(continued from previous entry) Vivian arrived at the same time, just as Simon & I stepped foot on the front door of the restaurant!

Wee! Vivian said this place was famous for it's porridge! So we order some of their specialities! Taste not bad!



We ordered a few more dishes and out of those, these pancakes are GOOOOOOOD!


After dinner, I felt like visiting the doggie we saw at Ping Jiang Lu so we brought Simon over. Along the way, they were chatting in their Suzhouese language which I obviously do not understand but I get the idea that both of them seemed to get along well huh :X As it turned out there were from the same high school. Well... sort of. They were both from Suzhou High School but... apparently they have Suzhou First High School 苏州第一高中, Suzhou Second High School 苏州第二高中.... -.- Simon was from 9th? Or was it 10th? And Vivian was also probably from either but they're not the same. Just imagine we have Raffles Girls First School, Raffles Girls Second School... muahaha...

Vivian brought me to this place!

She said lots of tourist like to get 土产 here. But I wasn't really keen but I thought the neon lights outside were quite attractive.

We came by the cafe and was disappointed that the doggie wasn't around. I don't think the owner recognises us but we did mention we were here for the doggie, she mentioned she brought her dog back her to parents' place blablabla... 反正都来了，也是我在苏州最后一晚，就喝点饮料吧~


This cafe is really nice to chill and I realised it seems common to have guestbooks in the cafe. I took a few and read them and wah... a lot of artistic ppl in Suzhou who has nice handwritings! Pardon the bad quality of my camera.... really is useless at night with limited lighting.





So we decided to write a bit of something too. Apparently Simon was trying to draw me.... haha... Good effort la! (Original pics were really dark, has to tune it to be able to see it properly but too grainly >< )




It was an enjoyable time spent with like-minded ppl. Luckily for these friends, my days in Suzhou wouldn't be too lonely. And fortunately for them, I get to travel to other parts of Suzhou I don't normally have the chance to. I'll see you again soon I hope!

With that I got back to the apartment, packed up. This is one of the most positive trips so far which made me realised 人的适应能力真强，东西做久了会越来越上手，也会慢慢得越来越习惯.

Sunday, taking the coach to Shanghai over the weekend is such a breeze. Do not take the coach on Friday evenings, totally horrendous.

Took the 950am coach over to Shanghai Hongqiao then a cab over to the apartment. Managed to reach the apartment at 12ish. Had arranged to meet up with Evelyn at Tian Zi Fang around 2. Combed through the kitchen to get some food, relax, nuah, prepared and took the subway alone and trying to find my way there alone.

Boy, was the town in Shanghai crowded. I guess it's probably due to the Shanghai Expo with the influx of tourists!

I found my way to a bloody red building, in Evelyn's words! And this is the first sight I saw!


Really damn bloody if you ask me. It's not uncommon to see a lot of red stuff in China.

Just by looking at the plate, I know I'm going to like it here!


The map of the whole area. There were a lot of photography, galleries, boutiques, mainly places showcasing unique & creative art/accessories

Cute little shoe shop.

But I don't think modern ppl would be wearing these...

I like their logos! It's a photography gallery.


 You can purchase high quality B/W shots of views of the Shanghai city like the one above. If only I could sneak to snap more photos of the gallery & other shots of what this zai photographer did cos nobody took pics inside.

But hey, I went researching about this photographer, Dere Erh . Boy was I glad to have caught this exhibition at the right time. Check out more of Shanghai architecture/landscape here .

I actually went online to search for any pics of the gallery inside since I was too paiseh to take. The below photos are not mine so they're credited to the original photographer :)




Very beautiful working space. The 2nd level is artist workshop and the open spaces below would be for exhibition/sale. Lovely!

It was inspiring to visit photo studio after another! And did I mention the 艺术气息 was greatly felt! I LIKE IT THERE!!!

Admiring the cool architecture! How nice would it be to live close here!

That's Evelyn's head at the foreground.

 I wish Singapore has places like that, a chance for aspiring artists/designers/photographers to showcase their works and earn a living out of it. I'm pretty sure some board will be earning from the rent of each (work)shops/studios.

Come to think of it, actually Haji Lane is somewhat like that but only the exterior/interior are more like "theme-boutiques" where they spend investment to decorate and/or paint it to give the artistic feel but then inside the shops are really retail-style. The business owners are really out to make profit instead of you know, showcasing art like an exhibition.

Anyway, here's another cute logo of an accessories/apparel shop!


I really love all these cute signboard/logos!

This Woo shop sell scarves.

Whether you need a stunning cashmere wrap, a hand-embroidered silk throw or an affordable cotton sarong, it's all here. And those things aren't cheap. Whooping figure. Not for the normal average joe like you & me. A black cashmere opera scarf embroidered with peonies can fetch a few thousand RMB.

See! I knew it, there not only have retail shops, I'm pretty sure a lot of design & advertising companies are here too.

This part here is a bit like those shophouse companies at Chinatown/Tanjong Pagar.

There was a commotion in front. Some photoshoot was going on. It seemed like blogshop fashion shoot but yet seems like cosplay at the same time too.


This is what is looks like above the Ling sign.

I wanted to visit all the individual shops there but it was really crowded with the photoshoot ppl and the influx of tourists during the weekend. I could only snap random pics along the path I was walking & exploring at the same time.

This shop sell handmade soft toys! Thought the bears/dolls look quite cute! :)


Got sian expression & man zu epression one! :P

I'm in a hat shop!

There was a big mirror for patrons to look while trying on their hat but it was rusting, therefore the black spots. Notice the little squares at the right side? Those are cut-up mirror pieces as well, it's part of the design of this huge frame mirror! NICE!

