Shanghai

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

Shanghai's the most westernised city in China, used to be the Whore of the Orient. Locals here will try to speak English if you do, try being the operative word.

I've never been to China so on the whole Shanghai has been fascinating, lots of sights (and I don't mean tourist spots, just the novelty of seeing a different culture and way of living) and cuisine.

Been told Beijing is more raw and the people are more real, also more laidback, so I'm guessing Shanghai's more like Sydney and Beijing's more like Melbourne.

Standard of living can range from being very very cheap to equivalent to what we're used to in the west. But just about anything you're used to getting, you can get here, depends on how much you want to pay.

But what kinda work are you in, because I'm in advertising and the hours are ridiculous, Shanghai would be much better if I had more time out of the office.

[tiddles]

Re: Shanghai

i teach, write and do some other stuff - so i'd keep short hours

how's your chinese? learning the language is the main reason i want to go to china

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

I'm Chinese so I can speak some of it, enough for work at least, though I'm sure I'm getting a lot of words wrong. I heard there're people who survive here without knowing any Chinese, I wouldn't be surprised.

Oh living standard's really high in Hong Kong.

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

I had the chance to visit this area in Shanghai called Tianzifang. It's meant to be a creative area, lots of arts and craft, photographic galleries, and tourists. The locals would find it touristy but I didn't think so having seen more 'touristy' places elsewhere. The whole place is like a maze, what's fascinating is there're residential apartments and locals living there so if you take a wrong turn, you find yourself in the back street which leads to the apartments, and you get a glimpse of the pretty bad apartments they live in.



Yup, more underwear.





You can see the contrast in this picture, cafe alfresco setting. I think this is why locals describe it as touristy, this is the FIRST quaint alfresco setting I've seen in Shanghai.



This is an Aussie cafe/restaurant called Kommune. Says on the menu there's an Aussie bbq on weekends.



This is one of the back alley/streets I mentioned that leads to people's homes. An alley like this is literally right behind the cafes and quaint setting.



Another corridor to people's homes. At the end of this passageway there's a gate that's used to access the street.



Now this, is interesting. I came across this in another alley and thought it was a tiny Japanese bar/eatery. Turns out it's the back of the restaurent Meshi which they use to serve take out. I went back the same night and entered the restaurant via the front (they had Jude Law plastered on a wall, apparently he went there and had two dishes of raw beef or something). Anyway the inside is very small and very Japanese, filled with odd vintage stuff and the food is beautiful, definitely recommended if any of you visit Shanghai.



This is the Teddy Cafe or something. They have a shop selling teddy bears and balcony/rooftop for drinks which you can see here.



There you go, teddy bears.



Stairs leading to the bar area. They didn't have any seats on the rooftop, so we left.



And sat at a tiny shop next door for a beer.



Tsingtao is a locally brewed beer, very light. This cost about AUD2.



The table next to us looked like they've been there the whole arvo.



One of the shops selling art n craft stuff.



We finally made it up to Teddy Cafe. As you can see, the locals don't even bat an eyelid at the underwear.



Another table next to us. They proceeded to take pictures of themselves later. Very strange, people love taking pictures of themselves.



View from the table.



We overlooked what might be a Thai restaurant, surprisingly clean and we could smell grilled prawns.



More view from the table. I think my colleague was playing around with my camera.



Our mojito with too much soda.



This was on the wall next to the stairs, I'm assuming the notes were left behind by customers. Most of them are in mandarin of course, but this particular note and its message in english caught my eye.



This is the subway station outside Tianzifang, it's the newest station I've seen in Shanghai.





I guess subways look about the same everywhere but the warnings are always different.



Interior shot ...



This was at the exit of the People's Park station. People sleep EVERYWHERE. This is nothing. If I can brave the crowd at Ikea, I'll take pictures of people SLEEPING on Ikea beds and resting in their chairs in the showrooms. It's ridiculous.



The scene outside People's Square. This is one of the busiest station and area in Shanghai.



That billboard on the right, that's Nike's flagship store in Shanghai. I was headed there to pick up a backpack.

[DIDI]

Re: Shanghai

I quite look forward to these posts of yours, give us more of an insight! The contrasts are amazing !!

