Shanghai Paramount

Shanghai Paramount was built in the 1930s. It has undergone many changes. Today it is a popular modern dance hall with well-preserved old-time charm of  "Night Shanghai" where Ballroom dancers congregate. You can come along with your dancing partner or hire one. Guys can hire hostesses clad in shimmery sequined Qipaos by the hour. According to some writers they are called Taxi-Dancers. Ladies can hire male dance partners. I have no idea what they are called. Here in Singapore they are known as DIs (Dance Instructors) . They are also referred to as "Ducks" in the ballroom dancing circle.

Due to time constraint and my wife undergoing her knee treatment by the TCM doctor we didn't go dancing there as I have wished. But we had to at least pay a visit. Too bad it was past 4pm in the afternoon and the Tea Dance session have ended. There were two couples on the dance floor; one gentleman practically with two left feet being led by a hostess dressed in Qipao doing the Rumba and a lady with a DI dancing the Waltz. You may be wondering how on earth can they be dancing to two different beats. Ah, yes that's the wonder of the dancing world. You see, instead of waiting for the correct music which would be a waste of time, the professional dance partners will just make the best use of the time adapting the dance to the music. After all patrons pay by the hour. A band plays at night so it is likely to attract a bigger crowd.

Mum caught the travelling bug!

You know ladies just love shopping. They can shop till you drop lol. On our many shopping stops I observed something rather fascinating. Mum was either shy or slow to decide or perhaps still retaining the thrifty habits of the older generation, not to spent unnecessarily. My wife and her sister would be extremely enthusiastic as if trying to make a sale, more so than the sales person present. They were trying so hard to pick the design/color which they think was nice but mum just wasn't interested. After a few days of shopping I found out that mum have a mind of her own. In their excitement to push their choice selection the girls were oblivious to this. On one occasion after all the usual suggestions by the girls and mum turning down all of them and the frenzy have died down; mum pointed to a particular piece from her wheelchair and said she liked that one lol.

All in all I'd say mum had a "Rolling Good Time" on this Shanghai holiday trip. She discovered that with the wheelchair it's possible to travel, Osteoarthritis of the knees not withstanding. She have became more cheerful and now without hesitation she would ask when is our next holiday.

Mahjong in the middle of the day

I am not sure if you could call this a gambling den. I came across this place where people were playing the game of Mahjong, a favorite past-time for the Chinese. And this was in the middle of a working day. It's a surprise for me because Shanghai being a big city, one would expect people to be caught up in the rat race and such leisurely pursuit would have been reserved for a non- working day like a Sunday or Public Holiday.

FRANK'S PLACE in ShuZhou

I never thought I would find an establishment with my name on it on this trip to Shanghai, though
I must admit I was quietly hoping to spot one. This fantasy was planted when my nephew came back from Shanghai a couple of years ago with a picture of a Cafe literally named after him. This picture was taken in ShuZhou. I am not too sure what business they are in and there aren't anybody around for me to find out. Possibly some cultural or art centre, as there are some old items on display which looks like antiques.

Toddler's Split Pants

Disposable Diapers? What disposable diapers? In China the Toddler's split pants 开档裤 kāi dàng kù allows babies and toddlers to answer nature's call with neither hindrance nor hassle. This great Chinese invention allows little kids to do their business anywhere. At first sight it may seem bizarre, perhaps a little embarrassing to foreigners, particularly Westerners to see baby's little Willy or naked butt exposed. I was surprised to have spotted a number of these toddlers in a modern city like Shanghai in this day and age. The Split Pants isn't totally alien to me. I remember when I was young, one of my younger brothers wore them. Not everyone of us wore them. I believe those who were hard to "potty train" were made to wear them. And I remember it's only a small slit at the front for peeing only, not all the way to the back.

Pet Dogs in Shanghai

Regrettably, I wasn't able to make contact with any local doggie business people while in Shanghai. The one new Kennel that I have arranged to visit didn't materialised because the business venture was called off. All I have is a couple of encounters on the streets with dog owners.

I met this lady walking her Spitz puppy "BAOBAO". Obviously Baobao is not trained, as he have difficulty obeying even a basic command such as 'SIT'. And I have to tell you it wasn't because of language barrier cos I do speaka his language lol, Mandarin. The lady owner actually offered to sell me her puppy for 800 yuan would you believe it! I kept telling her that I don't live in Shanghai but she kept up with her sales pitch and wouldn't listen.


