Shanghai's Backyard: Moganshan
It's been on my list of things to do for seven years...go to Moganshan. Moganshan is a National Park set in the hills north of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. It was once the playground of Shanghai's highfalutin pre-WWII expat crowd who would flock to their stone villas and swimming pools in the cooler mountain air during nineteenth and twentieth century summers. These days, it draws day-hikers and leisure drivers from all over the area including Shanghai and Zhejiang Province.
Its renown for beautiful greenery is well-deserved. The mountains are covered in lush bamboo groves, dotted here and there with green tea plantations that have been producing some of China's finest teas for hundreds of years. It was in this area that a British botanist, Robert Fortune, commenced one of the greatest thefts in all history: stealing the secrets of tea from China and exporting them to India. (His discoveries also led the British to disdain green tea and prefer black. This is all spelled out in Sarah Rose's book For all the Tea in China - a fantastic read.) The mountains are shrouded with this history and intrigue - so for many reasons, not least of which that it is so close to Shanghai - I've been wanting to visit.
Finally a few weeks ago, I traveled there with my family and a few of our friends. We stayed at the beautiful Le Passage Moganshan, a boutique hotel that prides itself on its eco-friendliness but I must laud it for its family-friendliness. Set on a tea plantation just down the mountain from Moganshan National Park, the hotel boasts sweeping views of the mountains. We enjoyed a fabulous hike to Moganshan's peak accompanied (and guided) by the owners' charming boys as well as many dips in Le Passage's heated saltwater pool. It was by far one of the most enjoyable weekends we've spent in China's countryside.
Read more:
Photos: above - a path leading up the mountain through the bamboo forest; below - the main houses at Le Passage Moganshan. © 2012 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
Photo of the Week - What are these?
Who can tell me what these little nifty, colorful things are?
Photo: © 2012 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
Hong Kong International Art Fair 2012
Every now and again, I escape the dalu (大陆), that's "mainland" in Mandarin, and scoot down to Hong Kong for some reason or another. This trip was riding on the coattails of my business-traveling husband with a free mileage ticket on Dragon Air. (Thank you, husband.) I managed to spend an afternoon at the Hong Kong International Art Fair, otherwise known as HK Art.
As a newly minted appreciator of contemporary art, thanks to Sheila Greenspan and Shanghai's Eastlink Gallery, I felt ready to take it on. The main take-away from Ms. Greenspan's course, for me, is this: when visiting a gallery, try not to see everything. Pick out one or two pieces and really study them.
I utilized this course of action for perhaps the first half of my visit to the massive HK Art fair. It was fun, just wandering here and there, going to look at whatever took my fancy. I fell in love with Chen Guangwu's works, represented by Alexander Ochs Gallery of Berlin and Beijing. The artist is a native of Guangxi Province but works out of Beijing. His rendering of traditional Chinese calligraphy is at once abstract, yet precisely designed. The scrolls look as if they've been machine printed, ready for wallpaper. But each stroke is handwritten with a calligrapher's brush, art that must take hours of meticulous work.
I also really liked the work of Wuhan artist Zhang Quan whose pieces on first glance are simply tiny, circular ink scribbles; but after you step back, you can see a landscape or scene take shape out of the scribble-fog. Both artists work primarily in black and white, something Ms. Greenspan drew our attention to in the course. Nominally that working in black and white is a basic form of Chinese art - that black characters on white rice paper sometimes form the first steps in any students' study of art in China: learning to write calligraphy.
After really taking my time in the first hall, I made my way up to the second hall where large installation pieces are a big draw, including Cong, a work by Ai Weiwei. The piece includes letters from government ministries regarding his investigation into the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008, and a 5,196-name-long list of the students who died in the earthquake because of faulty construction of schools.
HK Art is the most important art fair in Asia and next year, it joins the group that holds Art Basel and Art Basel Miami so its importance and prestige is cemented for the future.
More info:
- Hong Kong International Art Fair
- Hong Kong Travel Guide (by About.com's Rory Boland)
- More about Sheila Greenspan's Shanghai Art Appreciation Course
- Guide to Shanghai's Best Contemporary Art Galleries
Photos: above, a work by Chen Guangwu; below Ai Weiwei's Cong.
Brunch at the InterContinental Shanghai Expo
Delicious...oh, and you won't see your kids.
Where I grew up in central Illinois (way, WAY outside of Chicago) there was no such thing as "brunch" - late breakfast or early lunch, but no one brunched. Later I moved to San Francisco, where everyone "does" brunch. Brunch in the Bay Area means queuing, Bloody Marys in hand while you wait for your table at the hippest neighborhood pancake joint.
Brunch in Asia is a whole new ballgame. It's big and happening and everyone plans things around Sunday family brunches that are put on lavishly at every hotel from Shanghai to Singapore and back. These fancy hotels try to top each other with ridiculous gimmicks: free-flow Champagne, caviar with every course, table-side cooking, oysters flown in from the farthest reaches of the globe. But I have just experienced a little ecstasy that no other brunch has ever offered me: fabulous food and the disappearance of my children.
Welcome to the Brunch Scene, InterContinental Shanghai Expo. Easily the best choice of hotels for anyone traveling to Shanghai with a family (riverfront, soccer pitch, beautiful garden, playground, fabulous pool), it currently holds the choicest table for anyone who wants to have a leisurely brunch while having their kids totally entertained.
InterContinental Shanghai Expo's Café 1188 has teamed up with Awesome Kids Club to create a fully staffed kids' club that runs the duration of the brunch (Sundays 12:30-3:30pm). Get the kids fed and they'll be off to play sports, games or do artistic activities in the garden area of the hotel while you and friends enjoy the hotel's gorgeous food offerings.
