ye olde jazz band

a misnomer if there was one. they play 70s oldies shanghai classics hokkien songs and when the saints come marching in. just not jazz. but i have a roaring good time nevertheless.

we should do this more often, i tell HOM. live music has a specialness that youtube doesn't.

yummo

special lunch treat in that elevated restaurant* with friends celebrating their wedding anniversary so we get the love treatment and rose petals. the food is gorgeously umami and (plebe that i am) i enjoy it tremendously and forget to enjoy the view.

*at the top of the shanghai tower

duoyun

like a magical enclave in the sky. the book culture looks alive and well and it almost feels like a travesty to look at the non-book distractants. dad would have loved a visit here. i buy my first paper book in years, partly because it calls out to me (shanghai! women!) and partly because dad would have bought a book or two as well.

thoughts on travel-mates

very tiring types:

• the one who must cover every possible location and tick it off his list
• the one who must take twenty photos in various poses at every possible spot

my kinda folks:

• the one who needs the loo at every stop and in between too (me)
• the organized punctual ones with no actual agenda of their own (people i like)
• the optimizer who gets the best deals and gives the best suggestions (that's HOM)

the soul-suckers:

• the one who gripes at everything and trusts no one in a foreign land
• the sucker who buys every tale and the produce attached as well
• the one who talks non-stop (arghhhhh)
• the one who listens and hears nothing and then asks what? when? what?

as you can see, i am indulging in a bit of therapeutic ventilation.

le stash

 

i guess i am committed to longer hair now. *gives a delicious little shiver*

fairmont peace hotel

there was the e&o, and there is the 和平饭店.

same modernized vintage esthetic superbly delivered. a tad less real estate than the e&o, possibly due to more exorbitant prices. but on the bund! at the cusp of walking street! with his-and-hers sinks! separate closet space! multiple charging points!

it wasn't on the bucket list before but it's there now.

full disclosure: there's no laundry room but there's a gym.

qipao tailor (again)

my dream is to have a qipao made in shanghai, my friend says. let me bring you to my tailor then, i tell her. always glad to have an excuse to visit!

give me a couple more years, i tell the tailor. i will be getting another one tailored. the maroon silk, i think. with three quarter sleeves. although to be honest there is one tonight in flowery cotton that whispers my name.