The glasses market moved slightly. It is now in the South Square of the Railway Station. (The old, north station; NOT the new South Station.) It’s on the 5th floor of the building. Take exit 1 or 2 out of metro Line 1 and you’ll be right there.
I purchased two pairs of glasses and prescription motorcycle goggles for Jon’s brother before we came home. Jon also got a few new pairs so he can switch it up a bit. Glasses are between 100 to 150 RMB. They’ll measure the curve of your eyes, the thickness of your current prescription, and also do an eye test to make sure you have the right prescription.
What a nice service the Bank of China offers…. Next to the forms there is a pair of reading glasses tied next to the pen just in case you’ve forgotten yours.
The printing and framing section of the Photography Market has moved to a new location, just behind the building where the equipment is located at.
You can walk through the main entrance of the equipment building, and go out the back right corner. You can also pull right up to it… look for the above sign.
The new entrance to building B.
I had this photo printed on canvas for Shane and Bonnie’s living room. It’s big – the bed is king-sized so you can get an idea of the scale. It cost just 140 RMB ($20) to have it printed and stretched across the wooden frame.
My friend Casey is the editor for Shanghai Talk magazine, which recently did an article about all of the foreigners getting electric scooters. Steve had gotten a scooter several weeks ago, along with Jon S., and after Jon rode it he decided we needed scooters. We didn’t get one from Spicy Motors, as mentioned in the article – we just got a cheap Chinese one. Suzy, Johnna, Mike and Shane all have ones from Spicy Motors.
Steve riding the scooter in Carrefour – a few things needed to be fixed on it.
Check out the little seat and handles in front for the kid to ride on!
Steve tested the kid seat. His feet are actually both off the ground, on the child’s foot rest.
Steve’s 2-car garage had been empty for several months. Then he bought a bike. Then a scooter. Then Jon S.’s scooter was added. And Steve’s motorcycle and sidecar. And Jon’s motorcycle and sidecar. And our scooter briefly. Boys and their toys…..
After the mediocre lunch at the Barbie Cafe, we explored the rest of the store.
There’s a runway for fashion shows.
A changing room complete with many dizzying mirrors and benches shaped like poodles.
A huge circular staircase with hundreds of Barbies in pink dresses.
Mannequins near the Barbie clothing line (all sizes, not just little girls. Anna and Bonnie fit right in!)
Ethnic Barbies from all over the world. (Does Bonnie look like French Barbie? French Barbie kinda looks like a Las Vegas showgirl to me.)
A history of different Barbies thorough the years. (Bonnie was a flight attendant and her husband is a pilot so Pilot Barbie is appropriate for her. Also, it may have been the only Barbie with short hair that we saw.)
And if all of this pink Barbie madness has worn you out, you can go to the Barbie Spa to relax.
The Barbie Flagship store just happens to be in Shanghai, so last Friday, Bonnie, Anna and I went to the Barbie Cafe.
We’d agreed to wear pink, blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick in honor of Barbie. Bonnie went all out with a blond wig and sequined dress!
The cafe looks like a 50s diner. It’s pretty cool. Not totally girly.
I really wanted a thick milkshake – most of the time here, they consider it a milkshake if a tablespoon of ice cream is added to milk. I prefer my milkshakes so thick that the sides of the straw collapse when you try to drink it. They actually added more ice cream so it was more to my liking. Nice.
At least five different people asked to have their photo taken with us. Our waitress asked if we were dressed up because it was someone’s birthday, to which Anna replied YES to right away. So Bonnie got a cupcake for her “birthday.” Unfortunately it was probably the worst-tasting cupcake we’d ever had. The frosting tasted just like margarine – we all tried to eat one bite but couldn’t handle anymore.
The set lunch for 38 RMB didn’t sound too bad – a salad, soup and half a sandwich. The salad was described as having lots of things like tomatoes and pecans in it, but we could only find half of a cherry tomato. The rest of the food was very average.
More on the rest of the store to come tomorrow!
