Mooncake Festival Weekend

So last weekend was a three day weekend due to the Mid-Autumn aka Mooncake Festival. I didn't buy the other mooncake flavours I mentioned in my last post but I was very happy with sharing the ones I already I have. I don't think any modern flavours as much as durian flavoured mooncakes which sadly I have not seen available here! The festival celebrates the day the moon is at its brightest and is a time to share and eat mooncakes which are pastries with sweet fillings, traditionally egg yolk or azuyki red beans, with family and loved ones by the moonlight and is related to the legend of the goddess Chang E, the mythical moon goddess of immortality.

Sheshan

Aside from attending the party and fashion show which you can read about in a separate post, this past weekend I went out to a suburb of Shanghai called Sheshan. I was surprised how different it is to the main city with so many trees and greenery and it was so quiet and peaceful. I guess because it was a holiday weekend, there were families who had driven out there with little tents set up by a river opposite the sculpture park  having picnics, fishing and kite-flying, with all the little kids playing or riding their bikes and people were just relaxing in the sun. It kind of made me miss my time camping in America.

I haven't mentioned about it much but I have to say that the nightlife here is amazing. You have everything you can want from every type of bar and club to cater to whatever mood or budget you are on. There is so much to choose form but for now, I just wanted to mention a few places in particular for the fantastic views of The Bund/Lujiazui skyline which I went to this weekend. An upscale club called Zeal which is a new kid on the block on The Bund club scene has a great view of Pudong and the Pearl Tower from the terrace and across the other side of the river the Vue bar @ the Hyatt which probably has the best views of the skyline in Shanghai from its rooftop terrace as you can take in both sides of the river from certain vantage points. Vue does really good frozen margharitas too.

Shanghai Skyline

Also I have finally tried some street food. There is a guy close to my apartment who cooks on his stall where basically you pick which meat and vegetables on wooden skewer sticks you want and while he grills the food you can pop in the DVD store next to his stall for a while. I really like the spicy slightly sweet pork and the long mushrooms he makes they are so delicious and very cheap. In other dining experiences, I have returned to old favourites Southern Barbarian and Din Tai Fung but have also had a more upscale yunnan folk dining experience at Lost Heaven on The Bund. The food was really good and the candle lit traditionally themed setting in the restaurant that over looks pudong river was perfect. I think yunnan is fast becoming one of my favourite Chinese cuisines. The food is very varied and includes a mix of ingredients including goats cheese, potatoes and curries and is very hearty and filling. I especially love yunnan style noodles.

As I mentioned visiting outside of the city reminded me of my time in America at the start of my journey and when I think of all the experiences I have had in the last few months collectively it is staggering.  It prompted me to reflect on my time here in Shanghai and how many things I have gotten to do, see and experience. I feel it is almost like a hyper-reality when I think back to how alien I found everything when I first arrived and how in such a short space of time I have come used to things and getting to know different areas and places. I think I have come a long way.
xoxo

Wish You Were Shanghere!

I am still loving it here in Shanghai. I don't think i have as much of a  'wow' factor to going about my daily business now as I feel I have got used to everything and just can't believe I have been here nearly 2 months now which seems crazy as in many ways in seems much longer. I really like the nightlife, food and social side but there are the little things I miss about home. I have been thinking though in terms of metro travel, I tend to get quite aggressive here and that is probably a trait I do not want to bring back! The rush hour here is something else! Anyone who has heard my train/London tube stories/rants knows how I feel about this subject. You want to survive, you basically have to storm that subway train like it's a battle!!!

Alchemist cocktails

I am pleased to report the weather here, at least in the evening to mid afternoon has cooled some what and it is quite pleasant especially in the evenings. Last night I visited a very nice gastro-cocktail bar, The Alchemist at Sinan Mansions in the French Concession and had a sweet coffee/orange/rum concoction called Return of The Jolly Roger and it was so nice to sit outside and relax on the sofas without the humidity.

Karaoke room

As mentioned before this weekend I went out, had a few drinks (maybe more than a few) and went to Haoledi KTV karaoke which was a good experience - very different from pub karaoke.  It was also my first time rapping at karaoke which is much harder than imagined (especially after the few drinks) and the fact you are room where you are able to control all the settings on the machine kind of clues you in to how bad (or so bad you are actually good for entertainment value?) you sound. We sang (and drank) a lot - we got there at 1am and could have sang until 6am in the morning if we so desired.

