ISpyShanghai

I had to work last night at the airport, testing things to make sure it doesn’t blow up on March 10 when the system goes live.

So unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to wear the beautiful silk(ish) fleece lined pajamas that I picked up in Hongkou at the weekend from the shop shown below.

Mine aren’t actually in this photo (Emma’s are on the fair right), but if you imagine a colour-blind Aladdin, wrapped up like a miniature poodle, bringing sexy back, you’ll be pretty much there.

This weekend I made vague plans to go to the old Jewish area in Hongkou- the north part of Shanghai, I ate a bagel for my breakfast listened to a little Amy Winehouse and was ready to go.

I’ll save us all some time however; I didn’t find it and wandered around HongKou instead.

Just over the Suzhou creek

In the taxi on the way to get where we were going, I saw the factory for Seagull cameras- a brand I’ve been wanting to check out for a while now (what? I’m a camera geek OK?). Telling the taxi to stop, I crossed the bridge back over Suzhou creek to get to the factory but for some reason they close it at the weekends, when everyone is off work. Maybe the cameras are so good they want to keep them all to themselves.

The area just above and below the creek is kind of run-down and scruffy but the old buildings obviously have a history and character to them that you don’t find in too many places in Shanghai. The view to the Pearl Tower is amazing too, and without the crowds that you get on the Bund.

would probably be even more impressive from on top of that lock/dam thing I reckon

Giving up on the cameras, me and Emma headed North in the direction of a temple we’d read about on Shanghaiist. Even though we had the address, things are a lot harder to find in the tiny streets of HongKou and we ended up getting pretty lost, only finding the place after it was dark and the gates were locked.

It didn’t matter though, we saw a new side of the city, everyone in this less-touristy part of town was friendly and pored over maps to help us find where we were going, and we found stuff we wouldn’t have otherwise seen- like 1933 the old abattoir that’s being converted into bars and galleries.

1933- a slaughterhouse being converted to an ‘art space’

Emma had a craving for noodles this morning so we went to a nearby restaurant called 敦煌小亭 on Beijing Xi Lu, near Changde Lu (just to the side of the Family Mart).

If you’ve got no idea where that is because you don’t live in China- there isn’t much point in reading the rest of this I suppose, so let’s have one of those break thingies…

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This week marks the 3rd anniversary of the first time I came to Shanghai.

here’s what I wrote about it:

Back in those days I used to work in Korea, at Incheon airport, and would have to leave every three months to get my visa stamped. One such visa trip was to Shanghaii for the Chinese New Year of the Rooster- it was my first ever time in China, and here’s what I thought about it:.

China was great, cold, wet, crowded and a bit dirty, but great all the same

[I remember the weather was really horrible actually. Raining and grey the entire time]

Shanghai is a fairly good looking city, despite the fact it’s covered in cranes from all of the construction projects- it’s hard to tell which of the neon lights and sumptuous decorations were just up for the New Year celebrations and which are permanant but I ended up stopping practically every 20 metres up the street to take a picture.

[and, propheticallly]

My plan is to go back in 2008 for the Year of the Deathstar Throwing Ninja.

ahh if only I knew then, what I know etc.

In fact I remember thinking at the time that Shanghai would be a great place to live, and do you know what? It is.

Looking at the address of the place we stayed in though, I still can’t work out where the hell it was:

Any ideas?

Here’s a lovely little item I picked up around Yu Yuan, just before Spring Festival.

The music (”Carbon Dating” by the Super Furry Animals) isn’t included, but you can leave it switched on for up to eight hours without serious risk of fire.
And believe me, you’ll want to.

After I bought it, I asked the guy if he knew where I could buy roast duck. He said

“Wait there!”

then brought out this bizarre mummified, dried duck carcass that he seemed to have been preparing for Spring Festival, but was prepared to sell.

“Foreigners don’t eat this one”

I said, genuinely scared- I’ll generally eat anything but honestly wouldn’t have known where to start with this thing.

Shanghai Souvenir- 140RMB (after bargaining), a street near Yu Yuan

(I wrote about this on Shanghaiist too)

It’s not all delights and joy in Honkers. Here are three things I’m glad we ain’t got in the SH.

1. Kzarckaly crazy Chinese keyboards. This is what happens when you don’t let Chairman Mao simplify your writing system- more Chairmen I say!

2. Dragons demanding money. This poor ice-cream salesman was just going about his business when a dragon shows up demanding protection money…or else. When the guy handed over the graft, the dragon added insult to injury by spitting a chewed up cabbage at him.

No to going soft on mythical beast organised crime I say!

3. Horrible photos on your cigarette packets. Yes yes we get it, smoking is not the magical cure-all that 1950s doctors thought it was. This is going too far though, are we going to have to look at a photo of Mama Cass’s corpse every time we eat a ham sandwich soon?

Hang onto your hats boys and girls, these are my ransom demands:

1. This drink, which is like being gang-raped by a blueberry bush (in a good way).

2. Fine English cuisine available in an ordinary cafe. I’m having to butter my own toast at the moment, this cannot continue.

3. Plastic money you can see through- no more fakes with these bad boys I should imagine.

4. The jumble-sale shops on Granville Road which sell stuff made in China for cheaaaaap. For example I bought a DKNY jacket for 50 Hong Kong dollars- (about the same price as a kids meal from McDonalds). Admittedly you can’t try anything on, some of it has small manufacturing errors, and the pockets of my jacket were full of infected syringes, but there are bargains galore.

5. The lovely Stanley. How hard can it really be for the Shanghai government to create a charming coastal town 20 minutes drive from my apartment?

Three things I saw yesterday:

A junk in Hong Kong harbour

Junk in Stanley Market.

Peeps getting their food on in Causeway bay

We walked around the peak then shopped until about 9:30pm, ate and passed out, no energy for boozing. Off for Dim Sum now and planning to take it easier today- not easy though, there’s a lot to see…