Address: 6/F, Barbie Shanghai, 550 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Chengdu Nan Lu. 淮海中路550号芭比上海6楼, 近成都南路
Jon and Steve ordered their sidecar motorcycles about 3 months ago. I can’t say I’d recommend getting them at CJ Sidecars – it was supposed to take 40 days but took about an extra month. There were several other foreigners who ordered bikes the same week who were leaving right after they were supposed to be finished. I can only imagine what a mess that would be for them, trying to get them shipped home when you are already home!
Also, Steve’s was supposed to be dark gray with slightly darker gray flames, just a very slight color difference. However, it arrived painted a light gray with black flames! I was there when he picked the colors so I can definitely say those are not the colors he choose. Luckily he isn’t very picky so he just went with it.
They’ve also spent many hours there having them fix various things. Both of them know way more about motorcycles than anyone at the shop that I’ve met. These bikes were used by the Russians in WWII and then copied by the Chinese sometime in the fifties. Steve pointed out that their bikes could have been manufactured 15 years apart – they are original bikes but refurbed. (I’m not a gearhead, so please forgive any inaccuracies about mechanical things. Here is a bit more history.)
It was about 6:30 PM when I started shooting, so was using an 6400 ISO and 2.8/F.
The sign on this building says “Shanghai Job Market for Foreign Professionals.” Apparently there is a lot of unemployed expats and this company helps them find work? It looks like it went out of business!
The other day I was talking to my friend Dan, when he told me that someone was dangling outside of his window and it was bit creepy.
Many of the buildings in Shanghai are getting a face-lift before the World Expo next year. This guy is putting a light coat of cement over all of the small (formerly) white tiles that are the buildings facade. Next it will be painted and the cheap, ugly tile is gone.
These guys must be fearless. They dangle from the side of a building (this is 24 stories up), just sitting on a board that is attached by a rope to something up top. No safety harnesses. (He is wearing a helmet, though I’m not sure how effective that would be this high up.)
A bamboo ladder, which they set on a lower roof level to get on the very top of the building. No roof access, apparently?
The most interesting item for sale at the silk factory in Shanghai:
This is a special silk pillow. It has a special insert of “Chinese medicine” that you put in a pouch in the pillow to sleep on. The “Chinese medicine” is actually silk worm poop.
The top right of the pillow says “Excrement Pillow.”
According to another website that sells these pillows, this is what silk worm feces is used for.
Silkworm excrement information:
1. Yin Chinese traditional medicine, cool characteristic. Pen-ts’ao Kamu records that silkworm excrement has the efficacy of dispelling winds and relieving rheumatic. Dissolving wet and strengthening stomach could be used for vomiting and diarrhea and spasm of muscle.
2. According to the ancient books, the silkworm excrement has the efficacy of dispelling wind and relieving rheumatic, treating itches, releasing fire-toxin, bring high pressure, brightening eyes, acute hearing, and so on. It also has assistant efficacy on eye disease, dismayed, neurastheni, insomnia, hemicrania, hypertension, irascibility arthritis, and so on.
3. Pen-ts’ao Kamu records that silkworm excrement has the efficacy of strengthening stomach, dispelling wind and relieving rheumatic, treating dizzy, conjunctivitis, congestion of eyes, eczema itches, headache and so on.
One of the things we did on my friend Suzy’s shopping tour was tour a silk factory. Suzhou is famous for its silk, but few people know that there is actually a silk factory in Shanghai too. “Factory tour” sounds very boring in itself – it wasn’t though!
As soon as the receptionist saw Suzy, she went back to get an English-speaking guide. They had silk worms and cocoons preserved in jars to show the stages of their development.
There are two types of cocoons – single and double. The sing cocoon has just one silk worm in it. They soak the cocoons, find the end of the silk string and this machine unravels the entire cocoon in one long thread of silk!
The double cocoons, which have two silk worms in them, aren’t able to be unraveled like the single ones. They are soaked, then stretched wet, let dry, and stretched by four people by hand to make one layer of a duvet.
The girls let us try to stretch one…. but we didn’t get it even at all! The silk was incredibly strong. A silk duvet is made of hundreds of these layers, all stretched out by hand.