I have tried manchurian dongbei food at Dong Bei Ren, a place near my apartment which included eggplant and potato (I really like this dish but the place near my work does it better!) potato and beef stew, wraps with spicy meat and vegetable, sweet and sour chicken and vegetable and meat dumplings and it was very nice and different. Lots of potatoes it seems.

yunnan delights

Also as mentioned in my last post I went and I ate lots of food at Southern Barbarian including goats cheese, grandma's mashed potato, chilli and beef, chicken, vegetables and other chilli-infused dishes I cannot remember but they were all so good! And also yunnan hot pot street noodles which exceeded the one I ate previously. i was very satisfied by the meal and recommend a visit to this kind of tucked away restaurant to anyone. They also stock a wide range of beers on the menu including imported beer. Best yunnan restaurant in Shanghai.

I have also had other asian cuisines including korean barbecue which was different (I really like kimchi) and a thai meal at Coconut Paradise, which has a really nice tranquil atmosphere as you dine in a garden with towering bamboo plants, glowing candles and buddha statues. The food was pretty good but not as hot as I would have liked. My favourite place I have been to this week is Shoga, which is a modern Japanese restaurant just off Huai hai Lu with a great happy hour ( 10 kuai = about £1 for draught Asahi beer, 25 kuai = £2.50 selected cocktails) which had lots of really tasty delicious Japanese treats including pork and mayonnaise sushi rolls, tempura, chicken wings, chicken and chilli, shrimp rolls and much more.

This Monday is a public holiday because of the Mooncake Festival celebrations. I have already bought some red bean paste novelty Hello Kitty Mooncakes from Breadtalk but I want to get some more non-traditional flavours to try so will do that over the weekend and include more info in my next post.

XOXO

M50 and Taikang Lu

M50

This past weekend I went to the M50 art district which is basically a former industrial complex packed with galleries, studios and design boutiques. I am happy that I did get to see the famous graffiti wall which is still in tact for now before it is all taken down. What draws me to graffiti and street art is general is that the form is organic, not dictated by markets, the medium has emphasis on taking away visual control of public spaces from corporations and usually the messages are politically charged or indicative of a mood in an environment in a certain place or time. However here the graffiti scene is emergent and more about creating and establishing something cool, modern and relevant and I was very impressed by the variety of styles and breadth of the tags and designs which includes murals bidding farewell to Moganshan Lu.

M50

I have also sadly learnt that the entire industrial complex of M50 galleries will be torn down as well as the wall to make way for redevelopment so I feel really lucky to have been able to see this area and creative space before that happens. It will remain one of my favourite places in Shanghai even when it is long gone.

I attended 3 different openings and as well as enjoying the lovely receptions laid on for those exhibits I got to cram a lot of gallery visits in to one day and see a variety of works.  My current favourites are 'Everyday Frenzies' by the (Island 6) Liu Dao art collective which included LED light installations all made on site in the studio showing a modern more explicit urban environment twist on the traditional shan shui cliffs and rivers of Chinese landscape painting; the group work I saw at the opening of 'Kawaii' featuring cute kitsch quirky modern japanese painting, sculptures, photography and mixed media and really haunting monochrome prints by Feng Fangyu. But my absolute current favourite exhibition is 'Abstract Marks of City' by photographer Guan Yiming. I find his style quite similar to Robert Frank's 'The Americans' - his photography really captures the essence of disparate groups of people representative of modern Shanghai as well as those characters representative of the older generation.

There is a little cafe in the creative garden called Bandu that serves very cheap chinese snack dishes and I had noodles, toasted peanut sandwich and iced coffee all for the cost of about £4 while I took a break from walking round the galleries. The cafe is also a music shop and sells local CDs and sometimes has Chinese band jamming sessions in the evenings which get pretty crowded.

Taikang Lu shop

I also went to Taikang Road which is another place which has a lot of galleries and boutiques with random stuff. You want to buy tourist niknaks with Mao's face on, propaganda posters, ladies of old shanghai postcards, mulitcoloured chopsticks, apparel with scenes of the city or 'I love Shanghai' bits and bobs then this is your place. You can also find here 'create your own baby' munny dolls, phones shaped as drink cans, coffee holders shaped as camera lenses, crazy animal key rings with flashing eyes, angry birds toys and Princess Diana playing cards to name a few of the weird and wonderful stuff you can browse. There are also some cool tee-shirt design shops and photo print shops.

teppenyaki time

I had one of the best meals this week at a teppenyaki place called Kagen. It was all you can eat and drink on beers and saki and the food is cooked to perfection right in front of you, it is heaven. I would highly recommend any visitor to Shanghai to visit this place if you are going to have teppenyaki. I have also tried at local places Xinjiang chilli cold sesame noodles which were surprisingly tasty and filling and also cold sesame noodles, eggplant, bell peppers and potato, egg fried rice, vegetables and tofu and stir-fired garlic and broccoli at another local place which was also very nice. Tonight I am going to be going to Southern Barbarian in the French Concession which specialises in homestyle yunnan food I have heard good things about.

