If you’re like me, one of the things you love most about living abroad is when people come to visit.  It’s a little taste of home without the hassle or expense of actually going there.  Plus, I love Shanghai, so I also love to show it off to friends and family who come to see me.

But here’s what I discovered after a recent visit by my parents: Shanghai is not Beijing.  In Beijing, you’ll never run out of historic, cultural, touristy things to do.  In Shanghai, well, not so much.  The things that I enjoy on a regular basis in Shanghai don’t really cut it when my parents come and want to experience “China.”  So here are some ideas of what to do with your parents if they visit that try to blend the old and new of China while still showing off the personality of Shanghai.

Yu Gardens

Beautiful, traditional Chinese gardens.  It’s a great place to wander around, take pictures, and people watch.  My best advice: make a day of it and head to the gardens early to beat the crowds, see the gardens, and then have a walk around the bazaar.  Take your parents to eat some traditional xiaolongbao at the famous Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (the takeaway queue is intimidating, but you’ll have better luck if you just go inside and sit down).

After lunch, have a walk around the old town area.  There’s the Chenxiangge Nunnery as well as the Temple of the Town God, both near Yu Gardens and worth a quick visit.  Fangbang Zhong Lu is a great street to wander along as it’s got lots of souvenir shopping as well as nice shops, tea houses and restaurants if you need a break.  Also on Fangbang Zhong Lu is the Shiliupu Fabric Market if your parents want to have any clothes made before returning home.  It’s a good idea to hit the fabric market early in your Shanghai visit, in case the clothes you order don’t get done on time or need more than one fitting.

Do NOT go to Yu Gardens at the weekend, unless your goal is to show your parents just how many people live in Shanghai.

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Designers today have total freedom to design whatever they want, but then they have the added stress of trying to come up with something “new”, because how many more necessities can there be!  I have chosen some of the new quirky designs that are on the market these days.

This Apple Calendar was designed for health insurance provider AOK, “an apple a day” by Munich-based ad agency Service plan is an innovative calendar that not only helps you keep track of time, but also keeps you healthy by eating an apple a day!  The calendar is a long tube made out of UVA- and UVB-resistant Plexiglas, which is then filled with apples according to the number of days in the month, e.g. it requires 31 apples for the month of January, 28 for February and 30 for April.  Each day you need to eat an apple to keep the calendar on the correct date.  You then refill the tube when the month is over.  I think this is pretty cool, but there is no way apples in China will last a month before eating them!

What fashion lover doesn’t love shoes? I’ve compiled the strangest shoes in fashion today that even the biggest fashionista may or may not love. These shoes are innovative, funny, and some are even disturbing. Be prepared, any preconceived notions you have about shoes are about to change!

1. The Mojito is one of the weirdest shoes you’ll ever see.  The shoe was designed by British architect Julian Hakes and is made of carbon fiber for strength and elasticity along with a rubber bottom and leather. You can tell it was designed by a architect and not a shoe designer because it doesn’t appear that it can even stay on your foot for more than a step and even if it did, it looks very uncomfortable.

As the Shanghai Dolls aims to be not only be a group who goes out to eat, drink and dance, we often have some events to instill a little culture into our members. One of these events was a painting class at [the studio] in  a sunny May  afternoon. Ok, don’t get me wrong it was an afternoon of painting while enjoying some nice wine, but culture was the main theme of the afternoon!

This kind of event is for a small group of up to 10 Dolls and is usually in high-demand. We started the afternoon with an introduction of what we were going to learn and then jumped right in! I know that all the girls there had an absolute ball and would love to do this type of class again.

If you don’t know about [the studio] it is a small art workshop/gallery that has regular classes for either children or adults. [the studio] has a group of artists utilizing the space, including painters, furniture designers and any other creative’s who mesh well with the group. It holds various activities from art classes, casual exhibitions, parties and anything else they feel is creative enough. [the studio] has a motto of express, inspire, create!

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