Reminiscing Old Shanghai
Shopping at Tianzifang
After breakfast this morning, we went shopping at Tianzifang. Tianzifang is a tourist shopping and cafe area in Shanghai in the Old French Quarter. Unlike the better known Xintiandi area nearby, the area retains an “organic and original” feel because the area hasn’t been markedly reconstructed in recent years. Instead you’ll see buildings, alleys and streets of the old French Quarter with later Chinese additions piled on. Tianzifang is famous for its arts and crafts shops, and there are also many restaurants there. Although price there is a little higher than what you can get elsewhere, I like to come here for its atmosphere; an old Chinese residential atmosphere and the old-style buildings, narrow alleys, I also have a favorite local designer shop here that I like to visit. This is one of the rare places that I’ll take a cab to from my Pudong Hotel whenever my meetings end early in the evening.
Tianzifang, Shanghai
The streets of Tianzifang
In the basement of the mall opposite Tianzifang, is a famous chain fried dumpling stall, Xiao Yang Shen Jian. We went over for a quick bite in between our shopping. Xiao Yang Shen Jian is ever so crowded because it is so cheap. DH didn’t really like it. He found it too oily.
Xiao Yang Fried Dumplings, a popular chain store in Shanghai
Jazz Afternoon Tea at Peace Hotel
We had made reservations for afternoon tea at the historic Jasmine Lounge at Shanghai’s iconic Peace Hotel. Every Sunday, the famous Old Jazz Band of the Peace Hotel performs during the afternoon tea at the Jasmine Lounge. The members of this band have an average age of 80 and have being playing old Jazz music here for more than half a century.
The famous Jazz Band @ the Peace Hotel
The pastry, cakes and sandwiches were served in a beautiful tiered stand. They were delicious. I enjoyed listening to the oldies like Ye Shanghai, and sipping my tea and enjoying my pastries and cakes.
Sunday Afternoon Jazz Tea @ the Peace Hotel
It was really a enjoyable way to spend the afternoon, and have a taste of life during the heydays of Shanghai. I am so glad we came. Remember to make reservations. We were lucky and had a table in front of the band.
Dinner at Banyan Tree
After tea, we went back to our hotel. That night we wanted to go to Haidilao for dinner. But it started raining quite heavily so we decided to just stay in the hotel for dinner. We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant of the Banyan Tree. It was a sushi bar that was almost deserted. They wanted to sit us in the main chinese restaurant, but we preferred to sit at the sushi bar as it was more quiet. The restaurant was obviously little patronized and while we ordered the set, they did not have all the ingredients necessary to complete the set and substituted some items. They did not even tell us until we asked why we were served different stuff. They should have informed us at the onset and we may then want to change our orders. Service was ok, but food was just so so. This is definitely not a high end Japanese restaurant.
Dinner @ the Banyan Tree
Overall we had a great weekend exploring Old Shanghai. Our stay at at the Banyan Tree was pleasant too. Overall service in the hotel was good but there were some rough edges which hopefully they have smoothened by now.
Next up : A Family’s one-week Borneo Adventure