I'm also very much looking forward to karaoke this weekend. I have already done some unofficial karaoke on stage at our local bar but this will be my first proper Chinese karaoke experience so should be lots of fun!

xoxo

Community Outreach

On Saturday I went with other volunteers to a migrant school on the outskirts of the city to do some community outreach work by painting a classroom with the primary school kids. The kids were so excited and some could speak a little bit of English. We sat with them in their classroom and had grapes and watermelon. Some of the kids were studying me quizzically then one little girl spoke to me in chinese and I said ‘I don’t understand’ and then I got asked by another little girl if “Are you Chinese?” in English. It was very cute. They also performed a little concert - playing harmonicas for us and singing and doing the actions to some songs.

We met with the principal who gave us a tour around the school which included seeing the playground, library and cookery and craft rooms. We were told that the migrant kids were sons and daughters of migrants who moved to Shanghai for work like construction, or in a restaurant or as ayis (maids) and one of the purposes of the craft rooms was to offer children who may have lost interest in formal education from moving around so much, a different way to learn a skill and engage in the learning process which is a very innovative form of education in China. We looked at some woodwork models of the Langpu bridge, which was the main bridge that enters the city for the world expo last year, that were made by Grade 5 students and the craftmanship was extremely impressive - I doubt even I could make a model that scale with so much detail! The principal also explained aside from formal education, the school programme puts emphasis on teaching life skills and self-confidence.

The children helped create murals and drawings on the walls and helped us paint the scenes which included an orchard with apple trees, flowers, bird and butterflies, sanrio cartoon characters and characters planting seeds in a garden and we all had lots of fun! Going outside of the main city and seeing a  small suburban neighbourhood people live in shows a very different way of life to the glittering big city life we live.

As for my time in city, I managed to get to see before it closes this week the JonOne (a New York graffiti artist) solo exhibition at Bund 18 gallery. Unfortunately the main installation piece was shipped to another country as it is nearing the end of the exhibit but it was very inspiring to see his paintings of tag signs and works inspired by chinese characters which he created after visiting Shanghai.
Shanghai has an extremely vibrant art scene and I like that artwork transcends any language barriers. As you blog readers will know I have an avid interest in street art and have learned that sadly one of the most anticipated sights I wanted to see the Moganshu Lu graffiti wall is being torn down to make way for property development. There is another famous graffiti art spot at Rucker Park which I hope I will have time to get to before the end of my trip.

I have tried a very different type of Chinese cuisine from a place called Xibo which specialises in Xinjiang cuisine which is very different from the usual ‘Chinese’ fare. I learned that traditionally cooked roast mutton from the region is as famous as Beijing duck.  Although I have had many Chinese cuisines within my time in Singapore and Malaysia I have never had this one before. Xinjiang borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Afganistan, Pakistan and India and incorporates the ‘Silk Road’ so the food is a bit more close to Arabian style with lots of hot spice and flavour. I had fried cumin seasoned lamb with onion, green and red bell peppers, garlic served with uygur bread (a flat bread similar to naan) and vegetable pancakes with kale and cowpeas.  It was extremely delicious.


Acrobatics and Art

I have had another exciting week in Shanghai and this week also marks the fact that I will have been in China for 1 month. Though it’s a complete contradiction,  it feels like it has gone both slowly and fast. I think because I have done so much it feels like I have been here a lot longer.

Tonight I went to the Shanghai Centre so to a Chinese acrobatic show. It was really interesting and showcased many different forms of acrobatics and entertainment from circus acrobatics to magic to ‘Cirque du Soleil’ style acrobatics. It was simple yet very impressive, especially the agility and skill that goes into the performance. It was a very enjoyable evening and makes me want to see more theatre here.

After already having seen the ‘Pixar: 25 Years of Animation’ exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) which was of course an international exhibit,  I also had the opportunity to go to the opening of ‘Huang Yao: Cartoonist, Scholar, Painter 1917-1987’ at the Shanghai Art Museum.

