Completed Anais in Shanghai

I finished it! I wore it out in public! It fits a lot better! I did not get a lot of photos of it – circumstances conspired against a long photography session.  The day that I wore my Anais in Shanghai, my chief photographer was disabled with some severe intenstinal distress, and was barely up to the photo above.  The photo is taken outside the yarn shop at 149 Ruijin Road #2 in Shanghai where I had a fruitful little visit – pale grey laceweight Heng Yuan Xiang yarn. Unlike my previous visit to this shop, the shop was fully lit, and I highly recommend a visit if you are in Shanghai.

As before, the staff spoke no English, but they appeared to be delighted by our daughters’ basic Mandarin.  At the girl’s school, they are taught Mandarin from the age of three; and our daughters loved having an audience that hung on their every word.

Apart from yarn shopping, we watched a fantastic show by the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe.  I had been a bit dubious about the value of the tickets, but thought that the kids would enjoy it.  While they had a good time, I actually think that the adults enjoyed it more!  The acrobats completely exceeded my expectations of the capacity of the human body.  Who knew that a woman could support herself solely using her palate? We left the show completely boggled.

We also ate well, once again at 1931, and also at the restaurant below, which is next to the Yuyuan Gardens. This restaurant had been recommended by a friend, and was worth the visit.  As well as being in a great location, next to a major tourist attraction; the food was great, and we had good service in English.

Our concierge had explained to us that the food becomes more expensive as you climb each floor, but that even the most expensive floor would not be too much.  He was right, and we avoided the truly daunting crowds on the ground floor, and ate on the third floor in a back room.  The bill for two adults and two children was 220 renmbi (under US$30).

As someone who has a more than passing interest in both craft and cooking, I found watching the chefs making the dumplings fascinating.  They had very deft hands that managed to stretch an impossibly small dumpling skin over a large amount of filling. Our whole family watched like it was the food channel! 

While we all had a good time in Shanghai (tummy troubles aside), we did find that having two blonde children meant that we attracted a lot of attention. While the girls liked being treated like their every utterance was charming; even they tired of the constant questions and requests for photos. Shortly after the photo below was taken, we realised that wearing hats diminished the attention substantially, and the girls were glad to wear theirs, even when the sun did not seem too extreme.

I’ve been on a finishing kick, and have finally finished my Juno Regina.  I’ll blog her soon, and will be announcing my first ever yarn giveaway!