 
I met this lady with her Toy Poodle at Yuyuan. It's comes naturally for me to connect with dog owners cos I am able to get the doggie's attention. This Toy Poodle named NANA showed off  her "Paw" trick. A security personnel for the Shopping Complex kept warning her owner not to her  dog out, as it is forbidden. That is China for you, still not very dog friendly in public places. However I am aware that there is already tremendous improvement.

 

Funny Signs in China

In China, as those who have been there will tell you, the English signboards can be bizarre, wacky and weird.
Engrish or Chinglish is Chinese mistranslated or translated into bad or broken English. They can be seen on signboards at Tourist attractions where great number of English-Speaking Tourist go to. The war on mangled English by the authorities have met with little success. Some examples:

"Please take advantage of the chambermaids" on a hotel brochure.

"Carefully Slide" (Be careful of slippery floor)

"Look out , Knock Head" (Watch your head)

credit: engrish.com

On my trip to Shanghai I was on the look out for such signs. These are some funny signs that I found, although not so much the Chinglish type. The notice on top right picture sort of rhyme in Chinese. Translated into English it rhymes too "Come in a rush, go with a flush" lol. Enlarge the other photos and try and spot bad English.

Drinking water dispenser at the Shanghai Expo
 

Astounded, Confounded, Bewildered? Don't laugh. A mainstay of spoken English "long time no see" is a typical word-for-word translation from a Chinese expression.

East-West Fusion Music at Xintianti Shanghai

East-West Fusion Music at Xintianti 新天地 Shanghai. It is a car-free shopping, dining and entertainment district. The area comprised of restored traditional Shikumen 石库门 (stone gate) houses on narrow alleys and some adjoining houses which now serve as tourist souvenir kiosk, cafes and restaurants, and shopping malls.

Beautiful Fusion Music played on a nice sunny morning in front of a shopping center. It's clearly an adaptation of Peking Opera music. Note the drummer is a black guy. The girls on the Chinese musical instruments were pretty and chic.

Shanghai Roadside Bicycle Repair

This is a video clip of the whole process of patching a punctured bicycle tyre by a roadside tyre repairman. Prior to this patching process is to find the punctured spot. This is done by immersing the inflated inner tube into a pail of water. Bubbles will be released from the location of the puncture. As you can see it is a very very simple set up with basis tools, Eco friendly too.

Visit to Shanghai Expo 2010

The Expo ground is huge and requires a lot of foot work. Motor vehicles have to stop quite a distance from the entry point.

Multiple long queues with massive crowd formed at the entry point. We were lucky, my mother-in-law being on a wheelchair got us all preferential treatment; we were directed to "Barrier-Free Passage (Express Lane).

We visited the Brasil Pavilion, USA Pavilion and the Joint Pavilion for Central and South American Countries. Because of the big crowd and long queue, visitors are allowed into the respective Pavilions in batches. We didn't make it to our planned exhibits - the Swiss and China Pavilion. The number of people was just overwhelming and the queuing time a crazy 3 - 5 hours.

Inside the American Pavilion a replica of the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange)

Central American

Spain

The majestic China Pavilion

Tired visitors taking breaks

Latest information is that the average count of visitors has now reached 370,000 a day!!! from 220,000!!! On weekends it goes up to 550,000 visitors!!! The common gripe is the exasperatingly long queuing time and it is just not worth the trip. That said, the rural folks from the provinces aren't too unhappy cos the Expo visit would just be a small part of their itinerary. Senior citizens gets subsidized tickets and it is an opportunity for them to travel; for many of them a rare treat.

Food Glorious Food

How can a blog not talk about food? And undeniably one of the most exciting experience in travel is to taste the food of the country one visits. For you foodies out there waiting in anticipation, here goes...

The most memorable dish and the one I liked most during our trip was the Famous Wan San Pork Knuckle at Zhou Zhuang. Super tender and rich in flavor. We were all going wow wow.. yum yum... as we savour the juicy meat which melts in your mouth. It was the biggest pork knuckle I've ever ordered and the best I've tasted. For a bunch of us who are pretty health conscious we were attacking the fatty pork knuckle without a care. I was zooming in on the skin, minus the fat underneath and passing some to my wife as we were told by Western Doctors that the skin can be beneficial to the musculoskeletal joints and the skin elasticity. "The proof is in the eating" We ended up ordering another piece. I just couldn't believe it!

