My Shanghai trip (with some pictures)

I know. I got back three weekends ago. But I only just borrowed the cable to upload pictures with.

Just a little background/refresher information for those who don't know or may have forgotten... I went to Shanghai in late April to cover the opening of a fashion brand's first stand-alone boutique in China. I won't state the brand or publish any of the pictures that will give it away here, since that probably warrants advertising.

It was my first trip to China, "banana" that I am, but I did have some very good moments. I'll let the pictures tell the story from here onwards. (Thanks, KV, for lending me the camera!)

A Shanghai sidewalk.

Which came first, the movie or the restaurant?

I don't know why, but I really liked this shot. Maybe because I like side lanes. Maybe because I like scooters.
Maybe because I'm just random.

Clearly, random is everywhere. I just realised the words probably can't be read at this resolution. This is the window of a store in an immense shopping centre on Shanghai's famous "shopping street", Nanjing Lu. From left, the words read: "My favourites", "The colour of a sapphire-blue sky", "A new-born life", "My long shadow", and "Strikingly colour ribbon". They brought back fond memories of those writing classes in uni when we had to construct a whole story based on a few arbitrarily chosen words.

This is for my peng iu, Aaron, and for my "lil' bro", Aaron. See, I was thinking of you both.

This sign was on my bedside table. It reads, "WARNING: The Hotel Management has Determined that SMOKING IN BED is Dangerous to Your LIFE."
I THINK they're Quite Serious about It. Fortunately, My Life is SAFE.

The view from my room while I was munching on a bak hu (meat floss) bun at 7am the next day. What's so special about this street, you ask? Well, nothing... but if you zoom in really, really close on that clump of people near the little white building, you'll see that they're old people, social dancing. I always find it touching when I see older couples dancing together. And I wasn't expecting to see it on a Shanghai sidewalk. To me, it was an indication that this day would contain many more delights. (That proved true. Do scroll down, gentle reader.)

One of many pictures I haphazardly snapped while walking around the Bund, which I got to by public bus. I didn't know why I wanted to spend my one free morning on this trip at the Bund. I still don't know why. When I was little, my mother used to talk about the TV series a lot. Maybe that's why.

Except that it wasn't covered in snow, this reminded me of...
"I hadn't known what Humans were like before I met you. Of course I can't give you up to the Witch, not now that I know you. But we must be off at once. I'll see you back to the lamp-post. I suppose you can find your own way from there back to Spare Oom and War Drobe?"
This little charmer (I'm talking about the cat) held my attention for quite a while, because shortly after it snacked on dried meat, it dashed across the broad sidewalk...
... to this tree, where it proceeded to run up and down branches with the finesse of a trapeze artist. I was already missing my daily dose of fur by then, so this was truly heaven-sent. (I never get to see Mudslide climb anything other than Pops' leg, anyway, and that's not an entertaining sight.)

After spending the whole morning breathing in rather smoggy air, and following two nights of very little sleep, by lunchtime I was feeling quite ill. I realised I had only an hour and a half before we had to gather for the press conference. So, I went to a fast-food type Chinese place near my hotel, performed the ancient Chinese art of ta pau, and had lunch in bed, something I never ordinarily do but when one is running out of time and needs to eat and sleep simultaneously... not that I managed to, but I think I came close. And all without spilling anything. (Those who've had many meals with me will realise what an achievement this is, because I am a Really Messy Eater.)
On closer examination, what I ordered ended up looking (and tasting) a lot like the beef rice at a popular Japanese chain. (Won't advertise them either!) Very MSG-full. Good thing I'd boiled and stored 2 litres of water by then.

The rest of my trip was spent "working", and there are brand logos all over those images so I won't post them here.

By the way, I know some of my faithful (and curious) friends wanted to see pictures of me in those outfits I borrowed for the party and press conference. I don't do that whole "this is my blog, so here's meeeeeeeee!" followed by 952 pictures of myself thing. If y'all still want to see the pictures, please leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail, and I'll e-mail them to you.