新华 xin1 hua3 name of an official Chinese news agency
红星 hong2 xing1 red star
国际 guo2 ji4 international
广场 shi4 chang3 marketplace
One of the most extravagant malls I’ve been to in Shanghai was 新华红星国际市场. My friends who are locals in the city wanted to show me a cool bookstore that was hidden somewhere in this gigantic shopping arena. While I waited for them to arrive, I was a bit hungry and wandered on the first floor just to find a bunch of food stalls casually set up.
I was so intrigued as to one, why all these snacks seemed so familiar to me and two, why weren’t more shopping malls in Shanghai like this? If the food court is too crowded of a place, just set up an alternate area for all the folks who like to munch on snacks. The two photos on the top right are of 臭豆腐 chou dou or more commonly known as stinky tofu, basically a strong-smelling preserved bean curd. The toppings and marinade are just what makes it a bit smelly, once you get past that, it’s actually not too bad!
After a couple minutes of careless strolling and munching, I stopped in my tracks as I read the words: 台湾小吃夜市 Taiwanese Snack Market on one of the food vendor’s tent. Finally, my friends arrived and I started sharing my excitement about this place with them. They too, were curious of that fact that there was this snack market out in the open. Turns out there was an activity happening at the mall that day and this snack market place happened to be apart of it. Bottom left photo: rolled up omelets! Photo on the left: coconut juice (way better than vita coconut water).
Also you know I had to post about 蚵仔煎 Oyster pancake!!! You can check about my first encounter with this food dish here. Also check out some other cool photos of the mall I took! (Yes there’s a giant pool life-size pool table and basketball court but unfortunately, those areas were gated off.)
There was also this cool giant water fountain that reminded me of the color water works show at Disney.
At night time, it looks even better!!
I will post a part two of the actual book store we went to! Also more about the architecture as well, stay tuned! All photos/videos taken in summer 2019.
Journey in Asia 