Do you like malls?

The past few days were relatively quiet - Sunshine and I would just walk to the local shopping mall Thumb Plaza to pick up some essentials or to another local mall Laya Plaza to let Sunshine play at E Kids Island or just hang out at the hotel swimming pool and spa area.

E- Kids Island

We took a walk to Thumb Plaza again after breakfast to checkout some of the outlet stores there. I do not particularly enjoy shopping - it is difficult for me to decide on something and I always feel that the time could be spend in a better way. I prefer online shopping especially from stores where they offer free shipping and retour. When I do go to highstreet stores, I go with DH who has a very good eye and can quickly find things for me that I like. If I go alone, more often than not, I get frustrated and confused and pick up something just so that I can get over with it; which is what happened to me later in the day.

We got back and after his afternoon nap, we headed to the famed Super Brand Mall. It was just 3 metro stops away. Shanghai is as accessible as most European cities, but I guess no city in the world is 100% accessible. Despite my decision to avoid escalators when I am with the stroller, I was left with no choice on many occasions. A couple of times, some kind strangers helped me carry the stroller down the stairs.

I was disappointed once we were inside the Super Brand Mall. I have been to malls in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Frankfurt, Viernheim, Kuala Lumpur, Astana and probably more cities, but they all look the same to me. If I actually want to do some shopping, they intimidate me with too much choice. If I just want to spend some time on the weekend and I have nothing better to do, I dont mind them as long as they have some kids' play area. Anything to keep Sunshine engaged will do. Super Brand Mall had nothing of that sort. Sunshine enjoyed just walking around and seeing people and being photographed (again! rolling eyes) for a while and then got bored. So he decided to entertain himself by biting me, pulling my hair, scratching me and in general being very mean to me. :( I checked out a few stores, but most were international brands and I guess this was not sale season here. I didn't see any point in buying something I can buy in Germany and carry it all the way back. What I would have liked to see was some local flavour. So as it happens to me often while shopping, I got frustrated went to the next shop which was Next ;) and picked up some sleeping suits for Sunshine. DH pointed out to me at night that they were 3 times as expensive as the usual sleepwear from DM or Tschibo that we buy for him. He thought it would have been better if I had bought something he can wear outside for that price. Still it was a far better buy than most of frustrated buys because Sunshine is growing out of his old sleeping suits.

Alright enough of whining. It is probably not targeted at people like me and what can they do if I dont like malls. There were many beautiful people there in very sophisticated attire and I liked watching them. Yeah I like that about malls. One can watch people. :)

Sightseeing

City God Temple

On Sunday, we decided to Be tourists - destination old city. We took the metro to Yuyuan garden station. The Shanghai metro is very modern, fast and efficient, English maps are available and the stations are all well marked with instructions and directions in English (and ofcourse in Chinese). The staff are very helpful and do their best to give directions with their limited English skills.

We got out of the metro station and arrived in a different world! The streets were packed with people, tourists and locals alike, hawkers and vehicles. There were many buildings with pagoda like roofs which turn up at the corners. We went to the City God temple and were mesmerized by its vibrant beauty. There were a large number of people worshipping there and entry was free. Both of us prayed there, took some customary snaps, soaked in the culture and proceeded to our next stop- Yuyuan garden. Sunshine slept through all this and woke as soon as we were inside the garden.

We decided to feed him his lunch in a quite corner. He started running all over the place and started being his extermely restless self as soon as I started feeding him. Soon many domestic tourists in the garden started noticing him, petting him and taking his snaps. Yes... they were taking his snaps like he is a celebrity. The adults were picking him up, children were holding his hands and posing with him and a crowd gathered around him. We were concerned that strangers were photographing our child- even DH who normally enjoys and appreciates all the attention that Sunshine gets which he incidentally gets a lot, because he is exotic in Germany and he can be a real monkey. But my little monkey acted like a star, striking different poses and making cute faces and generally enjoying the attention with no stranger anxiety whatsoever. All our attempts to coax him to leave the spot were summarily dismissed. People did click Sunshine in Century park and the restaurant the previous day, but that was like 2-3 snaps. We did not want to say no since it seemed to be an acceptable thing to do in the local culture and we did not want to be rude. DH tried holding Sunshine very close to him so that he wouldn't be alone in the snap, but I pointed out the futility of doing this as they can later photoshop it. Anyway, finally we managed to coax Sunshine away from there with a chocolate.

Yu Garden

The garden dates back to the 1500s and has many water bodies, fountains, bonsais and rare plants, pavillions and many beautiful stone carvings. We were not artistic enough to appreciate or understand everything there, but enjoyed its uniqueness.

After leaving the garden, we had some seafood dumplings from one of the local eateries where we seemed to be the only non Chinese patrons. That must mean that it was authentic, right? Anyway, I liked it, DH found it very ordinary. A lady tried to give Sunshine some candy, but this time we put our foot down and refused it although we felt bad about it. We wanted to shop for some scarves which seemed pretty and cheap. But after checking out a couple of shops, we decided that we were too tired to bargain and did not want Sunshine to get cranky since it was already a long day for him.