Shops selling take-away local Tim Sum (snacks) can be found in most neighborhood in Shanghai. Duck parts are local favourite - head, neck, webs, wings, heart, gizzard and liver.... and yes even tongues. Those crazy about tongues can consume a plateful of it in one sitting.

This local salad which I believe is made from garlic chive (known as ku chye in Singapore) and peanut is very popular among locals and is commonly served in restaurants. I did not particularly liked it, tasted rather bland.

Generally, we found the food there tend to be slightly more salty and oily than what we have in Singapore. The meat buns (we call it Pau in Singapore, they call it Mun Tuo) are thick skinned. It is very oily inside and have very little fillings. Our meat buns here in Singapore are the opposite.

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) knee osteoarthritis treatment

A large part of our visit to Shanghai were spent on visiting the TCM doctor to seek treatment for my wife's and my mother-in-law's knee pain. We made 9 visits in the 10 days we were there. The doctor recommended daily treatment without break. This resulted in Hangzhou being dropped from our planned itinerary.

Treatment entails Acupuncture, Moxibustion, Cupping Therapy and Massage and then finishing off with a herbal patch to the treated area.

Indirect moxibustion. An acupuncture針灸 needle is inserted into an acupoint and the tip of the needle is then wrapped in moxa and ignited, generating heat to the point and the surrounding area. The moxa is a Chinese herb Artemisia Mug wort, a type of Chrysanthemum. The leaf of the Artemisia is bitter, pungent and considered to be thermal and warming in nature. Moxibustion is known for providing relief to stubborn musculoskeletal pains. In ancient times a small, cone-shaped amount of moxa is placed on top of an acupoint and burned. Another method is holding a cigar like stick over the acupoint to deliver the heat.

Fire cupping facilitate improved blood-flow and generate qi movement in the patient. Specially made bulb-shaped glass cups are heated, creating a vacuum and applied against the patient’s skin. The suction is so strong that the skin is pulled out creating what looks like "extra large nipples" lol, and we really had a good laugh.

I decided to have a go myself, just for the experience so I told the doctor about my occasional numbness down my right arm to the fingers and stiff neck. In my case the doctor did not apply burned moxa to the needles but held a lighted flame to the tip of the needle. It was quite an experience and spectacle : )

The positive side of Shanghai

Shoppers providing their own Eco friendly bags

On a positive note, Shanghai is really a nice place overall. I would have no problem settling there. You can sense that the Shanghainese are really putting in the effort to project a good image to foreigners for the Shanghai Expo. The notorious habits of spitting in public and the pajama papas and mamas walking in the streets can hardly be found. The streets are clean, trees and flowers in bloom lined most major traffic junctions. People are approachable and are Eco friendly. :) At the supermarket shoppers brought their own Eco friendly bags. An old electric cable bus still run today to cut carbon footprint as I was told. Bicycles and tricycles are widely used.

Wheel Power                                                            Bicycle Rental                                                              

Flower power

Extraordinary Shanghai

Something quite extraordinary about Shanghai is that a vast majority of people speak rather loudly. In fact you may say they do not speak but they shout. You can be walking in the street and suddenly there is shouting going on. At first I thought there was a squabble but after awhile I realised that this is a very Shanghainese thing; it's normal to speak loudly.

And then once in awhile you'll come across a real quarrel which is almost a daily feature you'll find on the streets. At least it's true for the duration of my stay. This loud verbal combat can be really dramatic. Enjoy the following video clips : )

Depart for Shanghai

I am back! As I've mentioned in my earlier post I wasn't able to access Blogger from Shanghai so this journal is 10 days late. It is pretty frustrating not being able to visit my favorite websites which I habitually do on a daily basis. Anyway let me start with our departure from Singapore Changi International Airport. Sister-in-law who works in the airport helped with the checking in.

Leaving on a jet plane.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....." These lyrics from an old song by Peter, Paul and Mary "Leaving on a jet plane" keeps repeating in my mind these last two days. My bags are however not packed as of now. Today have been a really busy day clearing my work before the trip. This means taking in more dog grooming appointments by the regulars. The empty luggage bag is lying on the ground waiting to be filled. I do have a printed list though of the things to pack. We are flying China Eastern Airline tomorrow 4pm departure time.