I really am impressed with all the little details these shop owners put into their shops, little decorative piece here & there to make patrons feel in awed, impressed, welcomes etc

How can a blog post be without my zi pai shot?

Man, those eyebags lol

Continuing walking, chance upon this wall! Didn't really noticed what was written on the historical plate.

But those 2 chio bus in front were models probably finding angels to be shot at or something.


The lanes are packed with restaurants and bars, filled with ppl & ang moh tourist who like to chillax there. I guess they cafe-hop too.  It's all the same, they'd sit down & chat amongst themselve while at the same time looking at the busy human traffic.

Tianzifang seems to attract the most avant-garde fashion tourists in all of China, who have rightly heard that this is the place to see and be seen. There will always be a fashion shoot or wedding being photographed to keep your eyes busy.



This is a shop that specialises in papercuting! Look at the details!


This is paper folding... and the reflection of me at the bottom right corner :P

I didn't enter every shop cos it's just impossible to, with the crowd. It's going to be really squeezy and I was thinking Evelyn probably has been here for a lot of time since she grew up there and I didn't want to take up her time. It was satisfying enough for me to be viewing all the individual shops from the outside. I guess it's really competitive, hence all show owners put in effort to make sure they attract their customers!



See, it's either you're looking at ppl or ppl are looking at you.

This is a really cute pet accessories shop.

 I wanted to take pics inside but it's really damn small. It's smaller than the size of my room. I probably already occupy 1/4 of the shop by standing inside lol

This is hand painted on the column!


You cannot imagine the amount of RED-ness in that place.



This is a cute "For Hire" advertisement, probably hand-written and pasted outside the shop.

It says, "Do you like Scent/Aroma library? Are you as eloquent/smooth as you look? Do you follow the trends? Do you have a unique sense of smell? Show us your most 'in' side & join us!" Haha, ok I translated directly so it may not be too accurate.

To be honest, the advertisement for hire attracted me and I came inside. They sell scent perfume. Or rather, they sell UNIQUE scent and sell it as perfume? I don't know if you call those perfume? I'm not sure if you actually wear it? Or just smelling it? Look at the kinda scent they produce!


They have even milkshake, alcohol scents! Crazy! And yes, I did smell a few and it's really THOSE scent! HAHA...

Another craziness of the shop....

They really stick the little chinese characters ON THE wall. They can easier snip one of the 'tails' or the 'neck' of the strokes if they're not careful. And they have to be align.... how do they do that?

Little shelves with little special scents.

Quite an investment on the light though I wouldn't think the lights helped in any of the presentation. Wall lights are supposed to 'take up space' on the walls. Kinda too excessive.

Continued exploring... Chanced by a shop and spot this!


Evelyn & I were wondering if it's real! Haha! It didn't move!

And actually earlier on, at the pet shop, the sell 'fake cats'. As in, not real carcass but like stuff toy cats that look real for decorative purpose. Like some ppl like to put a statue/figure of a dog at the doorstep as if they dog will guard or scare theives that kinda thing.

We were about to leave actually... (this shop with the lotus logo is where we spotted the cat sleeping on the shelf)

Heading towards this direction shown in the pic.

But there was a commotion behind me! (noticed the same lotus logo shop)

Photobomber!! The group of tourist behind me (shown in pic) also spotted the cute cat sleeping and wondered if it was real as well! Just look at the direction where they're looking and you'll see part of the cat on the shelf. It's at the bottom right, in between the checkered guy and the lady with pony tail.


Just a cute chun lian!






Another random logo

This is a unique 'teddy bear/stuff toy' shop!

Look at the toys. They've got incredibly weird head/body ratio! o_O

It was an extremely hot day so as a parting gesture, we brought ice cream! Just some more parting shots before I leave this wonderful artistic place!



Then we walked out of Tian Zi Fang and heading somewhere to eat. While walking, I was taking random pics of us.

I forgot what we chatted about. Why did we smile so heartily?

Eyebags really jia lat...

No matter how thick concealer also can't cover. How to smile without showing any signs of eyebags ah?

I like how the overhead bridges of Shanghai, or basically in China are. It's wide enough and the railings are pretty too!


Wide roads. I don't know, even though Shanghai is really a metropolitan city but it's really not as overpopulated as Singapore. I think I like it here!

We found a McDonald and bought something to eat. We chatted a bit about life in Synovate. She recently designed from Synovate and would be joining Frost & Sullivan next week, so she is taking a couple of weeks off. I shared with her about my job woes at iLearn and what I'm doing seemed to be pointless. Well, hopefully we both would be able to find our ideal jobs!

Evelyn couldn't company for too long as she needed to go off for a wedding. We parted after leaving McDonalds. So I decided to take a walk at 中山公园 which was a stop to the apartment I live 愚园路.

And then I figured this stop is where Tian Zi Fang is at :)


Apparently I though Zhong Shan Park was REALLY a park -.- you know something like Botanical Garden or something but it turns out to be ANOTHER huge mall. I did take a while inside but I wasn't too keen on spending money on things I could get in Singapore at almost the same price. So I head back to Yuyuan.

Even though it was summer but it still gets pretty chilly towards evening and not to mention at night. I bought some bread and eat as dinner... Nuah alone at the apartment.

I'm looking forward to meet Evelyn again for some more touring & exploring. I was really glad to have her around. LUCKILY I knew someone in Shanghai I could hang out with, otherwise it will be EVEN MORE SIAN!

The Bund, wait for me, here I come soon! <3