Hosted by The Huang Yao Foundation, the exhibition is a retrospective of his varied work. He started as a journalist at the Shanghai Post and is considered an important artist from 1930‘s period. In the earlier half of his career he was an innovative cartoonist created a famous Niubizi Chinese cartoon character which went on to be published in Malay. His cartoons range from children’s cartoons to comical to revolutionary political protest.

I was very intrigued by this exhibition on a personal level considering my heritage and find it fascinating learning about the context and relationship of place and time in Asian art.
In the middle period of his career, Huang Yao travelled all around Asia including to Kunming, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok an spent much of his later life in Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Alor Setar. He helped shape many educational policies in Malaysia including libraries and adult education and wrote the book ‘The History of Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore.’ Later in life Huang Yao produced more paintings with a less politically charged edge than his earlier work including scenes of children. He was once quoted as believing that “art is our common source of happiness” and I couldn’t agree more.

Both museums are located in People’s Park which an extremely nice serene respite from the bustle and buildings of the city. There are many gardens and tree and pretty lotus ponds and people sit around playing mahjong and little kids run round and play.

oolong tea and tea snacks

Also this past weekend after collecting my fabulous dress from the fabric market (which fitted and looked even nicer than expected!) I went to famous Huxinting tea house in old town located in the middle of the lake pavilion at Yuyuan Gardens. I had the oolong tea and also ordered tea snacks - fermented quail’s eggs, green tea jelly sweet things, some kind of dried fruit, fried bean curd (tofu) which were interesting and of course very different to the usual type of things we have for tea in England (I had been expecting sweet rather than savory foods!)

Aside from the tea snacks, I have also continued with my culinary exploration and tried out different regions. I had Yunnan food at Lapis Yun at Mall 88 on West Nanjing Road where I sampled black pineapple rice, chicken curry, spring rolls and Yunnan noodles which was very nice and different from other Chinese food I have eaten before. Also had really nice Sichuan food from a place called Pinchuan - had the beef meatball soup and green beans with chilli which was very spicy and hot which I liked very much. And finally went for dinner at Crystal Jade and had crisp pork served with mustard, green beans, chilli and mincemeat, lemon chicken, duck pancakes - all food which I missed very much from eating it in Singapore so really enjoyed it!

Being British i have to discuss the weather - which is still very extreme! Scorchingly hot one minute then pouring down with rivers of rain and thunderstorms the next! Last night there was a lot of lightning which was kinda of freaky. Actually the type of temperature after it has rained (but isn’t pouring down on you) is probably the best time to be out walking about as it is relatively cool.

xoxo

Old and Ancient Shanghai

So at end of last week we were all bracing ourselves for super typhoon muifa, one of the most powerful to hit china in recent years and were told to stay inside and keep doors and windows shut. However in Shanghai ultimately the weather warning got downgraded to tropical storm and aside from some showers and thunder storms it was okay weather.

However, the sound of thunder here reminds me of the type of storms you imagine when reading horror novels (Stephen King’s The Stand springs to mind), the classic foley artist go-to thunder sound effect but amped up mega loud. Then you get the sporadic flashes of lightning and the fat droplets of rain. It always starts out as a light shower at first then within the next few minutes you know the rain means business.

This past weekend it was the Qixi festival which commonly dubbed as Chinese Valentine’s Day. Legend states that a celestial weaver girl escaped from heaven and was noticed by a cowboy herding his cattle and they both fell in love, got married and had two children. The girl’s goddess mother was very angry that her daughter had married a mortal so created a river in the sky to separate the pair, which we now know as as the star constellation known as  ‘the milky way’. On the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, millions of stellar magpies form a bridge across the milky way so the girl and her cowboy lover can be reunited again. It is said if it rains on the day of the festival (which it did) it is the lovers tears falling because of their sorrow of being parted. It was really cute seeing couples wearing matching tee shirts (a lot of shops sell t shirt in sets for couple here and you can even buy matching shirts for the whole family!)

Old Shanghai

I spent my weekend doing some shopping. At People’s Square, one of the exit comes out through a tunnel described as a ‘time machine’ decorated with brownstone and old shop fronts to recreate downtown ‘Old Shanghai’ of the 1930’s. The street is based on the French style Xiafei Road with some British and Japanese constructions complete with red glowing lanterns, sunny clear blue skies painted on the ceiling and those plastic cutouts of people like the ones you sometimes see at museum exhibits - very touristy but fun. You can also take your picture with a trolley bus under a neon sign that says ‘Shanghai 1930’s traditional street.’ This leads you into the Hong Kong shopping centre, the style of mall similar to some outlets in some of the malls in Singapore and Malaysia (and hong Kong of course) with little boutiques and stalls and a really nice bubble tea stall where I can indulge in my favourite milk pearl tea. Aside from dresses, clothing and accessories there are also a few shops of cartoon characters  (benko? astro boy?) and general gift stores in the vast mall. The food courts here are different than other parts of asia I have been to as you have to purchase coupons in a machine before going to whichever place you want to eat. I also went to the fabric market and got a dress made to measure and West Nanjing Road which is a more westernised shopping area where you can find most western brand stores.

