Results tagged “xiangyanglu”

Set back from the junction of XinLe Lu and XiangYang Lu, opposite a blue-domed Russian Orthodox Church stands the Mansion Hotel.

We were taking an afternoon stroll down Xiangyang Lu today in our pajamas when we had our first ever encounter with Shanghai's high-tech parking meters. The meters aren't exactly new; according to the Shanghai Municipality website the first were installed in 2005. There were 141 meters at the beginning of the year installed across 22 road sections, but that number is now up to 555.

Shanghaiist went gadget shopping today -- tired of carrying around the laptop to check emails and blogs, we are planning to upgrade our mobile phone. And we bumped into the Sony Ericsson Z610 (official link). This phone made us happy with its slim design and the nice glamour effect on the outside (despite business functionality, we want to stay fashionable -- gotta keep appearances up). The big surprise was the built-in RSS reader. Wow, keep yourself updated with Shanghaiist feeds on your mobile -- that is very convincing selling point! Actually, we didn't find any other brand offering this function (here a list of Sony Ericsson phones with RSS-reader).

Hotwind (热风) has been around Shanghai, according to this source, since 1996, but we didn't discover it until a few years after we got here. From our point of view there are two problems with shopping for clothes in Shanghai:

Shanghaiist was shopping for bikes along Xiangyang Lu when, tired and bedraggled, we saw, like a mirage in the desert, a sign that promised exactly what we were craving at the moment: Illy.

Shanghaiist was at Xiangyang last night, but it wasn't the usual Xiangyang, but more like Xiangyang on steroids. Everyone ignored the broadcasts telling them to leave. Vendors took off their shirts and slashed prices, selling sunglasses and other knick knacks for 5 or 10 RMB. Even after people started leaving, the market spilled out into the street on Nanchang Lu and Xiangyang Lu where traffic nearly came to a standstill. Expect more of the same today. Bring a suitcase (or buy one!) and some garbage bags -- most of the good stuff is probably already gone, but who knows, you might get lucky.

It finally happened. Sometime between the early evening last night and this afternoon, Shanghaiist's bicycle was stolen. Yes, it was locked. Twice. And no, we did not bring it into our apartment, to the collective shock and incredulity of our landlord and the retired woman that minds the front entrance of our apartment block. Shanghaiist had naively believed that the four flights of stairs we schlepped the thing every time we used it (almost daily) would be enough to deter what few opportunists found their way into our building in a “safe” part of town. But ultimately, one of the immutable truths of Shanghai life prevailed. Your bike WILL get stolen.

Sideways on Xinle Lu

Watch! Bag! Shoes! Looka Looka!

If you don't already have plans for some Halloween party somewhere in Shanghai tonight, Shanghaiist suggests you head on over to Tang Hui Pub. In fact, just bring that costume along and go to Tang Hui anyway. This well-loved, hard-rocking bar is having its goodbye party tonight. We mean goodbye as in see you later, at a different, larger and more central location. Shanghaiist also reported back in September on some of the other reasons behind the move.