I ‘m in Shanghai for three days, and I’ve decided to enjoy the winter here.

Back in Malaysia, it is rain and sun all the time, and nary a sign of winter. So yesterday, I dragged a reluctant hubby (who has never stayed in wintry places) along the Huang pu river, for a walk on the Bund. It was 4 degrees C but felt a lot lower cos of the freezing wind, I loved my nose getting all cold and runny, my hands turning numb the minute I took them out to click the fairy-tale- science-fiction skyline, which includes the Pearl tower, the Jing Mao tower and the Shanghai Trade Center, the second-tallest building in the world.

I breathed in the dank river, walked past brightly lit stalls with grilled corn cobs, vegetables, octopus, squid, and things to which I could not put a name. I would’ve tried the lot, but hubby dear took me to a tiny KFC tucked under the Bund, and I re-emerged with a tame glass of milo.

Before we returned back to the hotel, we dined at a tiny two-storied restaurant with red wooden windows on strips of pork and mushrooms cooked sichuan style with lots of sliced red pepper, a veggie soup that struck all the right notes of green, sour and sweet, and ate white steamed fish strips drowned in chili-oil, perfect for the weather. Washed all of it down with cha, the local tea, and walked home with lips that were equally numb from the heat of the chili and as from the cold wind.

Now, the internet in the room is not working, so am clicking away at the Business center on a keyboard that has mandarin characters for Tab and Caps Lock.

After I’ve written a page or two into my notebook, (all this grey, rain and people walking and cycling 20 floors below in colorful umbrellas makes for a stimulating view) I plan to take to the road myself, shiver a little and breathe in the damp cold, and munch on a few steaming barbecue sticks of things I cannot name *greedy laughter*.

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