[res0nat0r]

Re: Shanghai

More great pics feather, thanks alot...

[floridaorange]

Re: Shanghai

very consistent quality in your photos Feather, thx again, and great captions too!

[tiddles]

Re: Shanghai

looks lke the same subway system as seoul

[MJ]

Re: Shanghai

I'm really enjoying this thread, please keep it up.

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

Cheers guys.

Brought my team back to the Tianzifang place for lunch.





The kid was walking towards me but turned back when he saw me keeling down to take a picture



This is Kommune again, the Aussie cafe. That's a nice cold bottle of Coopers Green, and they serve lattes out of that milk jar.



Random expats.



The biggest chicken parmagiana I've ever had in my life, that's including Sydney



My local colleague, art director.



My other local colleague, also an art director. I brought them out for lunch because we worked till 730am yesterday



This is Nanjing Road West, a posh shopping stretch in Shanghai.





Plaza 66, the poshest mall in Shanghai. Also the emptiest.



Interior ... There's Dolce & Gabana, Dior, Emenegildo Zegna, Tods, Cartier, etc.



And right after Plaza 66 we have Gucci and Bottega.



And this guy busking right outside.





The Majestic Theatre





Awesome busking duo.



The boarded up area across the road used to be a very famous and popular food street. My boss took me there to check out Xiao Yang Sheng Jian (4 huge fried pork buns for AUD0.70) on its last day of operation. The entire block is gone now, supposedly made way for the expo though I don't see how they're gonna get anything up in time.





An upscale whiskey bar called Constellation with a lot of whiskies I don't recognise, and people smoking cigars. That fireplace is fake

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

In Beijing for the weekend.







This was Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, the new Terminal 2.



Disembarking in Beijing, nobody waits.



Beijing.



My friend took me to an area called Nanluoguxiang, old preserved houses that're now converted to tiny cosy bars, restaurants, and shops. Very very cool.



One of the converted 'courtyards,' a lot of restaurants are in this style.



Tiny tiny bookshop, that's the width of the space.





We saw the crowd from afar and wondered what the hell they were queuing up for. Waffles We bought some too And the girl was really cute.



The Chinese have a way with appropriating cultures and remixing them. Another variation is the Maobama.



We stepped out of Nanluoguxiang onto the road and was walking on the pavement when I heard music and saw a tiny door way. Walked in and the wall was plastered with this and graffiti, there was a pipe expelling smoke that smelt like it came from a grill; and at the end of the short passage way, a tiny room: It was a restaurant serving kebab (Xinjiang, Northern Chinese cuisine)



After which we came across a speaker dangling on the electrical wires. I thought the voice was calling for a revolution, traced the wire into a shop which sells dried fruits or something. I assume the owner was playing a recording that flogged his goods



This was just freaky weird. I think it's 'Clown Flowers' in English, they have a website and they do deliveries



We walked past a hot pot restaurant and I noticed these pots on the ground outside the restaurant, steaming hot. Saw the girl sitting there so I assumed she's tending to them, for when a customer orders one or wants a top-up.



Crescent Moon, a restaurant serving Xinjiang cuisine. Xingjiang borders Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, India, etc.



Their cuisine is very un-Chinese (a lot of mutton and beef, grilled with Indian spices). You can see grilled meat on top of pulled noodles (handmade), oxtail in brown sauce (sic) and grilled mutton and lamb.



This is a typical DVD shop, everything is pirated. I spent 380 RMB (55 USD) which is a fair bit because one DVD costs 15 RMB (2 USD)



The two locals are burning 'incense paper,' it's used for ancestral worship or praying to the gods. Monday is a holiday (which is why I took a break and came to Beijing) because it's Qingming. It's an annual thing the Chinese do when they visit their ancestral graves and 'shaomu' which sorta translates into 'clean grave.' Out of respect to the ancestors, every year they visit, they burn some religious stuff, and they tidy the graves of weeds and whatever. I think someone might've passed away there if they're burning incense papers in such a public spot.



We were looking for beer and chanced upon this sports shop still open in the middle of the night ... thinking 'no way ...' we went up to it and ...



