Two More Days in Shanghai

Yesterday, the three of us started the day off at a clothing materials market called Dongjiadu suggested to me by my brother's friend Wil. The market has many booths, each with a variety of cloths, silks, wool, and/or cashmere. Most sellers seem to have a tailor they can grab on call to make clothing as well. I ended up at booth No. 82 (also recommended) and bought two cashmere jackets for a very affordable price. I was really happy with that purchase. I pick up the finished products on Monday.

After this, we walked around a short while before taxi-ing to the Jade Buddha Temple. The temple seems to be the busiest one I've seen in most my life, with a good number of people praying, and no lack of tourists. I bought some incents and did the "bai bai" (praying) thing. We spent about an hour at the temple looking at the statues and praying.

Then we met up with Robyn, who is friends with my brother, in the old town and went for some dimsum. The restaurant we went to is supposed to be rather well known, and the specialty dish there was the bun with crab ovaries; it's a larger bun (say 3 - 4 inches in diameter), with soup and crab ovaries inside and straw down the middle. Robyn's white, but has been in Shanghai teaching English for almost 6 months, so she's quite familiar with the surroundings and customs. She took us around the old town, where there're are tons of shops (like everywhere else in Shanghai) -- one purse store owner brought us into a little closet-like room in the back of his store through a hidden door, which was only large enough to fit 5 people uncomfortably, where he had his good stuff. Jan bought two LV bags for friends, and managed to get a fairly good price for it.

After the old town, Robyn took us to Xiang Yang Market, which was probably the best place for finding clothes, purses, wallets, backpacks, and the like. We got there via the underground metro, which was as packed as any moving vehicle could be. Anyway, I bought a few items for friends and myself, and was quite happy with all of that. It was great fun doing the bargaining, and I knew I'd be back to do more.

To end the night, Robyn took us to a place called the House of Blues and Jazz, not far from Xiang Yang Market. This bar/pub is a nice joint, catering to mostly foreigners, and was featuring the Sam Hooper Group. The group is composed of Sam (a black singer on the guitar), Jordan (a white guy on bass), and Akira (a Japanese guy on the drums). To say the least, these guys were amazing. Gord, who plays in a band himself, was really impressed by their abilities as well. Anyway, we had dinner there and stayed until about midnight before heading back to the hotel.

Today, Gord, Jan, and I had a quick breakfast at a cafe next to the hotel. It was already a late start to the morning, so we just took a quick walk down Nanjing Road before returning to the hotel. Gord and Jan checked out and taxied to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing. I called up Carol, a family friend, and made plans to meet for lunch.

I met with Carol just before 1pm and had lunch in a restaurant on the top floor of the shanghai Grand Theatre. It was a nice lunch, and much cheaper than I had expected. Then we went to her office (Sony Music) where I got a few free CDs and stuff, and a great view from the 55th floor in downtown Shanghai. It's cool that Carol knows a lot of top singers/groups here in Asia. I got a coupled autographed items. :)

Carol and I then went to Xiang Yang Market where I had to pick up a few more things for friends. Before long, Carol's friend Victor came to meet us at the market and together we went to Xin Tian Di, an area of old heritage buildings that had been remodeled to catered to tourists. We had dinner there, and while the buildings look fairly new, as they're only 2 years old, they still had much of the original structure there.

After dinner, we walked around for a while before going to Carol's place to chat and relax. Called it a night late, and returned back to my hotel. I'm going to meet with Victor tomorrow for lunch and to buy some DVDs. :P

Honestly, since meeting the people I've met here on my trip, I wish I had had more time in Shanghai. I coudl really get used to this style of living. Mind you, I'm a person on vacation saying this and it would be totally different if I were working. It's really late now (2:40pm at this point), and I'm watching an old Wong Faye Hong movie. Should head to bed now.

Cheers,
Kevin