A silk quilt is never stitched. The silk layers just don’t move – they don’t bunch up at the end like a normal duvet. Our guide folded and shook out this one to prove it, then let us try to get the filling to move too. It didn’t happen.
There were all type of quilts, bed covers, and a huge amount of clothing for sale. It was all very nice. It made me realize how ripped off we got when we bought our duvet cover at the fabric market. Suzy also taught us how to tell if something is real silk. I thought if it caught your fingers it was real, but now there are types of super-smooth silk, so that method doesn’t work anymore.
I’d seen a lot of people carrying the silk duvets around at train stations (especially Suzhou) and I thought it was so strange that they’d bring a blanket when traveling! Now I realize they are silk duvets and they are quite special.
My friend Suzy does custom shopping tours (Shopping Tours Shanghai), both for tourists and locals. Last week, I went on one of her tours. Wow, it was a FULL day!
We started off at 9:30, and managed to hit eight different places to shop. I was surprised she had so many different places to show us. We were driven around town in a mini-van, which was very convenient as we could leave all of our purchases in the van.
Cindy, an American from Texas, and Robyn, an Australian from Melbourne, were also on the tour. They’d both found out about the tour on TripAdvisor. Shopping Tours Shanghai is the number 1 rated thing to do in Shanghai! Suzy said that if there are more than 6 people, she brings her partner so they can split up to give everyone more personal attention.
First stop was the fabric market. Suzy really has the timing down for her tours – I have never seen the fabric market so empty. Right after it opens is definitely the best time to go. Suzy gave us a cheat sheet to her preferred vendors, but told us we could buy from anywhere and she would help us negotiate. The people on the list were people she’d worked with before and she would personally guarantee the quality and fit.
Suzy said the men are the worst at the fabric market, because they all want suits and shirts and there are so many choices! She recently had a client order 5 suits and 20 shirts! (I can’t imagine picking fabric for 20 shirts!) When they were delivered to his hotel, he was so pleased that he ordered 2 MORE suits on the spot.
Cindy getting measured for pants.
Cindy managed to find a leather jacket that fit her perfectly, so she didn’t have to wait to have it made.
The next stop was a pottery store. I thought I knew what Chinese pottery was… just vases with those blue designs, right? Wrong. We went to a very modern design place. It really reminded me of Swedish design – cool, clean lines. I have my eye on a set of vases modeled after different Kung Fu poses and a vase that hangs on the wall. I really wish I would have known about this place when we moved to Shanghai – it would have been so much better to get our plates and glasses from here than IKEA!
We were ahead of schedule, so we stopped at a store that sometimes has overruns of name brands. I bought a short black dress that can be strapless. It seems pretty short for a dress, but that’s how the Shanghai girls wear them…. I think I need some tights to go with it.
Every time we were in the van, Suzy explained some of Shanghai’s more interesting history and information about daily life here. It was nice to get a bonus city tour!
Next up was a store with Chinese gifts, such as business card holders, address books, photo albums, DVD carrying cases, etc. It was down an alley, and up on the 5th floor of a building with a scary-looking elevator. I have no idea how Suzy managed to find this place. I bought a few “male” gift items… it is so hard to find good guy gifts! Girls are really easy to find stuff for as there is an abundance of pearls and purses here. On the way back to the van, Suzy took us through a local market – very interesting if you’ve never experienced it before!
We visited a home furnishing store that had cool lamps & furniture. Cindy bought a few tiles with traditional Chinese scenes in them. There was a really cool jewelry case that was like a wardrobe. Suzy had a very tall friend that had one custom-made for her height and shipped home.
The next shop had peasant art, gifts, furniture, embroidery, and many other things. I bought a few of the Chinese opera mask bottle openers. They are great “guy” gifts and Jon and I always keep some on hand for gifts. I also have my eye on a wine cupboard there. It looks like a traditional piece of Chinese furniture, but the door spins around and has a wine rack and glasses rack inside.
Here’s an example of “peasant art” or folk art. If we ever have children, I think I’ll decorate the nursery with it. The bright, bold colors would be great for children and would still be appropriate for adults too. Better than Barney!
