Time to get back to work
]]>Next stop - its on to Thailand for some spice & sun... Boom!
]]>Steamed ones, fried ones, boiled ones, round ones, crescent shaped ones, big ones, small ones, ones in soup, ones with soup in them - Shanghai has them all!
]]>Germain, a French tailor, has been living and working in Shanghai for the past 8 years. He learned his craft in Paris before arriving in Shanghai to set up shop where he had quickly built up a clientele from his skill, range of fabrics and of course, impeccable taste.
]]>I headed to Xi Tang, the closest one to Shanghai (and, I found out when I got there, where they filmed a scene from Mission Impossible 3), walked the cobbled paths filled with snacks and shops, sampled their local wine huangju and tasted the little known but deliciously crispy shao bing bread.
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Dong Tai Lu Markets - Home of the Vintage and the Faux Vintage
]]>Sadly, one vendor told me that they're moving to an indoor market and tearing down the buildings so I'm glad I got a chance to cruise the street and experience the old world charm.
]]>My mate Thomas at Insiders Experience in Shanghai was busy for the day but hooked me up with his Changjiang 750 - a 1950's motorcycle with a side car and love of his life - for a couple of hours to go exploring.
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Built in 1577 by Pan, a rich Ming Dynasty official, for his father, the name Yuyuan translates to Garden of Contentment/Happiness/Peace and Comfort (depending on who you ask) - exactly what I was after. It was cool, a juxtaposition of modern and ancient cultures, with Shanghai's newer skyscrapers peaking in between the grand pavilions and dragon head sculptures.
I wandered around, found a spot near a pond and just tuned out for a bit...
lkjj]]>Shanghai, one the world's most populated cities topping 23 million people, has had a rich and colourful past as the domain of adventurers, drug runners, swindlers, gamblers, tycoons, missionaries, gangsters and backstreet pimps. What began as a seaport village in 751 is now modern metropolis, drawing people in with its seductive mix of tradition, sophistication and possibility.
I was there to meet a French tailor that I'd heard about... but who knows what could happen along the way?
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