We got back to the hotel tired but happy with our old Shanghai experience and a bit more enriched. We almost had an accident because Sunshine's stroller got stuck on the top of the escalator, but thankfully DH managed to push the stroller with Sunshine in it and me out before anything bad happened. No more taking the stroller up escalators; it is either the elevator or the stairs from now on!

Chinese hospitality

The Bund

We had an awsome weekend. On Friday evening, we (DH, his colleague A, Sunshine and I)  went to explore The Bund and the Nanjing Road. Did I say that I did not see many tall buildings here? I could not be more wrong! Move over Manhattan... Shanghai has arrived. The ever expanding city's skyline is tall and beautiful at night. The Oriental Pearl Tower and all the adjoining skyscrapers lighted up with huge LEDs featuring ads make a very imposing, very glamorous sight at night.

We could not do any shopping on Nanjing Road as we were quite late and most shops were closing down. We were approached by several hawkers offering 'designer' bags and watches though.

On Saturday, we had a true taste of Chinese hospitality and we were touched. DH's colleague and friend F, his wife B and his cute little son took us out to the Century Park and then for one of the best Lunches we have ever had. All the Chinese food that I have eaten so far, be it in India or Germany was fake. This was real Szechuan food and it was heaven on a plate... many plates actually. F ordered enough for an army and later explained to us that it is Chinese custom to order in excess as a sign of respect to the guests. If just enough was ordered or if the guests could finish everything ordered, it reflects very poorly on the host. I must say our hosts were spectacular; they chose excellent food and our table was full after we had all finished our meals.   There was enough food left on the table for another 4-6 people!

Scrumptious Szechuan food

After our lunch both the babies slept off, so we went back to the hotel room and it was time for the girls to get some 'me time' while the guys baby sat. So B and I set off to the city center for a Facial massage. We had it in a salon right in the middle of the city, right next to the world financial center. Yet it cost me only 200 bucks (thanks to the special 65%discount that B got me)for 11/2 hours of pure luxury. I drifted in and out of sleep as the masseuse worked her magic on my back, face and neck and followed it with some cooling face mask. I felt so relaxed especially after the many sleepless nights. There was no time for shopping as it was time for dinner. This time DH's German colleague A also joined us. It was Chinese hospitality at work again - this time a table full of Shanghai specialities - way more than we could even dream of finishing especially after the kind of lunch that we had. Despite our protests F and B paid for all of us again. We came back to the room very satisfied, very touched, in love with Shanghai and China.

Deep pockets do not maketh a big heart! It is not just that F and B bought us lunch and dinner - they were such great company, they spent their entire Saturday with us so that we can have a slice of real Shanghai and they did it all with genuine affection. I am so grateful to them for this experience.

Nihao Shanghai

A street in Old City

We arrived in Shanghai after a long and almost sleepless flight. Sunshine was not too keen on sleeping as there were too many new things around and he had a cough and a cold to boot. A fellow passenger offered some medicine to calm him down and help him sleep better. At first I refused but he said that it was prescribed by his children's paediatrician as he was travelling alone with his 2 year old and 8 month old. We took it from him and started to give it to Sunshine, but thought the better of it and threw it away. Were we being paranoid or sensible parents? Thankfully DH's magic touch worked and Sunshine went to sleep after a little rocking although he had a restless sleep.

The Airport was impressive - nothing flashy there, but everything works like a well oiled machine. No long queues anywhere, officials help families with young children and disabled people to get to the fast track immigration counters and pretty much everything is automated. The maglev (the train from airport to the city) was FAST, attaining a top speed of 431 km/hr in a short 10 minute journey. As soon as we checked in, we played Holi with some turmeric and vermilion and had gulab jamuns. Then, we called our families in India to wish them. We had an early dinner with DH's colleague (DH is here on business; sunshine and I just piled on). I had vegetable volcano noodles which had chicken in it. :) It was delicious, but thank God I am not vegetarian. In the hotel, everyone speaks English, but in the restaurant that we went to, we had to resort to pointing at the menu. Sunshine made a mess there, as he does whenever we eat out, but they didn't seem to mind.

Back at the hotel, we activated the wifi and I got down to my usual internet activities - checking mail, Facebook etc only to realise that FB does not work in China. A few websites that do not work here are FB, Twitter, Blogger. So I decided to just type my posts and post them once I am back in Germany.

Sunshine was experiencing some serious jet lag - there is a 7 hour difference between Shanghai and Germany. After sleeping a couple of hours of what was probably his afternoon nap, he got up with a very playful mood at 10 in the night.  DH in the meantime got hunger pangs - so we set out at 1 in the morning to tire out Sunshine and to find something for DH to eat. Finally we all slept at 3.30 and poor DH has a long day at work today.

Sunshine is fast asleep now. I hope he catches up on some sleep and adjusts to the new timezone soon because it is the weekend tomorrow and we want to explore Shanghai.