Xintiandi on a Saturday Night

Shanghai Xintiandi - The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaves

Took me an hour of hesitation, before deciding to come over to Xintiandi. A last minute meeting change resulted in my staying an extra few days out in Shanghai... and while I would have preferred to go home for the weekend, Shanghai for a few days ain't that bad either. And one of the draws was to experience the night life here... NOT. WIll pass clubbing and pubbing for a episode or two of Brothers and Sisters.

Got in touch with David (previous Shanghai "correspondence" was John) and we planned to catch up tomorrow. It had been two months since he had returned to Shanghai, after about a year in Singapore, and being close to our gang of friends. Now, without Facebook, it will be good to catch up a little with him, and find out how quickly he had gotten used to the life back in China.

The cafe is at a nice place to people-watch, and there are a lot of good-looking people around. Certainly better dressed than my t-shirt and jeans, but not that I am too conscious about my dressing. There is only so many pieces of clothings I could have packed for the work trip, with the cold weather and all. I wonder how cold Tokyo would be... I do not have my winter coat with me, and will probably miss it for the warmth and the stylishness. Probably reduced to wearing more layers of clothings, and risk mis-matching the business jacket with the down-winter wear. Maybe I should go shopping tomorrow?

moments before 32

spent the whole weekend watching 17 episodes of Brothers and Sisters... and when I finally went out for my first meal of this sunday (okay... 2nd, if you count buns and yogurt as brunch), I was also keen on taking a walk to move some of the lazy muscles.

it was only then that I realized the lake next to the hotel had a musical fountain with laser and hip-chinese music show. it was actually quite entertaining, and I like water afterall...

the bright spot in the top background is the moon on the 16th... supposedly at its roundest. Quality of the blackberry camera for night shot is poor, but at least the camera caught some of the moving lights.

Really could stay there and watch the dancing water jets, in the cool weather with the nice night sky. The laser show was quite good, reflected at various depths of water, rushing up, or splashing back down. If the music were different, and if there were good company, with a container of hot coffee, it would have been a perfect night. :-)

in China during their holidays

China's National Day... Mid-Autumn Festival... The adjacent festivities almost meant a standstill in China, since people are inclined to return home for a much deserved long break. In the past, this would be critical, as people needed to return home via rail, which could take days. Today, it is still important, as not everyone is rich enough to take the more expensive modes of transport.

Anyhow, despite the customer's plan to complete the work during this period, reality caught up, and there were insurmountable problems and hence delays. The result was the "burning" of holidays for many of the people around the project.

Photos from the park - day & night: