My Hong Kong friends, Tara and Leah, came for a girls Shanghai shopping trip. They left husbands and children behind. Emmy was not too pleased that Grace and Csoban (her HK buds) were not coming to play with her. Tara and Leah have been reading the Sisterchicks book series with their bible study group. They had just finished the book, “Sisterchicks do the Hula”. It is about friends reconnecting on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate their 40th birthdays. The ladies gave me the book so I could understand the Sisterchicks’ philosophy. My favorite quote from the book was “the years of forty to sixty is the contentment season and years of sixty to eighty are the dignity years“. I am enjoying the contentment season!! So we became the Shanghai Sisterchicks.
Tara and Leah arrived on Wednesday around 2:00pm. We had until Saturday to shop the City. Our first stop was the sports store, Decathlon. It is one of my favorites as it has quality items at a very reasonable price. We just arrived in the store when we ran into Judy Kim. We all met Judy dragon boat racing the summer before I left Hong Kong to Shanghai. Judy moved to Shanghai around the same time I did. I always run into Judy in various spot around the city. Judy’s husband is the manager of the Grand Hyatt at the new World Finance Center (WFC). She made arrangements for us to meet her there on Friday night. The party-time fun was all falling into place.
After 4 hours of shopping, the ladies were ready to leave with overflowing carts and checking off their Christmas list very fast. The first thing Tara did when we got home was contact Graham, her husband, to verify if he could get them a waiver on their 20kg luggage limit…as they had passed it already. He works in the airline business. A few calls and Graham worked his magic, which gave the ladies a green light for really loading up!
The next day, our first stop was to be a “quick” shop at the fabric market. Tara and family are going to an ABBA concert/event. They needed some costumes. Again, 4 hours later and the ladies had a big order in place – 5 coats, 4 linen pants, 1 work suit with pants, 3 ABBA costume pants and 6 dog bandanas. My tailor was going to have everything ready by 10:00am on Saturday – you gotta’ love China.
We enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch in the French Concessions at the Closed Door. The set lunch meal comes with a choice of drink – tea, coffee or Sangria….it was an easy choice!
We thought Tara needed to see something touristy, as this was her first visit to Shanghai. Leah lived in Shanghai for about 8 years back in 1994. She went to the University and lived the “college” lifestyle in Shanghai. Both ladies speak beautiful Mandarin. Leah studied Chinese in college and Tara lived in Beijing prior to moving to Hong Kong. We took Tara to YuYuan (Yu Garden). I have been asked if there are gardens at this touristy shopping spot. There are gardens, but I have never seen them. We took a look around at the touristy buildings and then hit the shopping. From YuYuan, we headed to the underground (fake) market. The next time we looked at our watches, it was 7:30pm, time to go home for dinner.
Our mornings always started off with a nice breakfast chat before hitting the streets of Shanghai. Today, we were heading to Hongqiao to the Pearl/Craft market. But, we need to stop by Decathlon again for quick exchange of pants for Tara. We decided to go to the Decathlon in Hongqiao as the Jinqiao one was in the wrong direction. The Hongqiao Decathlon had different “stuff”. Again, 4 hours later, the ladies filled another shopping cart each. After a quick stop for lunch at my usual Hongqiao Bakery, we hit the Pearl/Craft market. I knew the market would take some time because we planned to put jewelry together. We put together a bracelet each to represent our Sisterchicks weekend. I also purchased a Minority lady from the Yunnan Region at one of the art shops. She is our Sisterchick shopping lady from Lijiang.
By the time we left the market, we had 45 minutes for a quick stop at the shops at the Flower Market. We were on schedule until we walked into the last store that had everything out for Christmas. Mr. Nie had to track us down. We had to pick Jim up at 5:45, get Elle from a play date and be back in Puxi for a dinner reservation at 7:00…whew!! We were a tad late for our reservation. The restaurant, Lost Heaven, had just opened a new place on the Bund. The place serves upscale Yunnan cuisine, which we all loved. From there, we were meeting Judy at the WFC – on the 92nd floor in the Music Room.
We had to step up our day-time dress. Judy Kim is a beautiful Korean woman. She is always dressed as if she just stepped off the pages of a magazine. There was a bit of a scramble for Tara and Leah to find something to wear. They packed light for they needed space/weight for shopping. First, Tara came out in her new riding vest from the Decathlon. I had a good laugh, but it looked good. To top that off, Leah came out in her new RUBBER riding boots from the Decathlon. You wouldn’t know they were riding boots from a distant. Leah didn’t bring any shoes but her comfortable runners. The Sisterchicks were in creative form to meet Judy!!
Upon arrive on the 92nd, we found out that the famous Carlton Smith was playing. Since the Sisterchicks are out of touch, we didn’t know anything about him.
Judy had reserved the best seats for us. Jim was enjoying a night out with the ladies. Judy ordered us drinks and took care of us all night. The next thing we know, the singer, Carlton, had Tara on the stage dancing!! Following Tara, he pulled Leah on the stage (you should see the video on YouTube…just kidding).
Not only did we enjoy the Music Room, but Judy enticed us with the Dancing Room. There are professional dancers standing by to give you an impromptu lesson. My “dance boy” tried to show me the swing – as a good country girl, I schooled him. We made it past midnight, which was rare for this group. We left with many laughs and good memories.
Tara was first up after going to bed after 2:00am. She “hung” with my girls because, of course, they were up. Our first stop of the day was the Fabric market for pick-up of the big order. Everything came out beautiful and the ladies were very pleased. From there, we enjoyed a long lunch at Whisk, a place known for chocolate!! A perfect place to end the Sisterchicks weekend.
Back to the house for the final pack and drive to the airport. Graham had secured the ladies 70kg from the allowed 40kg in luggage weight. They were still over, but the lady at check-in let them go without paying.
This closed the chapter on the shopping Sisterchicks in Shanghai.