Yuyuan Gardens

I started off this week on a very fun and informative tour of Yuayan Gardens which is in the old city next to Yuyuan bazaar which is basically tourist central and the buildings maintain the exterior look of ancient chinese architecture, how the market square would have looked in imperial times (you have to imagine it without the McDonalds, Dairy Queen and Starbucks). I learnt all about Chinese garden design and Taoism and my own personal Taoist protector which correlates with my Chinese birth year and sign (Year of the pig). I even enjoyed it in the searing hot and humid heat which has started up again this week after it had cooled some when typhoon muifa was looming.

For the second time i had the most delicious amazing dumplings at place called Din Tai Fung which is a Taiwanese chain and has several branches in Shanghai and throughout South East Asia and one in Los Angeles. I went to the one in Xintiandi in the French Concession. I cannot rave enough about these dumplings - the dumplings are steamed have have soup inside and we ate loads and I also tried a hairy crab meat dumpling, as Shanghainese cuisine is famous for hairy crab it had to be to be tried. It was nice but not as nice as the prawn and seafood dumplings.  The area around Xintiandi is a pretty nice with lots of shopping malls and bars and cafes.

In terms of day to day life, i don’t think I will ever get used to crossing the street here - I am terrified every time! Eventually hopefully I will get the hang of it!

xoxo

Shanghtastic!

I am over my culture shock now and really enjoying learning and exploring life here. The only thing though is the past week has been the hottest. Even during a 5 minute walk you literally have sweat pouring down your face and back no and you hear the constant very loud and persistant clickety hum of cicadas most places you go. Also last Sunday there was a epic thunderstorm complete with crashing lightning and thunder and pounding rain which I got caught in while walking through People’s Park and got totally drenched! It was like a flash flood with rivers of water pouring down the sidewalk. This is because apparently there is a typhoon called Muifa which is coming towards a neighbouring province and there are supposed to be more similar style thunder storms occurring in the evenings this week.

I am getting into the local arts scene and last week attended a drinks and canape reception on The Bund (main tourist area) for a performance art charity event which was very interesting and thought provoking. You can take really pretty pictures of the city skyline across the river from The Bund at night but the area is rammed with tourists. Think the type of numbers you see somewhere like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Times Square or Leicester Square and double it - I have never seen so many people trying to take pictures in one tourist location anywhere I have been!  I also went to the old French Concession and had the best coffee and banana smoothie, cheese and bacon omelette ad toast for brunch in the courtyard at a place called Kommune which is located in an alley in Taikang Lu Art street, a nice little place with a series of lanes filled with many boutiques and galleries.

I have continued my adventures with local food and went back to the dumpling place and tried the drink I mentioned in my last post and it turns out kind of not to be a drink as such. You do drink it through a straw, but is actually black rice gruel, which I know does not sound appealing (gruel is something I associate with the Middles Ages or what the crew eats on pirate ships) which made me think I would not be crazy about it but I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted syrupy, almost like the syrup you get in canned fruit or chinese desserts and had boiled rice grains inside the syrup so a bit like a syrupy bubble tea/rice pudding combo.

I have also tried a local place for what I assume is Shanghainese style food where at I ate a eggplant and mincemeat hot pot type dish, a fried pork and vegetables type dish and fried curry noodles type dish (the menu was not in English at all so I am not sure what these dishes are called or the region of cuisine) which was okay. And I had some really delicious and filling stir-fried guangdong choi sum, spicy sichuan pork and banana and red bean cake from a place called Heng Shan Xiao Guan.

my 'hood

I love the sense of community they have here. Outside on any given evening you can see older people sitting and talking, babies being pushed around in strollers and the little kids are so cute riding their tricycles and playing games in the park areas with their mums and dads and grandads and grandmas watching on; it is a buzzing hub of activity. Looking out from the balcony, the skyscrappers and apartment blocks look like something out of a comic book or graphic novel, and I can also see a view of older more traditional houses; grey smaller buildings with brown slate and corregated roofs.

It’s what I like about the city - old mixed with new. It seems it is ever evolving which is an exciting time to be here.

xoxo