Asia trip: Bangkok, Singapore, Shanghai

[Teleku]

In a few days I'm finally going to take my R&R trip, and head off to Asia.  Over the course of 2 and a half weeks I'll be staying in Bangkok, Singapore, and Shanghai.  Please regal me with suggestions of places to eat and drink.  Any suggestions on what tourist stuff is actually worth visiting vs. gimmicky shit would also be nice.  But I love going to awesome and/or over the top theme bars, and I know there are plenty in Asia (suggestions on places that are simply great to eat are also welcome, obviously).  I would really appreciate some suggestions from those who know, thanks!

[Lakov_Sanite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjvZ5oYn1wA

[Lantyssa]

Street food in Bankok is amazing, but gotta be careful as your stomach may not be able to handle it.  Thai equivalent of Montazuma's Revenge.  Do NOT get bottled water from any vendor near the river.  Get a soda or juice instead.  Don't drink or brush using water from the tap either.

I liked touring the King's Palace, temples (Wat Po, Wat Arun, etc.), and taking a boat down the river.  That sort of stuff appeals to me though.

[TheWalrus]

I was bored as hell in Singapore. Very clean pretty place, people all acted like they had a stick up their ass sideways.

[Yegolev]

Likely a shock device for if they step out of line.

Or a cane.  I should have made a cane joke.

[UnSub]

I enjoyed the night tour at the Singapore Zoo. You can see the nocturnal animals moving around.

High tea at one of the colonial clubs was also fun.

But yes, Singapore is clean and safe and bland. Which may be exactly what you want.

[Raph]

In Pudong:

The giant mall at the giant roundabout with the dragon hedges has a specialty cake shop. Worth visiting. Made for cutesy dates, but the cakes are really yummy.

Right on the other side of the Pearl Tower is a strip mall sort of thing, the hole in the wall local food place has great soup dumplings and soup with tiny shrimp the size of eyelashes.

The park on the PuDong side has funny statues of American tourists going gaga over the buildings. And a lot of gaily painted statues of ants. A nice stroll there.

Worth going up the Pearl Tower. Take a picture of your feet standing on nothing looking down. You can go up the bottle opener building too (the tallest one there) but it won't have the same psychological effect. Worth doing though, if the day is less smoggy.

Also worth going up the Jin Mao Tower. The breakfast buffet at the Hyatt (it's on the 50th floor) is the best buffet I have ever had anywhere in the world. And it's got giant awesome windows with a great view.

To Shanghai:

Take the "commuter tunnel" between Pudong and the Bund. Totally surreal whacko. The entrance on the PuDong side is right in front of the convention center.

The big park on the Shanghai side is nice, and it's also walking distance to the museum. And you get there by going down the big pedestrian shopping road. whose name I am blanking on. It's mostly Western goods, but the street market is somewhere off of there, as are the Yuyuan gardens. To get to that pedestrian road, get to the Bund, then go in a couple of blocks, can't miss it.

See if you can find the Eye of Sauron. It's a tall skyscraper on the Shanghai side. The orb on top changes colors.

Be sure to go into the subway system and marvel at the malls underground.

The YuYuan gardens are relaxing. The bridge with seven corners or whatever is right there too. You can have badly overpriced tea.

If I think of more I'll add it.

Edited to put things in better geographical order.

[Trippy]

The big park on the Shanghai side is nice, and it's also walking distance to the museum. And you get there by going down the big pedestrian shopping road. whose name I am blanking on. It's mostly Western goods, but the street market is somewhere off of there, as are the Yuyuan gardens. To get to that pedestrian road, get to the Bund, then go in a couple of blocks, can't miss it.

Nanjing Road or more specifically East Nanjing Road (Nanjing Dong Lu in pinyin, Dong is East, Lu is Road)

The YuYuan gardens are relaxing. The bridge with seven corners or whatever is right there too. You can have badly overpriced tea.

If you are going to go there you might as well wait in line at Nanxiang Mantou Dian to try the Shanghai steamed soup dumplings (xiao long bao). Note that there may be two (long) lines -- one for the take out window and the other for the restaurant itself. Make sure you are standing in the correct line.

[Raph]

I forgot! Take the bullet train to/from the airport. Not a cab.

[Teleku]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Bangkok is an amazing city.  Even more bummed I missed out on being posted here, but it's not like I can complain about Warsaw, heh.   The street food looks (and is) amazing, but I've been holding myself back from eating to much.  Don't want to risk intestinal apocolypese with two more cities still to visit.

[Signe]

Have fun and don't shove a stick up your butt sideways!  Come back and tell me how they DON'T eat cats and dogs.  Srsly.

[Evildrider]

And remember its called Bangkok not Bangkunt.

[KallDrexx]

How'd you like the trip Teleku?

I'm going to Singapore for 2 weeks next January with my wife to celebrate our anniversary (My cousin actually lives in Singapore atm).  We plan on visiting some neighboring areas as well (Thailand, possibly Vietnam, and looking at some others).

[Ginaz]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Bangkok is an amazing city.  Even more bummed I missed out on being posted here, but it's not like I can complain about Warsaw, heh.   The street food looks (and is) amazing, but I've been holding myself back from eating to much.  Don't want to risk intestinal apocolypese with two more cities still to visit.

So, it was only...one night in Bangkok?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9mwELXPGbA

[schild]

You didn't actually have to link that, everyone got it.

[Teleku]

How'd you like the trip Teleku?

I'm going to Singapore for 2 weeks next January with my wife to celebrate our anniversary (My cousin actually lives in Singapore atm).  We plan on visiting some neighboring areas as well (Thailand, possibly Vietnam, and looking at some others).

Hey, sorry, I keep meaning to respond to this.  I had a really good time, they are all great cities!  I'll do a full write up and try to post later when I'm not so tired.

Spoiler:  I saw a woman fire darts out of her vagina and, very accurately, pop a series of balloons on the ceiling as the song We Are The World played.