Lunch was at an upscale Shanghainese restaurant. Robyn had been on a city tour the previous day, and could hardly eat anything because she was allergic to seafood. Her husband said the food was very bland anyway. Robyn said she had resigned herself to the same unappetizing food today, and was astonished at how good the food was. She really just gushed over how delicious the food was for most of the meal!
Suzhou is famous for it’s silk and has a lot of silk factories. Well, there is one in Shanghai too! We stopped by for a tour. It was really interesting – interesting enough that I’m going to do a separate post on it.
The final stop of the day was the pearl market. Suzy said when she began giving tours a year ago, she didn’t have a place that she recommended to get pearls. One woman didn’t take Suzy to bargain for her and was really ripped off, so after that she made sure that for each market on the tour, she had vendors she could trust. She showed us the only stall at the market where you can’t bargain (though if you buy several things she will give you a little discount.) I bought a pair of Victoria’s Secret Pink pajama pants for me and a Harley Davidson shirt for Jon. They are real – factory overruns most likely. Robyn and Cindy bought a few gifts, DVDs and purses. A previous client had asked to see the highest quality copies and ended up buying 11 purses! (Somehow I don’t think my husband would be very happy if I came back with 11 purses!)
During the ride back to the hotel, Suzy wrote down a few sites she suggested to the visitors. She also wrote down where we could find more bargains – Cindy and I were interested in jeans, so she told us the market to go to, the name of “her lady” and how much we should pay for them. I can’t wait to check it out; it’s so hard to find jeans that fit, even at home.
Satisfied customers with some of their purchases.
I was exhausted at the end of the day – we’d went to so many more places than I ever thought we would on a tour. At most places, the ladies asked if I’d ever been there. At all but the two markets the answer was “no.” I was almost embarrassed to admit to it since I’ve lived here over two years! The shopping tour certainly took me to places I’d never have found on my own. There was no pressure to buy anything – Suzy doesn’t get any commission. No commission is the whole principle her business is based on. She told us that when the concierge at a hotel arranges to have guests taken shopping, his commission is 800 RMB. I can’t imagine how much the shops gouge those people if they can afford to pay the concierge $120 USD!
I think this tour is one of the “hidden secret” ones. She doesn’t really advertise; just has internet information. If you’ve found my blog because you are moving to Shanghai – I’d advise you to have Suzy help find all of the things you need after the move right away. For those visiting the city – it’s definitely a great way to get your shopping done , save money and see the city. The tour has gotten rave reviews on TripAdvisor.
Note: If anyone has an interesting place or thing to do in Shanghai that you’d like me to check out, please leave it in the comments. I have a whole list of things I want to do and I’m going to blog about them too.
You see it often – just like you see people deliberately picking their nose, cleaning out their ears with a long fingernail, or clipping their nails. Personal grooming here is NOT so personal!
Here we have a classic summer look. It’s hot, so wear shorts and roll up your t-shirt for maximum air flow. You need to look stylish though, so wear your black dress shoes with white socks.
This white poodle had a fluorescent orange tail and ears. Poor little guy doesn’t even know he looks like a traffic cone.
During the summer, many dogs are shaved like lions (to keep cool, I suppose.) They leave the head furry so that it looks like a lion’s mane!
Last weekend we went to the SWFC (Shanghai World Financial Center, aka the Bottle Opener) with our Couch Surfers Marion and George. Unfortunately we enjoyed our meal at DaMarco a little too long, and the lights of the Jin Mao and Pearl TV Tower were already turned off. Be sure to arrive there well before 10:00 if you go at night!
It was raining for the eclipse, so we couldn’t see the sun at all. We also couldn’t see the shadow falling across the city. However, it was pretty cool to see the city plunge into darkness at 9:36 for over 5 minutes.
This photo was taken July 4th, 2006. Little did we know how many fireworks we’d see in the next few years. :-)
Congratulations to my cousin Chris and my new cousin-in-law Denise! They are getting married today, and I think it’s safe to say I am the first person to say Congratulations on the day of the wedding, as we’re 13 hours ahead of you now.
