D2D Holiday Gift Guide

It's the most wonderful time of the year and we at D2D (see that, I gave myself a nickname) wanted to give you a cheat sheet for presents to give your loved ones this holiday season. So here are our top five Shanghai gifts to spoil your loved ones with.

1) A tea set from Spin Ceramics

I featured this store earlier in the week because frankly, I'm obsessed with it. I've made three trips here in the last two weeks and have a long wish list just for myself. Their tea sets are high quality as well as affordable and would make the perfect gift for the tea lover in your life.

2) A set of pearls

I owe you a full post on the Pearl Market at some point in the near future. Just know that you can score a set of pearls here for 80-100 rmb (depending on your bargaining skills). That's $13-16 USD for genuine fresh water pearls. