Tracey's NewsletterJan 3 2013 | 1 Comment
LAST DAY SHANGHAI
Yesterday was our last day in Shanghai. I am writing this from yet another lounge. We packed in as much as we could, I leave feeling like there is so much we didn’t see. There was some old parts of town we never made it to and also several up and coming ones.
Despite the fact the Luxe guides are often written in some odd language “Wham Bam Tiananmen Panoramic Mama”( translation please) we continue to use them as they send you to places off the beaten track and they are really tiny. Another restaurant description of theirs I love is “Fukka Ducker Tucker.” Really?
Yesterday Glenn decided we needed to see a place called 1933 – Luxe says “An artsy retail and dining precinct in a striking renovated abattoir” What I think caught his eye was it said it housed a store called The Cigar Ambassador. So off we went.
1933 Building. Most of these buildings do not have internal heat. So the sales people all run wear parkas.
The inside. The Luxe guide fails to tell you that it is still not completed.
Nicest shop inside was a notebook store.
We found a tea house that had stuffed bears in the chairs.
Taylor and found a new friend.
Glenn closing the deal.
We had our same cab driver from Monday. Was it Monday? The days are starting to blend together. The point is we had the same driver and the amazing thing about the taxis is they leave you off in a spot, say in front of a building, like the Shanghai Financial Center and you come back two hours later and he is in exactly the same spot. No one told him to move or keep circling the block, he is just there. When we came down from the Shanghai Financial Tower yesterday the taxi waiting.
The Shanghai Financial Tower is the highest building in town. We seem to be spending more time a hundred stories above ground than ever before. This one was different than Hong Kong, they barked at you and told you which elevator to get it and how long you had to watch a movie on global towers; There was not a lot of come and go. But once you got up there the view was startling.
Looking out over a tiny part of the city. You can see the TV tower jutting up.
I may be delusional but I think this is a wider shot of the same area.
This is the other direction. Notice those identical colored roofs. All over China there are clusters of houses with different colored roofs, always together, always the same colors, green, blue, red. It looks like a gigantic Monopoly board.
Huangpu River from another side of the tower.
OK, I know it's a lot of shots but I took a hundred and fourteen photos up there, not including iPhone shots.
The Bund from up there.
This is the skyway you stand on.
The one family shot of the whole trip. And getting this was like pulling teeth.
This place was awesome. You had to exit through a mini mall and we stumbled into this store with endless relaxation devices. I know this makes me look like one of those people who bumps into walls but it does something to your head I cannot begin to describe.
This eye relaxer was fabulous too. I would have bought everything they sold if we could have had them converted to 220. But there was no way.
Do it yourself neck massage. Heaven. I think someone should bring these to the States.
This building is the wholesale tea market. Thanks to Luxe guides they suggested we visit it.
Four floors of shops and stalls selling anything and everything that has to do with tea. Here a wall of tea. I had never seen the circles of tea before.
This is a desk of tea seller who offered to make me some different teas. Tea tasting seemed to be happening all over the place.
A type of tea leaf. Not reading Chinese I cannot tell you much about it.
A whole table of them.
Then you would find an entire store that sold nothing but electric kettles.
I love this double burner attached to the teak serving tray number. Lucky the electricity is not compatible here or yesterday could have been a big shopping day.
There were many young couples who were clearly doing a pre-wedding shop. Maybe you can register here. Who knows?
There would be a store with nothing but fancy tea services.
And others with very simple, inexpensive ones.
Pricey one of a kind tea pots.
Some creatively displayed.
Many of the corridors looked like this.
Tea came in every type of canister and size.
The neighborhood looked like this.
Don’t ask how we ended up in yet another mall. But like all the others they had excellent steamed buns.
Fancy Shanghai Mall. Many of the same stores from every other city in the world.
Though not many have a window of these next to Tiffany. Anyone care to guess what they might be?
We went for a drink to the Long Bar at the Waldorf which is supposedly Asia's longest bar.
Toasting our last night.
It's a very sexy bar. I actually have photos of all of us smoking cigarettes as they let you do it inside. But my iPhone won't let me send them. BTW Lucy is not smoking.
We ended up at 3 On the Bund in a new restaurant called Mercato.
You can see the view behind Glenn.
Serious menu studying in this very foodie city.
Bye-Bye Shanghai
-
Meg
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