Book now, kids under 11 accompanied by 2 adults eat free this month.
Details: InterContinental Shanghai Expo | 1188 Xueye Road, Pudong, Shanghai | 浦东新区雪野路1188号 | tel +86 21 3858 1188 | Brunch: 348+15% service charge for adults, beverage on consumption. Through May, children aged 4-12 will enjoy 50% discount on the price and children under 4 years old eat free.
Photos: above - the seafood bar at Cafe 1188 (courtesy of IHG group, all rights reserved); below - Coach Michael at the Awesome Kids Club on the InterContinental Shanghai Expo's lawn (© 2012 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com).
Shanghai Zoo - A Great Family Outing
Shanghai has parks but few places where the kids can really run pretty freely for long periods of time. Last weekend, we had a few days of perfect spring weather - not hot, not humid, just right. We wanted to get outside with the kids and when we asked them, the unanimous vote was for the zoo.
By world standards, Shanghai Zoo is certainly not the greatest. By Asian standards, well, I've seen worse. Sure, we watched a panda munch away on some bamboo in a gray concrete cell with paint peeling off the wall and "Don't Feed the Animals" signs go completely unheeded (see photo), but as far as a good place to take kids to enjoy an afternoon, it ranks high in our family.
The Shanghai Zoo is large and has multiple green spaces on which folks are allowed to walk and play. (Yes, it's worth noting. Many parks have green spaces closely guarded by park workers armed with whistles should a wayward child or parent try to set foot on the grass). The collection of animals is quite large and includes a decent panda exhibit (in addition to the solitary cell block I mentioned).
Details:
- Shanghai Zoo 上海动物园 | 2381 Hong Qiao Road, Shanghai 上海红桥路2381号 | Open Daily ~7am-5pm
- More Kids' Activities in Shanghai
Photo: top - a giraffe reaches out for a handout; bottom - folks relax in the shade at the Shanghai Zoo. © 2012 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
Avoiding Scary Food and Eating Organic in China
Eating can be a scary experience in China, but it doesn't have to be. There are lots of food scandals and worries about safety. And it's fair - China's had some pretty awful stories: melamine in milk, exploding watermelons and fake eggs, just to name a few
This story from Shanghaiist is a good one for those of us in Shanghai who try to eat organic. It can be difficult when you're visiting but more and more organic restaurants are popping up and the article lists a few of them.
More about food safety in China:
Photo: Vegetable vendor in Xizhou Market, Yunnan Province. © 2011 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
New Work Concept in Shanghai: Xin Dan Wei
I am debating sharing this as I'm afraid next time I come I won't find a place to sit...Xin Dan Wei (新单位) or "new work unit" is a newly opened space within a six-story lane house that has been converted into shared office space. The first floor (open 9:30am to 10pm) has a long desk with decently comfortable chairs (I'm sitting in one right now) and room to spread out for 20rmb per hour. The other floors house desks for rent at differing rates per month that allow 24-hour access to the space as well as use of conference rooms, etc.
It's a pretty cool place to sit and work. The WIFI seems decently fast, there are large windows, the atmosphere is quiet and there is light classical music playing. I can order a coffee or tea or tiramisu. Or not. Let's see how much work I get done...
Details:
Xin Dan Wei 新单位 | Yongjia Road #50, Shanghai 上海永嘉路50号 | xindanwei.com
Photo: the first floor of xindanwei's work space. © 2012 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
April Article Reader
Just in case you missed any of my latest articles, here are links to the new articles I've written this month.
- A review of the rather unsavory Red Capital Ranch outside Beijing
- A work in progress, my Shanghai Coffee Guide lets you know where the good cups - or at least the most popular cups - are located
- A review of the delicious Le Sheng Shanghainese restaurant in Shanghai
- A review of Le Sheng's slightly disappointing afternoon tea
- Panjiayuan Market (Beijing) in photos
- Hubei Province Travel Guide
- Wuhan (capital of Hubei) City Guide
- Yangtze River Cruise Reader (with links to our Cruise Guide's site for reviews)
"5-1" - May First Kicks off the Month with a Holiday
International Labor Day falls on May first and while there used to be a week-long holiday, since 2008, May holiday was reduced to just a day off. (The government added days off for Qing Ming, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival to spread the holidays out.) In 2012, May 1st falls on a Tuesday. The Shanghai Government deemed it better to have a longer weekend so everyone goes to school and work on Saturday to be able to add Monday to the Tuesday holiday and have a "long weekend". Confused?
May is really a wonderful time to travel in China. The weather is mild in most places and a lot of native flowers are blooming. Everything greens up and in the cities, locals start moving life out onto the street which makes for great people watching.
Happy May Day and enjoy the springtime in China.
More:
Le Sheng's Afternoon Tea
I have enjoyed eating at Le Sheng so much that I decided to try their afternoon tea set with some friends. I was helped along by a 20%-off discount coupon they presented to me at the end of my last meal there. I thought dinner was so good, tea must be superb. I pictured a happy fusion of Chinese tea + snacks with Western-style presentation.
Le Sheng has an extensive menu of teas and I think I would have enjoyed trying some of their Chinese teas more than taking the afternoon tea set that included only a choice of herbal combinations tailored to women's vanity: "beauty", "detox" and "relaxing" teas.
The cuisine offered was tasty, but didn't necessarily pair well with our pink and fruity beauty tea and while the overall experience was nice, I found it lacking as an afternoon tea stop.
Read my full review here.
Photo courtesy of Le Sheng restaurant in Shanghai. All rights reserved.