Rewind: Babymoon in China (2010)

Deeeeep rewind! One year ago this week, we went to China for our babymoon! I was 27 weeks pregnant, tired, but loved our 10 days in three cities: Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai!

Shanghai - 27 weeks preggers

I hate that I don't remember all the details, but these images provide some semblance of the memory of a good time full of art, food and friends. Though I was so pregnant, I recall that travel was not all that bad. We saved up a bunch of miles to fly business class, which on United's new business class, was (is) pretty fantastic. China is a magical place, full of contrasts. At once backwards (censorship run amok--Blogger and Facebook blocked!), it is also light years ahead of the U.S. (super high speed rail; sleek and overcompensated decadence).

We've been many times before, as G still has expat friends from his days of living in Beijing. We usually go every year, but knew that the babymoon would be the last time we'd be doing that for quite some time. So here's to our last (for a while) trip to the "middle country".

 Hong Kong

View of Causeway Bay from our hotel room

 Breakfast at the hotel - East meets West!

         

Surprisingly good lunch at the hotel - the chef is known for his traditional Cantonese fare

Lounge for drinks (service is AHMAZING in China. Amazing.)

Subway - Heading to Wan Chai area where locals shop street markets

Hong Kong is an island and thereby extremely hilly. In the middle of the city there are pedestrian trams (flat escalators), which I definitely needed

Street market scenes

Headed over to a more corporate Central Market area to see Johnny Leung of De-Luxe Tailors, G's long-time tailor (who also custom made his wedding shirt)

Hong Kong is heavily commercial and has the most outrageous showy consumer culture. We browsed, but didn't buy. Check out my dweeby look in these glasses (they were VERY expensive)

 

Scenes from Bo Innovation, a funky molecular cuisine take on traditional Chinese cooking; with chef Alvin Leung - an engineer by training, he was self taught as a chef, and it earned him two Michelin stars. Good food, amazing deconstruction!

Beijing

Next stop: Beijing. It was cold and rainy. We stayed outside of the city with G's expat Danish friend, Alan, and his wife in their villa (that's what they call Western-style mcMansions-villas).

G in Alan's living room. Alan is also an art collector. Love the way he mixed traditional Danish, contemporary, and Chinese elements in the decor

Alan and G were part of the Beefsteak and Burgundy club: good food and wine. And like G, Alan is an oenophile with an impressive collection of bottles

Dinner with Alan's family

They had two ayi's (Mandarin for "aunties" - nickname for nannies) who cooked and took care of their two children; domestic help is very cheap in this country with gross income disparities.

Some traditional Chinese food made by the ayi's, including a bun hinting of the Islamic influence, reflective of the large Hui population in western China

We visited our friend and artist Lao Wang at his studios outside of the city, near SongZhuan art village

The government confiscated his house and now he's building a new one. Here, he and a friend demonstrate an old-school planing technique for the timbers he'll use to adorn his new abode

Poverty is apparent in the provinces

Songzhuan art village and its expo (a bit of a departure from the famous 798 art zone in central Beijing)

Lao Wang is hilarious!

Scenes from the art expo

A Chinese truck - like a motorized tricycle with a cab and flat bed thrown on

In front of a school-turned-restaurant

Lunch

Chinese food is so much better in China (although I had to be very careful about what I ate). Food pollution in mainland China is a problem, and was a topic of discussion.

A visit to Aussie friend, Paul, and his family in the Lido neighborhood of downtown Beijing

Paul's daughter, K. She could easily be mine, dontcha think? (see below)

 With Chung, Paul's wife. She and I could be sisters (all look same!)

Dinner at Capital M, where Paul and Chung were planning on having a reception for their renewal of vows ceremony that October (we missed it by a month)

Yummy, western/French cuisine

When in Beijing, you must have Peking (roast) duck! The best is at Da Dong restaurant. They slice it table side (with masks on - how sanitary!)

Crispy, golden yummy skin

You put it in a rice flour tortilla of sorts. Like an Asian duck burrito!

It was near time for a huge holiday for the Chinese: Mid-Autumn festival. So there were moon cakes everywhere. Complimentary from Da Dong.

Shanghai

Next stop: Shanghai. We flew out of Beijing Nanyuan airport, which operates domestic flights. It's everything you'd expect from a state-run airport: chaotic, backwards, and slightly stinky! It's a stark contrast to the uber sleek Beijing Capital International Airport, which got a facelift with the opening of the Terminal 3 in 2008 for the Olympics.

Nanyuan airport



G's friend, Roger (an expat New Zealander - Kiwi?) picked us up from the airport. Here's a shot of the city skyline from the car. Glitzy! (If Hong Kong is like New York, then Shanghai is like Vegas, but without the casinos.) 

Shanghai, as an old port city, is CRAZY COMMERCIAL. Because of its favorable trade location, it saw an economic and political boom in the early 20th century, and a lot of Europeans settled in the city, with their various concessions (territories). So there's a lot of western influence there.

When I think of Shanghai, I think "old Shanghai" of the 1930s. And so it was appropriate that we had our first meal at an old stalwart, the 1931 Cafe and bistro, where they combine local Shanghainese favorites with a bit of France. With velvet drapes, rococo mirrors and Chinoiserie, it totally worked! I even took note of the glass droplet chandelier above the table (and it inspired the two hanging in our home now).



Lots of interesting architecture on the Bund, the waterfront in central Shanghai, with neo-classical and art deco influences. On one side of the Huangpu river, it's historic buildings, on the other side, the recently developed super high rises are a stark contrast.

 The old International settlement on the western side of the river

 

The new, modern skyscrapers on the eastern side, an area called Pudong.

View of it from M on the Bund (yes, the same restaurant group as Capital M in Bejing) is amazing at night.

Shanghai has a very strong contemporary art presence. We visited Shanghai Sulpture Space, a public art gallery of sorts.

Super decadent brunch with Roger and his fiancee at the top of Vue Restaurant. They had stations of everything from locs to steak to design-your-own-risotto to desserts. The space is designed thematically, like stylized rooms of a house. Incredible view, of course, of the city. Ridiculous!

Walking off the too-big (like me) meal. Of note, Shanghai was hosting the World Expo. But we avoided it for the jostling, sneezing, loud crowds, which were already too much on the streets.

 

Lastly...

 Shopping in the hutong, alleyway shops

Drinks in the French Concession with friends

Our last night in China! At M on the Bund with a view of Pudong in the background. A very memorable babymoon!