Yup, besides the sports equipment, they had instant noodles, snacks, and liquor. They also had ice creams

[tiddles]

Re: Shanghai

lol, sounds so much like korea

[floridaorange]

Re: Shanghai

Those are money shots, good times, feels like a tour, the captions are great. The Bejing airport reminds me a lot of San Diego's actually...

I can't believe how cheeply they sell pirated dvds in public, at least in NYC they have underground basements ..

..I look forward to living in real a city again one day...

these new photos are great, I'm curious what were in those steaming pots though

[DIDI]

Re: Shanghai

^^ Me too ! Thanks again. It's like I'm going travelling while at my computer. It's so different when it is someone you know rather than some travelogue on TV.

[feather]

Re: Shanghai

The last of my pics from Beijing weekend. These are mostly taken at an art compound called 798 which used to be a factory space.



This is at some contemporary art gallery. The exhibition these people were checking out is a project by a local filmmaker. He put on an ad looking for people with 'restless hearts' and found prostitutes, musicians, etc. So the portraits are of the people he found, and there are small LCD screens showing their interviews.



Same gallery.



The cafe across the contemporary gallery, they like dinosaurs.



I took this in some art gallery, just thought it was cool



This is some random huge space that used to be a factory. There's heaps of these random art spaces. The vibe reminds me of Carriageworks in Sydney.



Leftover equipment in the ex factory space.



This is a mezzanine level in the factory space, beneath it is a shop selling random arty design stuff.



Close up of the roof. Chinese characters say 'Mao Ze Dong's Thoughts.'



Random equipment, there're a few of them strewn about.



Yup, you can see someone sleeping on the bench.



This Mantis-bike was next to a street stall selling old rusty vintage toys.



Lots of statues strewn about. The problem is there are no plaques with the artist's name or description.





An installation, I couldn't figure out what it was. The room was pitch black and these images flickered across the wall too fast to be seen. Thought it would make a cool picture, reminded me of Tomato visuals for Underworld.



This was in the kitchen at the back of a cafe where nobody would've seen it.



Graffiti, in China!



I walked through this dark dim lit tunnel that was in complete disrepair. There were all these stuff on the wall, I thought it was kinda funny you couldn't even tell if the mess was an art installation.



Dhar



This pretty much captures the mood of the corridor.



At the end of the corridor, we came to an opening to the street, and a flight of stairs. This was next to the stairs.



We went up the stairs to explore.



Graffiti on window. That's your typical Chinglish.



This was in a digital art space, very cool. They had other animations and some huge paintings on the wall that were done by one artist and then passed onto another one for 'remix.'



And in the middle of 798, we came across this huge tar pit.



How fucking random is that??



And it's operational!



I'm sure the couple shouldn't be crossing the mound.



I thought these were workers' lodgings (well this is China) but closer inspection through the window reviewed a belt to transport the tar or whatever that black stuff is.



Pipes, gives you an idea of what used to be here before the conversion.



Nose picking is common in China.



Random couple getting professional pictures taken. The girl's all dressed up and the guy's like wearing casual clothes. I saw another couple, the girl was in white and looked like a wedding gown, but her partner was in t-shirt and jeans, and they were posing for pictures in a similar setup.



Right next to the tanks in the couple shot, was this huge flat space Perfect for a concert or a party. Yup that's someone sleeping as well.





My friend says that's the symbol for some German (?) industrial band.



I'm assuming this is some sort of kiln. I thought it looked like a cute monster/pac-man.



Love the fluidity of the arrows, like a school of fish. They remind me of something.



So we were looking for the way out when I walked past this door and heard a dog barking. You can see it in the corner. This was on a Sunday and the place looked deserted. WTF.



We ended the night in an area called Sanlitun, a city area with malls. There's Uniqlo, the largest Adidas in the world, a cinema, Puma, Apple, Mizuno, Northface, Comlumbia, etc.

But just a block a way is this side street with food stalls and small bars where expat kids hang out. We sat down for some grilled meat skewers. This is Xinjiang cuisine. The skewers are resting on some flat bread which is resting on a plastic bag on the table. That's how the stall operator served it to us

And that's my Beijing trip. Might go again with colleagues who'll no doubt bring me around to the bars and explore the nightlife more.