
Prior to our trip, Baby purchased a pair of VIP tickets to The POP MART Crybaby exhibition - ‘Letting Go... Holding On’ from the Pop Mart WeChat Mini Program - (CRYBABY 特展 / 哭娃特展).
The exhibition was held at the Gate M West Bund Dream Center. Apparently Shanghai is the first city to hold Popmart's inaugural Crybaby exhibition. We booked a Didi there as it was a good 25-30mins car ride from our hotel.
The regular ticket consisted of the entrance ticket, a bag, socks, and waterproof CryBaby stickers. The VIP ticket includes what the regular ticket offers plus a few special merchandise, and that’s the reason for us to get the higher tickets.
The exhibition focused on emotional healing, turning every tear into a tiny spark of courage.
Both Baby and I dived into the ball pit for the ‘Teardrop Treasure Hunt’. Our mission was to find ocean balls with special teardrop patterns to redeem gifts! There were also some fun games to play with the possibility of winning small prizes such as Crybaby stickers. Lastly, before leaving the premises, we created our own exclusive Crybaby ID card!
We had fun at this immersive, pastel-themed event! We left the
exhibition with happy hearts, and I loved my goodies bag!
After the exhibition, we walked around the West Bund area to take some
random photos.
We went shopping at the GATE M West Bund Dream Center, and I stopped by a cute shop called UODYCOCO and picked up a cute plush bag charm from them!
Time for lunch! We went to 桂满陇·江南流水席, which is located at the West Bund Dream Center. The restaurant offered an immersive, traditional Jiangnan-style dining. This restaurant specialised in Hangzhou cuisine.
The first thing that greeted me was a line outside the restaurant. However, I didn’t join the line and instead I walked straight to the reception and asked staff if there was a small table or counter seat for 2. We were led to the counter seat straight after.
We had Crab Meat with Pork Soup Dumpling 蟹粉鲜肉小笼包 - The steaming hot
Xiaolongbao was moist and well constructed.
桂满陇 is a great aesthetic restaurant that I experienced and ate at in Shanghai. What amazed me the most was that the environment was impeccable and the wide variety of traditional Hangzhou dishes. I loved the stylish interior that blended modern aesthetics with traditional Jiangnan vibes.
如果桂满陇是你心心念念想去吃的地方, 那就赶快去吧！
We next headed down to the first flagship Disney Store in China, which was located at the Lujiazui area of Pudong. I had read online that there were some exclusive merchandise only available at the Disney store instead of at the Shanghai Disneyland itself, so I wanted to check it out.
True indeed, we picked up some stuffs before leaving the store...
We also visited the highly popular, space-themed bakery - Holiland (好利来) which was located at the ‘Holiland Travel’ Flagship Store at the Super Brand Mall, Lujiazui.
The store features sci-fi aesthetics and creatively shaped, artistic pastries like pixelated apple cakes. This bakery is known for premium and visually stunning cakes.
Baby booked a Michelin-starred One-star restaurant - Jin Xuan (金轩) which is located at The
Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong to celebrate my birthday.
The view was amazingly splendid! The restaurant was located on the 53th floor of the Ritz-Carlton, and you can get a picturesque dazzling view of the Bund and the stretched out cityscape of Puxi.
We were given a complimentary amuse-bouche as we waited for our
food to arrive.
All the dishes we ordered were presented in an exquisite manner. However, I did not consider this authentic Cantonese or Shanghainese food. In fact, I felt they prepared the food with a touch of fusion zest.
The highlight of the restaurant was no doubt its outstanding
service, as we were very pleased by the attentiveness of the servers.
The damage was slightly pricey but well worth the price if you factor in the dining at a one-star Michelin restaurant with top notch service, classy décor, and cozy ambience.
Lujiazui is China’s largest leading economic hub, and it features an iconic skyline of skyscrapers.
We walked over to the Oriental Pearl Tower - the key landmark in
Shanghai.
I took some random photos against the beautiful landmark.
Time to head back to our hotel to cut the birthday cake that we received the night before. We had kept it in the refrigerator for my actual birthday indulgence. We called for a Didi to pick us up at the entrance of Shanghai IFC Mall.
Upon entering the room, we were greeted with a new birthday cake that was prepared by the hotel again. This time round, it was accompanied by a candle and a birthday greeting card! OMG! In total, we received 2 birthday cakes and 1 cupcake. How to finish sia!! We decided to eat only 1 birthday cake and 1 cupcake.
Happy Birthday to me and may all my wishes come true this year. That concluded my birthday outing in Shanghai.
Do stay tune for the next post of my Shanghai vacation!
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