Getting started eating in Shanghai
I have had three of the best meals I have had on this trip in the last 24 hours. Two of them were from the same place, and all three were within a few minutes of my hostel. Meals is probably overstating it. More like things I have eaten.
The second things were some kind of stuffed bread. One stuffed with vegetables. The other stuffed with potatos and vegetables. They were both kind of spicy. The first and third I got from this other place for yesterday's and today's breakfast. Yesterday was congee with some kind of pickled veggies and some red bean steamed buns to go with it. Today he had vegetable buns instead, with chopped green veggies and I think small pieces of tofu inside. Today's breakfast was 6 yuan. Yesterday's was 3.5 I think. I think the bread thingies were also like 3-5, I don't remember. So let's say those 3 meals costed about 2 USD. Oh, I forgot, there was one more meal...
Last night coming back from a Couchsurfing meetup with two guys from the hostel, we searched for food nearby and found this pretty crowded noodle place in the same cluster of places where I'd bought my stuffed bread for lunch. It was sufficiently packed with people so we took a closer look. They had pre-assembled plates of items to be stir-fried right there in a wok sitting atop a giant flame, and four bowls of noodles to choose from. I chose a plate of what is called dou fu gan, a dried tofu which is quite firm, which she stir-fried with veggies and noodles. My friend got chicken. They normally use pig lard or pork when they stir fry I think, but I requested they leave that out. We took it to go and ate at the hostel down the block. Very delicious, I was surprised by how good it was. That meal broke the bank at 10 yuan, or about $1.50 USD. Even though Shanghai has this reputation for being expensive, and surely I have been in a few bars now where beer and drink prices are basically the same as NYC, it is clear that there are also plenty of places that are not like that. It all depends where you want to hang out. I will probably go to more actual vegetarian restaurants next week where I'm sure I will spend more on meals, but as opposed to back in New York where I don't even eat breakfast very often, I feel like if I could get a couple of steamed buns or congee there as easily as I do here, I might look forward to it the way I do here. I know some will say I can get those things in Chinatown, but it's not the same for a number of reasons. First of all there are tons of places literally a few hundred feet from where I stay here. Secondly everything is pretty much ready, fresh, and I think tastes better than anything I've had like this in NYC. Finally, it's ridiculously cheap.
I met a bunch of interesting people at this hostel, but for now I will only say that it is clearly possible to travel to an incredible number of places, or to travel across the world for a long period of time, and not learn anything at all. They're not all like that, but I see it a lot. I'm glad I waited until I was older to travel. Sometimes I have thought how nice it'd be to have started in my early-mid 20s like a lot of these guys, but I feel like I never could've possibly appreciated the way I do now or had the patience to see it at the pace I do.
The second things were some kind of stuffed bread. One stuffed with vegetables. The other stuffed with potatos and vegetables. They were both kind of spicy. The first and third I got from this other place for yesterday's and today's breakfast. Yesterday was congee with some kind of pickled veggies and some red bean steamed buns to go with it. Today he had vegetable buns instead, with chopped green veggies and I think small pieces of tofu inside. Today's breakfast was 6 yuan. Yesterday's was 3.5 I think. I think the bread thingies were also like 3-5, I don't remember. So let's say those 3 meals costed about 2 USD. Oh, I forgot, there was one more meal...
Last night coming back from a Couchsurfing meetup with two guys from the hostel, we searched for food nearby and found this pretty crowded noodle place in the same cluster of places where I'd bought my stuffed bread for lunch. It was sufficiently packed with people so we took a closer look. They had pre-assembled plates of items to be stir-fried right there in a wok sitting atop a giant flame, and four bowls of noodles to choose from. I chose a plate of what is called dou fu gan, a dried tofu which is quite firm, which she stir-fried with veggies and noodles. My friend got chicken. They normally use pig lard or pork when they stir fry I think, but I requested they leave that out. We took it to go and ate at the hostel down the block. Very delicious, I was surprised by how good it was. That meal broke the bank at 10 yuan, or about $1.50 USD. Even though Shanghai has this reputation for being expensive, and surely I have been in a few bars now where beer and drink prices are basically the same as NYC, it is clear that there are also plenty of places that are not like that. It all depends where you want to hang out. I will probably go to more actual vegetarian restaurants next week where I'm sure I will spend more on meals, but as opposed to back in New York where I don't even eat breakfast very often, I feel like if I could get a couple of steamed buns or congee there as easily as I do here, I might look forward to it the way I do here. I know some will say I can get those things in Chinatown, but it's not the same for a number of reasons. First of all there are tons of places literally a few hundred feet from where I stay here. Secondly everything is pretty much ready, fresh, and I think tastes better than anything I've had like this in NYC. Finally, it's ridiculously cheap.
I met a bunch of interesting people at this hostel, but for now I will only say that it is clearly possible to travel to an incredible number of places, or to travel across the world for a long period of time, and not learn anything at all. They're not all like that, but I see it a lot. I'm glad I waited until I was older to travel. Sometimes I have thought how nice it'd be to have started in my early-mid 20s like a lot of these guys, but I feel like I never could've possibly appreciated the way I do now or had the patience to see it at the pace I do.
posted by Dan at 9:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home