Shanghai - Yang Cheng - Beijing 12 Days and 11 Nights (with hotel reviews)

Planned itinerary from Shanghai to Beijing in 2019. 

Here's a day by day for reference. Click on link for more details on the place of interest or the food. 

Day 1: 17

• DO: Flight from Singapore to Shanghai. Arrival at 6 pm
• EAT: Dinner at 蟹黄鱼面: 
• STAY: Shanghai: Mercure Shanghai Yu Garden

The rooms here are very modern rooms and new.

Even the plugs come with usb ports for convenience.

I love the mirror particularly as its a touch screen which you can turn on the light on the mirror and can set it to mist free. 

But hard to get cabs to come here as the front of the hotel is actually a bicycle lane where no cars can come. Had a few instances where the cabs we ordered couldn't come in and they finally decide to cancel our car request. 

Distance from mrt is also about 15 mins walk. Not ideal but will still come again as furnishing is very new and clean. 

Day 2: 18

• DO: 城隍庙， Shanghai Bund Daytime
• EAT: Breakfast/ Lunch at 南翔馒头店, Dinner at 新苑私房菜

Day 3: 19

• DO:  Boat ride from Shanghai bund to Shanghai Tower 上海之巅, Wulixiang Shikumen museum 石库门, Nanjing walkway, Shanghai Bund Nighttime
• EAT: Coffee at Luckin coffee, Breakfast at 大壶春,  Lunch at Shake Shack, Dinner at Random, Nightcap: Old Jazz Band at Peace Hotel belting out mainly classics from Teresa Deng. 

Day 4: 20

• DO: Zhujiajiao 朱家角，七宝老街
• EAT: Breakfast: 璐坊粽王 Glutinous rice dumpling ( The glutinous is soft and yet chewy. Filling of the 3 layered pork is mainly lean meat while nice but very much preferred local nonya marinated dumplings where the meat is more flavourful and minced.), Lunch:玉蘭面馆，Tea at 江南第一 , Dinner: 天辣餐厅 ，Dessert at 七宝老街汤圆店 (Very old shop popular with locals. The tang yuan are all weirdly shaped to indicate the fillings.As we are there late only certain flavours like sesame and red bean is left. The soup is tasteless as it is just dumpling boiled water. )

Day 5: 21

• DO: Chill
• EAT: Breakfast/Lunch at Shanghai Starbucks Roastery, Dinner at 蟹天蟹地
• STAY: Fairmont Yangcheng Lake Resort

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  A very tranquil place but quite out of the way. The rooms are luxurious but has a musky smell. Welcome drinks are included at this luxury resort. Most activities offered on the resort is separately charged. 

Day 6:  22

• DO: Cycling around Yangcheng Lake, Interstate train from Novotel to Beijing.
• Security checks at the trains are the same like airport transit. My pair of scissors which i purchase as a gift are confiscated. 
• EAT: Breakfast at Hotel, Late lunch at 聚仁舫 (Hubby second shot at eating the hairy crabs),Dinner at takeway KFC
• STAY: Beijing: Novotel Beijing Xinqiao

Worst room of the lot. We requested to change room immediately but no room availability and have to wait to next morning for a change. The room is very dated and the signboard immediately outside the room is making funny noises. Signs of water retention can be see on the door frame rotting wood. Toilet is extremely small with the door to the bath hitting the toilet bowl once opened. The furnishing also in need of uplift. 

The second day we requested the rooms which faces the main road instead of the hospital. . 

Fortunately the room is bigger, the toilet is furnished with a bath tub. 

Day 7: 23 Oct 2019

• DO: Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城
• EAT: Breakfast at Qing Feng Steamed Dumpling Shop 庆丰包子铺, Dinner at 海底捞 (Short wait for a table although the place is packed. Some items are not found in Singapore like the duck blood and black chicken slices. Soup base is the same though. service is still as good.)

