do you want a French Concession with that?

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I really was going to write this on the night but am instead writing it the following day with the result I almost cannot remember what the details were. However the general details always involve virtually setting an alarm for 9:30 AM to have a quick shower before heading up for the breakfast deadline at 10 AM. Being a Sunday there were more people who were having it late (completely different story at the same time on Monday -- only a very few at that hour). Anyway with one thing and another, despite knowing that the sun sets at around 4:45 PM, it was really only at about 2 PM that I got going. I have really only had a very general idea of what I am doing and that usually involves picking an area to go to each day. Given that a lot of people "do" Shanghai in two days my timeframe is fortunately generous. So I decided I should generally head in the direction of People's Square and the Shanghai Museum -- although with the Museum I was rather keen not to go there on a Sunday due to local crowds obviously so we'll have to do that later. Anyway as you get up there going up Fuzhou Rd anyway the shops begin to get bigger and bigger. By the time I leave Shanghai I think I will be completely over the shops! Particularly over in the French Concession area where I ended up the night, there is nothing but massive Cartier, Louis Vuitton, GAP you name it stores. You can see why luxury companies like the LVMH (Vuitton Moet Hennessy group) see such a fortune in Asia as they are completely mad for those status symbols.

After getting some pastry treats (a chocolate and ground pistachio nut covered Christmas tree shape) in one of these large centres, with the girls done out in German victory style but with a Christmas touch, I headed towards the Museum but underground as the traffic intersection is massive there and no ground crossing. This leads into the Hong Kong Shopping Mall which is essentially a huge underground arcade. When Barbara and I were here in 1998 it was baking hot so the prospect of being underground away from the heat was rather attractive. A different story when the outside temperature is about 6°! Warmer inside in other words. Anyway at a tea stand (well one of those modern Chinese ones anyway) in the food hall I got a Tiramisu milk tea - fortunately a lady next to me was able to translate the choice of hot or cold. In this weather hot definitely. It was actually quite tasty. I find it amazing that with the plethora of coffee chains like Starbucks/Gloria Jeans here they still charge what I consider the over prices in Australia - here they are also virtually $5-6 which is completely luxurious for the local population I would think.

From there a little south to Huaihei Rd which is probably one of the main thoroughfares and shopping streets in the so-called French Concession area. I got diverted for more than an hour checking out the wares in the massive four floor Mediamarkt which sells everything from cameras and gear to laptops and washing machines on the top floor. I saw some very small top loaders up there which might be perfect for the tiny urban apartment. In Japanese-style it was also interesting to pick up and play with some of the new Nikon SLRs which are openly on display for handling, unlike Australia where they are in glass cases and you have to ask.

For dinner, given that it was below a snooker parlour which I wanted to report on for my brother John, I went to Tony's restaurant - no not Italian but Sichuan food. I ordered a dish called Boiling Shrimp or some such. It came in a large glass bowl with what appeared to be half the dried chilli production of Sichuan floating in what seemed to be quite an oily broth. There were a lot of mung bean sprouts in it along with long slices of cucumber and the most interesting touch was quite a large amount of cardamom seeds - all round quite tasty.

I then walked back to the hotel as fortunately Shanghai is largely a grid pattern and the metro does not take me particularly close. Could have got a taxi home suppose as I had the location in Chinese on the hotel card and taxis are supposedly cheap. Shanghai is definitely a walking sort of place -- as a tourist you are not about to get local buses anywhere and the metro stops are relatively far apart. I was not at all cold today as I had a thermal on under a light woollen jumper and then my polar fleece (with first the skull cap then the beanie to keep my head warm).

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Photos

the Salvo Hotel crown
a good landmark at night

wind-dried duck
with free traffic dirt

Xmas at Raffles
yet another shopping paradise

Lippo Plaza on Huaihei Rd
more luxury shops

Comments

[Huddo]

Snooker dinners, and sights.
Hi Mike, What an interesting place. The mix of luxury shops,and wind dryed duck, he he. Good you can actually pick the cameras up there! Love Huddo and girls.