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Published: August 23rd 2008
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Photo 1
Hard to see in this, but this is a sample of some of the stores in the mall - you can see stores here for Bang & Olufsen, Stella McCartney, Lalique and Jean-Paul Gaulthier Today was a bit more of a laid back day now that we're starting to get pretty comfortable with our surroundings. We needed to pick up some groceries at that store I told you about a few days ago so we decided to have a look at some of the stores on Nanjing Road West before we bought our food and went home.
As we all know one of the big underlying stories of the Olympics is China's hope to show the world that it is a major global player in every way imaginable. If their medal performance is any valuable measure, they've certainly proven themselves in the athletic category. But I have to say, Jen and I participated in a marathon of window shopping on Thursday and China definitely takes the gold in this area too. As I mentioned in a previous posting there are malls everywhere here. Walking down the street in Nanjing Road West - which to be sure is a very wealthy area of town compared to others we've seen - you'd think you were on London's Oxford Street or New York's Fifth Avenue. Well, except Oxford is a lot busier, and a lot more multicultural.
Photo 2
Mmmmmmm In any case there were entire malls full of top-tier luxury brands in any category you could desire - from Bentley and Maserati car dealerships to shops selling Toto bathroom wares, Bang and Olufsen audio equipment, Jimmy Choo bags, Chanel suits and Cartier jewelery. The amazing part was that the list just kept on going - in Toronto you find these kinds of stores concentrated in a few blocks to the east and west of Avenue and Bloor, but it seems to be everywhere here. You could easily spend weeks here shopping and still not get bored. It's great!! We then went to check out a restaurant called Element Fresh near the Ritz, which was a casual lunch and dinner place serving pan-Asian cuisine. The prices were extremely reasonable - I had a big bowl of seafood curry soup with ramen noodles while Jen had a vegetable wrap, and we each had a diet coke - all for about $20. Not bad at all considering the quality of the food and the atmosphere. We weren't sure if we were supposed to leave a tip but an American at the table beside us said it's very rare for people to
Photo 3
Mmmmmmm tip here and suggested we not bother. If you're wondering whether we enjoyed our meals, have a look at the photos attached and our smiles should say it all.
After finishing our meal and doing some shopping (I'm still in awe with the grocery store), we headed home and unpacked all the food. We went back out and started checking out some local gyms, since we're both starting to miss getting a decent workout - although all the walking and sweating from the heat have definitely been therapeutic. We walked to the Shanghai Grand Theatre and picked up a programme of events, which consisted of many dramatic and musical performances. We walked by what I assume was the Shanghai City Hall, and this was the first time I've seen military personnel in China. There weren't a lot of them, just uniformed guards standing at attention at either side of the entrances. Needless to say we kept our camera stashed in our bag and didn't take any pictures there. We also stopped at "Tomorrow Square", which is a gigantic tower which houses a JW Marriott hotel. I think I've already talked about it, but it's the tower in the pictures
Photo 4
Tomorrow Square with the large sphere on top surrounded by what look like four tongs. It was just as impressive inside as it is on the exterior, and has lots of shops including a Ferrari and a Maserati dealership. We checked out the gym and the spa, both of which were immaculate. The gym was extremely expensive though, as are many places we've been seeing. This particular gym was around $250 per month. The spa prices were fairly equivalent to what you'd expect at, say, the Stillwater spa in Toronto. We went up to check out some of the lounges and restaurants on the 40th floor of the hotel, which again were incredible. I took a shot in the lobby which is located on (if I remember correctly) the 36th floor or thereabouts. You can also see some shots I took out the windows overlooking the city.
So that was essentially our day on Thursday. We've seen more of our neighbourhood and our list of restaurants to try out is growing by several per day!
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OJ
Oliver Johnston
Correction
I'm told by my Women's Fashion editor that Jimmy Choo makes shoes, not bags. The editorial board apologies.