Day 8: 24 Oct 2019

• DO: Forbidden city 紫禁城
• EAT: Breakfast at 清真黑窑厂街糖油饼, Lunch/Dinner at 小大董,

Day 9: 25 Oct 2019

• DO: Ming Tombs 定陵，Below the mountain 川底下
• EAT: Breakfast takeaway bread , Lunch at 红鹰农家乐旅游观光园, Dinner: 喜鼎海胆水饺

Day 10: 26 Oct 2019

• DO: Temple of Heaven天坛
• EAT: Breakfast takeaway bread from OUR Bakery (Mugwort bread is ok but not fantastic
  The dirty zhang zhang bao is chocolaty but not rich. Banana choc is ok also), Dinner at 小吊梨汤 ,Night cap at Hou Hai Bar street (Simple cocktails by the only bartender cum waitress. Quiet as this is one of the bars with no super loud bands. )

Day 11: 27 Oct 2019

• DO: Alley 胡同
• EAT: Breakfast at 大华烧饼，茶面, Dinner at 四季名府

Day 12: 28 Oct 2019

• EAT: Breakfast at Nanluo Alley, Dinner at 很久以前羊肉串 Long time ago (Innovative way to grill lamb /mutton. Its charcoal grill but the skewers once place on the grill will be automatically turned by the belts. Star is no other than the lamb skewers has 3 levels of textures to it as it was skewered with different parts of the meat: lean and fatty. The waiter will confirm with you if you want the spices (cumin) to be added to your satay stick. Full service with grilling by the waiter and you just only need to eat. Grilled liver is interesting. Food is simple but taste good. The golden mushrooms is done 2 ways: one is with lao gan ma tou jiang and the other i think is garlic. The banana is grilled till black and served. I was wondering how it will be served.) 

Food in Beijing (Recaps from 2019)

 清真黑窑厂街糖油饼

A bit of experiencing how local residents have their breakfast in the morning.

It took abit of convincing from Mr H. 

The 油饼 biscuit is well fried and very crispy.

But the toufu nao taste odd. The toufu is nice but the sauce is like burnt with slight bitterness.

The place is a bit unsanitary if you consider fellow customers spitting on the floor as a sight to behold.

Taste wise is not bad. But i lost my appetite after the spitting incident. >_<.

小大董  Dadong

When in Beijing, the number one thing you must try is the Peking Duck.

There are a couple of famous chain restaurants. 

One is Da dong 小大董 

The other is Four Seasons （my direct translation)四季民福

The condiments to pair with the peking duck is so much more. 

If you are wondering what are this cherries. 

Liver with shan za - very exquisite and It is actually molded to look like a cherry. But i didn't really like its taste though.

This is somewhat like a tasting platter. 

The deep fried beef/meat balls is stuffed with cheese. Quite interesting and nice as well. 

The skin of the goose is like very thicker than usual. Mabbe is the method of grilling that cause the skin to expand and turn crisp.

A plate full different sauce came with the set of goose we ordered.

Duck soup is very much like our peppery bak kut teh.

喜鼎海胆水饺 Xi Ding Dumplings

This place is highly raved by a friend on instagram.

But the dish that really blows me away was this garlic marinated prawn. The garlic pairs brilliantly with the briny prawns. On the menu, they described its salted red prawn.  

These prawns are marinated raw in special sauce and kept chilled. Super delicious. 

Second dish i love is the roasted pigeon which is roasted to perfection. The skin is crispy yet crunchy. The meat juicy tender and yet not overly greasy.

sea urchin wanton but it doesn't live up to its hype. Though it yummy. The other wanton that we order is the prawn wanton which i will rank higher than the sea urchin wanton.

The porridge is good for those with a weak stomach. Simple and bland.

Special thanks to the waitress for accomodating. They are really a little shy and took abit of convincing.

小吊梨汤

Soup here is served in a kettle. It is  apple and pear brewed. Not bad.

 The chinese dishes here are quite decent. 

Zha jiang mian taste like doujiang. 

四季民福 

Queue for this place is horrendous. 3 hrs wait at least. that is like dinner at 10 pm. We came earlier at 4 and still had to wait about 45 mins. 

The duck is less greasy than the other one we tried. The skin is crispy and nice but somehow i still prefer singapore peking duck from imperial. 

Interesting dish ordered will be the vegetable which while is a cold dish is refreshing with a tinge of sour and the deep fried potato gives it sufficient crunch. 

Duck pastry is pretty but the crust and filling inside is so-so.

The cold toufu with honey is interesting. 

Overall, i think i enjoyed the food in Beijing more as its more catered to my taste.