Bits and pieces

A couple of months ago I did a blog post about little subjects that didn’t warrant a full post by themselves. The list on my desk is getting long again so here’s part 2.

IKEA

Oh, IKEA. Your mecca of reasonably-priced glassware and colourful shag rugs transcends the globe. So why oh why does your smaller store in Shanghai NOT HAVE MEATBALLS!! A complete travesty. But I digress. Apparently IKEA is aspirational here. I needed to get a few things for my apartment, and was warned not to go on the weekends unless you go really early or really late, as it is a free for all. So I went at 7pm on a Sunday night and it was completely fine. If anything, there were less screaming kids than at the one in Milton Keynes. What was different to the MK store was people in the beds. Yes. IN the beds. That’s some serious road testing going on there. I swear some people were actually asleep.

Someone at work told me that because IKEA is aspirational, it’s also a destination. People actually meet there for coffee or lunch. Slightly different to what we do which is hold your breath, run through as quickly as possible in a style very similar to Supermarket Sweep, and get the hell out of there.

And then when you leave, there’s a row of van taxis outside to take you home. Awesome.

Nanjing Road

Every city I think has their version of Leicester Square. A pedestrianised, overly neon-lit haven for tourists and touts. Shanghai definitely has one of those and it’s called Nanjing Road. When I visited a few weeks ago it was dark and as I stepped out of the subway, I was dazzled by a giant neon ‘Samsung’ sign. Then I noticed the noise. And by that I mean crowd noise. The best way I can describe it is like coming out of the toilets at a gig and hearing the buzz of anticipation as the crowd waits for the band. Lots of people, lots of street sellers pelting you with weird whirly helicopters, lots of kids on those wheely trainer things. Adding to the surrealism is an M&M world (exactly like Leicester Square), which of course is the busiest place on the street. And there’s also these little tourist trains that take you from one end of the street to the other (the one I saw was M&M branded, of course) and they don’t stop they just drive right through the pedestrian street – so you’re expected to jump out of the way or get flattened and the last thing you’ll see is a red circular sweet with a scarily grinning face and an ‘M’ on his chest looking over you..

Xiami

Xiami is like Spotify but all in Chinese of course. However, I tend to listen to it on my computer at work as the streaming time is really quick and I can figure it out. There’s a search box, you type the artist in (in English) and voila! Their name comes up in English, there’s an orange button underneath it, you press it and job done.

Jing’An Sculpture Park

As Shanghai has got bigger and bigger, there has been a fair bit of space put aside for parks and greenery (plus it helps with the air). Near me there is a place (called the Jing’An Scuplture Park as you may have figured out from the title). And it is exactly that. Nice green space, Natural History Museum smack bang in the middle and a load of random sculptures with no rhyme of reason that are replaced every few months or so. When I went the theme seemed to be ‘giant sculptures of glittery fat baseball playersand musicians'. Pictures below so you can see what I mean!

Youku

Youku is another online find. It’s kind of like YouTube, but better (I know, it’s a bold claim). You can find anything on there. Again, all in Chinese but the search box recognises English characters so it’s relatively easy. What’s brilliant is there’s also a subscription option, so if you want to watch a particular movie or show, you can pay – kind of like a pay as you go Netflix. Also, they have all the US shows before the UK so I will actually be ahead of everyone when I get back!