Shanghai - 10 more tips

1) There seem to be public toilets everywhere in the central shopping areas.
2) It is useful to have a small purse pack of tissues as public toilets often run short.
3) There will often be an option of Eastern or Western toilets.
4) Newer more modern places, particularly designer shopping malls tend to have western style loos.
5) They do security checks of your bags at metro stations.
6) They seem to have soldiers at subway stations, they look amazing, I had to do a double take to make sure they were real.
7) Of course, taking a photo of soldiers is a big no, no.
8) Metros stations I went to all seem so big and clean.
9) Trains run quite often.
10) As with undergrounds all around the world, reorienting yourself with where you are once you get out, is often the tricky bit.

Shopping tips Shanghai

It seems you can't move in Shanghai without stumbling across an opportunity to shop. Be it a market, a mega mall, a tourism complex, or the old style communist shopping opportunity.

If you prefer not to enter the melee of bargaining and you have a taste for luxury there are so many luxury malls around town that it is hard to imagine how they can all operate.

Tips

1.Most market places will show you prices on calculators so there is no problem with the language.
2.The happiest way to bargain is to decide in advance how much you are willing to pay, if you and the vendor are happy it is a good deal.
3.Sometimes in retrospect it seems churlish to have bargained hard over 50c.
4. If you would have happily paid $20 for something in your home town, don't miss out from getting into the moment of feeling as though you have to drive a bargain.
5. If you are of Western build, you might not find it that easy to buy clothes off the rack, the Fabric markets and having clothes tailor made may be the best thing.
6.Department stores have fixed prices, as do luxury stores in malls, it seems there is room to bargain in most other places.
7. I like to shop around before I start buying to get a sense for how much people are charging for things. Even the starting price can vary from stall to stall.
8. You really can get ridiculous instances of reduced prices, my friends bought a kite for 15 yuan that started at 200!
9. Rule of thumb is at the very least go for less than 50%, if you are brave go for a lot less.
10. the vendors will pursue you, if they really want to seel there goods.

I chose to do a guided shopping tour, as it has been a long time since I was in China and I figured I wouldn't mind a bit of guidance. The Shopping Tours Shanghai were highly recommended on Trip Advisor.

So I debated about whether or not to use the cost of the trip towards shopping, but in the end the reviews swayed me. I can recommend www.shoppingtoursshanghai.com. I did the best of everything tour.

We visited the fabric markets, pottery, jewellery, handbags and other stuff, plus DVDs. In between we also managed to have a good lunch at a Shanghai style restaurant.

See my other blog posting for location of various shops.

Joanne Kee
www.ceressolutions.com.au

Parks in Shanghai

These are like most people's backyards, where everything happens from cards to tai chi or opera singing. Though have to say the people dancing don't seem to crack any smiles, though I imagine they are enjoying themselves?

This is opera singing in People's Park



Next up is dancing in Fuxing Park



and line dancing at the same time, just a different location

Restaurants and shopping Buenos Aires

El cortijo
Santiago del Estero 20, Cap. Fed

An old fashioned, very good value restaurant. In particular the daily specials are worth checking out.

Vegetable soup of the day for only 5 pesos.
We had a meal with people having steaks, wine, beer etc. For 10 the bill was 415 pesos.

Definitely worth a visit.

Mundana
Beautiful jewellery at this shop. Locations at 5 different places around Buenos Aires
http://www.mundana.accesorios.com.ar/

Bits and pieces from Bueos Aires

Fantastic city, even though it has been freezing cold and raining.

We have spent time in Palermo. A great place to wander around if you like shopping, the interiors are like works of art themselves

Had lunch at Bar 6, Amenia 1676, Palermo
www.barseis.com

Ultra cool place to hang.

Had dinner at Sattua, vegetarian restaurant
Montevideo 446, BA
www.sattva.com.ar
An atmospheric quirky kind of place, great veggie food, we recommend the tacos, rice was good.

Tonight we had the most amazing buffet and grill at a place called
Brasas Argentinas
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1108
Puerto Madero
Reservas al 4331 4386

They had the usual buffet, plus chefs making fresh pastas, seafood and meat grills, sushi, parrilla and we were just too stuffed to have dessert. We went at peak time ie Friday night and paid $35 each for loads of food, beer and wine and as we said, we were too stuffed to move afterwards.

We love the Argentinian way, if three people order a bottle of wine, the wine gets poured in one go into all three glasses.

Hotel Tribeca
Downtown BA - good location, big rooms, great place to stay

Disfida Restaurant

In my newfound infatuation with Haberfield we went to Disfida this week.

109 Ramsay Street
Haberfield
02 9798 8299

We had a great meal here. Starters were mussels, caprese salad and venetian sardines.

We then shared a couple of pizzas one with prosciutto and one with fresh tomatoes which were pretty good.

The service was great, attentive, efficient. Total bill was $102 with one glass of wine. By the way really good wine list.

We'll definitely be going back Joanne

Kawa, Surry Hills

On what is fast becoming the very trendy part of Crown street, full of posh fresh food with Thomas Dux and a specialist butcher.

This is a welcoming, nook in the Crown Street landscape. Tables outside or an air conditioned space inside. Very friendly staff.

The feel is healthy and organic, but not overly so. Fresh juices here and good coffee.

As you can see my meal was huge. I had corned beef salad with hash browns, beetroot and other good things. Sandy had the big breakfast, which he didn't think was huge, but it was a decent size. He had poached eggs, which were on the point of just becoming solid. Personally I prefer my poached eggs runny, but I guess that is personal preference.

Reasonable prices that fit within the food trek budget. There is a surcharge on Sundays and public holidays.

They are open all day and also do some dinners.
346-350 Crown Street
Surry Hills 2010
9331 6811

Joanne
www.placesandspaces.com.au