Momma Invades Shanghai

Well this trip has been months in the works, but my mom has finally made it out to Shanghai! I left work early on Thursday and drove straight to the airport to pick her up! James and I made a very sparkly sign that I held out when I saw her coming out after baggage. You would think that after 24 plus hours of travel, she would have been a bit exhausted, but she was pretty high from flying and arriving safely on the other side of the world, that she was ready for a cocktail! We took her to one of our local happy hour spots on the Hong Mei Pedestrian Street and she got to meet some of my friends and co-workers. It was rather uneventful, but everyone was happy to welcome her to the 'Hai! 

Friday morning, I had to go to work, but my mom insisted that I order her McDonald's breakfast for delivery before I left (the first luxury she experienced). Later, she braved money exchange, getting lunch at a restaurant and hailing a taxi all by herself before meeting me at work. I was really happy that I got to show her around my work, and she got to meet a lot of people. Friday night, after work, we got a two hour hair wash, massage and blow dry! Then we went out to one of my favorite places for spicy Hunan Chinese food - Di Shui Dong. She LOVED it! Following dinner, we took her to another one of our favorite hang outs - The Spot. 

The sun was shinning Saturday morning when he woke up. Mom, of course woke up with the sun (still claiming that she didn't have jet lag) and we got our day started early as we began our city tour of Shanghai. We jumped on the metro and headed downtown to visit Yu Yuan, Shanghai Old City and one of the favorite places in the city. It was the perfect time of year to visit the garden and my mom really loved all of the old Chinese architecture. It was the first time that she actually felt like she was in China - all of the people, the pushing and shoving, the tourists, stinky tofu and all! That night, I had to work at a charity event for Roots and Shoots and mom went along with me to sell t-shirts and enjoy some live music. Here are some photos from our day...

(my favorite place in the city)

Here are some photos from the Yu Yuan Garden tour

(mom eating squid from the street)

Sunday morning, we awoke to another perfectly beautiful day! Could not have been a better day to take her to the Marriage Market downtown in People's Park and Jessica joined us. The Marriage Market is always so interesting, especially for someone whom is not used to Traditional Chinese Culture. I mentioned the market in a previous blog, but parents and grandparents go to the market in an attempt to make connections and arrange relationships between their children. It is really a disrespectful to take photos, but I managed to sneak a couple...

(a man admiring an entire wall of posted information)

 (mom got to try sticky fruit!)

 (eating street dumplings.. yummmmmm)

The rest of the afternoon/evening, we spent running around, all over town! We spent so much time wondering around People's Park, then to American Eagle and H&M, along with a couple markets, that we never made it to the fabric market or to get mani/pedis like we planned... but all and all a really enjoyable day! Mom was sooooo tired (jet lagged) that she thought everything-was-roll-on-the-floor-in-tears-laughing worthy! Any little thing would set her into a fit of tears and laughter. Then, later after we were home, she retold all of the stories of the day to my roommates and again through herself into a fit of tears! 

The next day we finally made it for a mani/pedi in the morning and a cocktail in the sun before heading to the fabric market. Now the fabric market is a bit overwhelming for anyone, but my mom was loving it! We got a couple dresses made for me and a couple jackets made for my mom's friend Julie. My mom was still a bit scared about bargaining so she has Jess and I do most of her dirty work. After spending nearly the entire evening at the market, we headed down to The Captain's Bar to enjoy the beautiful view of the Bund. The cool thing was that we got there in the late evening when it was still light out, but by the time we left, it was dark and all of the lights were on. That night, we met up with some others for Sushi at my favorite sushi place in the French Concession. Then Philip invited us out for a foot massage (and to meet my mother). Of course, my mom enjoyed the Chinese foot massage (and she absolutely adored Philip).

Tuesday, we spent the day at the Shanghai Glasses market with Christina. It was my first time at the market, but Christina has been there before and LOVES it! It is five floors of rows upon rows of glasses in all different colors, shapes, styles, sizes, and brands. They can give you an eye exam on the spot to determine prescription and get the lenses ready in less than thirty minutes for next to nothing! By the time we left, we had purchased ten pairs of glasses between four people each for less then 15 USD a pair (including the eye exam, frames and lenses) - pretty much a steal!