As a Christmas-lover, I’m the first to welcome festive celebrations well before December. However, when Christmas chatter broke out in the ‘SH Christmas’ WeChat group in mid-September, I was as surprised as anyone! Update: The links associated with this […]
I’ve watched too many scary movies to know nothing good ever comes from descending stairs into darkness, but I was so curious! We found this creepy underground tunnel at Xinhaoshan Park (Signal Mountain Park) in Shinan, Qingdao, Shandong […]
‘School’ Live Bar – Everything about this place screams grunge! We didn’t go inside as the bar was closed during the day, but I can only imagine the type of music played inside. I took this photo whilst […]
Where is Arkadia Retreat? Nestled amongst the clouds, pine trees and towering bamboo in mountainous southern Zhejiang Province is a beautiful bed and breakfast called Arkadia Retreat. With stunning views of the ancient mountain village of Yan Keng Ling […]
This breathtakingly ornate, and equally enormous, archway stands inside The Shanghai Exhibition Hall. Built in 1955 the building commemorates the alliance between China and the Soviet Union and was originally called the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building. As magnificent […]
The imposing entry way to a typical lanehouse community in Shanghai. Where others see a crumbling dilapidated old building, I see beauty in the colour and pattern of the bricks. Beauty in the Ivy spreading like veins across the […]
An enormous doorway in Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou beautifully frames this 20 meter-high camphor wood statue of Siddhartha Gautama, now more commonly known as Buddha. It is the largest wooden buddhist statue in China. Lingyin Temple, which roughly translates to […]
Walking along the busy streets of the Former French Concession in Shanghai, you’d be forgiven for thinking this huge mural is the temporary covering of a business under construction. However, the intention of the mural is to conceal […]
Sometimes it’s too tempting not to take a look inside! We found this graffiti’d door on Moganshan Lu in the M50 Art Precinct in Shanghai. Moganshan Lu has been undergoing a slow transformation these last couple of years. Gone […]
This leafy window immediately makes me think of Hobbits. A kitchen window in one of the old residential buildings along Changle Lu in the Former French Concession. A walk along tree-lined Changle Lu will take you passed historic […]
I instantly fell in love with these doors as I was walking along Wulumuqi Road, Xuhui in February 2018. To me the vibrant China Red with embossed wood paneling and geometric lattice-work embodies ‘China’. These doors are the entrance […]
Updated January 15, 2023 Chinese New Year 中国新年 (zhōng guó xīn nián), commonly called Lunar New Year and Spring Festival, is rich in symbolism and tradition stemming from folklore. It is rooted in the celebration of spring and marks the transition between […]
Joy City is the mall that keeps on giving! Recently I was talking about Joy City with a friend, and he mentioned he’d taken his son to an animal petting zoo there. I thought he had his malls mixed […]
When we moved to Shanghai in 2016, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine us taking weekend road trips to the mountains, swimming in crystal clear mountain streams among forests of towering bamboo! Thankfully friends in the know […]
Waking up to torrential Plum Rains yesterday we were thankful to have booked tickets to Baoyan Paradise, a children’s indoor play centre, at Daning Shopping Centre in Jing’an North. I’d found Baoyan Paradise on Dianping. With over 4000 reviews […]