Next year, we’ll be in the US for Pete and Sara’s wedding on July 3rd. I’ve been waiting 2 years to get to go to the US in the summer! Thanks for the excuse, Pete and Sara!
Part of the alley outside of our apartment building is torn up. They’ve decorated the rubble with Christmas lights and put a “Caution: Wet Floor” sign in front of it. There is water lying in the lower lying area… quite close to the Christmas lights. Dangerous, indeed.
Haibao is the mascot for the upcoming world Expo in 2010. We always though he was just a cheesey cartoon character. However, at the Urban Planning Museum, we did find out he has a somewhat interesting story.
Haibao is in the shape of the Chinese character for “people.” The ocean blue color reflects the robust dynamism of China and the ocean-sized bosom of the Chinese people who embrace the whole world.
I particularly like the “ocean-sized bosom” part. (So many slogans or captions here are just too much.) Feel free to read the whole text in the photo below.
The Urban Planning Museum has been on our to-do in Shanghai list for a couple years. When Bettina said she’d like to go, we decided to join her and cross it off that list!
It seems to be open every day until 6 PM. Different websites say different things, but the official site says 6 PM. (The official English site doesn’t work.) If you exit the subway at People’s Square from Exit #3, on line 1 or 8, you are at the base of the museum.
The whole museum had lots of interactive LCD displays, backlit info panels, and models for everything.
One annoying thing was that many titles had English translations, but none of the body of the text was translated! (This annoys me about magazines too. They’ll have Chinese and English titles on the cover, but only Chinese inside.)
The model of the inner city of Shanghai is a highlight. It’s very cool. This photo was taken from the 3rd floor, looking down at it.
See the building that is taller than the WFC (the bottle opener)? They are just beginning construction on it, so it’s a bit strange that it’s already in the model. Online, it says that the “clear plastic models” are planned buildings, but I didn’t see anything in the museum mentioning that.
This is what the exhibition grounds for the World Expo in 2010 will look like.
These are our apartment buildings, but they look nothing like the actual buildings do! The roof has nothing like that, same with the round holes in the sides.
One cool part was on floor MF (between 1F and 2F). There were many old photos of Shanghai. Two LCD screens had simultaneous photos of Shanghai, taken from the same viewpoint, but years apart.
If you have a weak stomach or are a member of PETA, don’t look at this photo. It’s pretty gross; gross enough I made it smaller than usual so you don’t have to see many details unless you want to click on it.
Frogs are sold as food here.
One vendor apparently will gut the frogs for you, using scissors.
This is one reason why you really need to watch where you are stepping in China!
I hate it when people smoke right by No Smoking signs. This guy is in a grocery store. It’s just the way it is here. People smoke where ever they want to. I’ve complained to the manager in a restaurant when someone was smoking by me with a NO SMOKING sign on the table. She just giggled. (Giggling is a common response when they know something is wrong but are afraid to do anything about it.)
If you want read more about things Westerners find annoying about living here, check out the Arrrrrgh! section of WoAi’s blog.
Right after the boat turned around, the storm started rolling in. It came in quick and made everything very dark and spooky.
It looks like a set from a movie set in the future!
About 10 seconds after I took this photo, the Pearl Tower was hit by lightning. The streak was white hot and probably the thickest lightning bolt I’ve ever seen. For a minute I wondered if it really hit it, but another American guy saw it strike it too. I did not want to be on the water then.
I took a ton more photos, trying to capture some lighting but failed. Silly me, I should have just turned on the HD video part of my camera and could have gotten something cool that way! I forget I have that feature now.
And if all of this pink Barbie madness has worn you out, you can go to the Barbie Spa to relax. 
At least five different people asked to have their photo taken with us. Our waitress asked if we were dressed up because it was someone’s birthday, to which Anna replied YES to right away. So Bonnie got a cupcake for her “birthday.” Unfortunately it was probably the worst-tasting cupcake we’d ever had. The frosting tasted just like margarine – we all tried to eat one bite but couldn’t handle anymore.
A bamboo ladder, which they set on a lower roof level to get on the very top of the building. No roof access, apparently? 