Picked up some RMB (Chinese Yuan) at People's Park Complex on the way to dinner at Smith Street China Town Complex Food Centre. Dinner cost us below $40.00 for the four of us - Steamed Fish Head in Bean Sauce, stir fried Sambal (Spicy) Sweet Potato Leaves, Sweet and Sour Pork Cutlet and Omelet. Value for money. I ordered Sour Sup Fruit Drink from the nearby Fruit Drink Stall. It was so so sweet I couldn't finish it even after adding water to dilute. I think the stall holder boiled the fruit in sugar syrup.  China Town Complex Food Centre houses quite a good number of Zi Char Stall (Chinese Cooked Food Stall) and most of them offer Fish Head with different sauces on their menu. Majority of them are Cantonese cuisine.

Blogger and Youtube blocked in China

Oh dear, I was just on Skype with sister-in-law and found out that Blogs and Youtube are blocked in China due to the censorship of Google. Facebook and Twitter are also in the same boat. Fortunately still able to Skpye. It's rather disappointing as I was planning on probably daily updates of the trip with picture, videos and hopefully some decent "travel journalism". Is there such a term?? I have referred to some guides on the internet on writing travel blogs; it's about conveying the experience of all our senses - Sight, Sound Smell, Taste and Feel. Well may I say I am beginning to have a bitter taste..

Okay I am not going to let this affect the mood of our trip. We'll just focus on the many great Chinese culinary delights that await us in Shanghai. After all that's what Singaporean are well know for EAT : )

"Every Touching Moment" 感動每一刻 [Shanghai 2010 World Expo]

Chinese President Hu Jintou declares open The Shanghai World Expo 2010 tonight with artistic performances, spectacular fireworks and high tech display. An estimated 70 million visitors are expected during the 6 months expo.

Opening Fire Works


Expo Song "Every Touching Moment" 感動每一刻
JJ Lin (林俊傑), Stefanie (孫燕姿) , Tanya (蔡健雅), Ah Du ( 阿杜)


Singapore Pavilion Tour

My first step in Blogging

So I've been very keen to start a blog for quite some time. I finally got down to it with the help of some reference material by googling.

What held me back was what to blog about. Obviously I have lots of ideas and opinions about issues and current affairs and these could be easily put into writing as blog posts but I have concerns about how it will turn out and the reaction from readers.

Anyway I've decided that since I am taking a holiday to Shanghai end of May 2010 I might as well blog about my travel for a start.

At the end of last year my sister-in-law signed a 3 year contract to work in her company's Shanghai's office. She invited relatives and close friends to visit her. I was really excited about visiting. The reasons being, my wife and I haven't been to China. We love to travel whenever we can and it would be a good break for us. Most of all we would save on lodging expenses as sister-in-law have an apartment with spare rooms.

Once I made up my mind it a was about choosing suitable dates. We were reminded to book our air tickets early as the airline ticket prices are expected increase over time as the Shanghai Expo is to take place in May 2010. That was at the beginning of the year. By the time we decided, or should I say "I" decided (I do usually make the decisions and then consult) on the dates, the ticket price have gone up slightly. Even as I was going ahead to book the tickets there were a couple of little hurdles. We asked Mother-in-law and my wife's Auntie to join us for the trip but you know ladies aren't good at decision making. At first I was thinking of going around Easter but upon researching for the trip I found out that the weather will still be very cold. This can''t do as old lady won't be able to handle the cold. I finally settle for end of May, again working round a public holiday (Vesak Day Friday 28th May) so as not loose too many work days; this is very much a Singaporean trait. The weather forecast for end of May is a cool 18°C.

Now that the tickets are booked I am goggling daily for information on Shanghai. Besides researching places to visit I am also keen in making contacts with people in the Dog business - Pet Groomers, Dog Trainers, Kennels operators and Pet related suppliers. I've written to a dog Trainer and he has responded positively so that's going to be in the itinerary. My other interest is Ballroom Dancing. My wife and I danced Latin Ballroom for quite some time and only recently took up standard ballroom dance - Waltz and Foxtrot. I have very little success finding information about venues in Shanghai for Ballroom dancing. On the internet I came across a number of questions posted on forums by expats asking this same question. So far the only place that is associated with ballroom dancing is Paramount. Now this is a really interesting place with a rich long history. I found a number of very good videos on Youtube relating the history behind this place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WNwGYRrH2U
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Paramount+Night+Club+&search_type=&aq=f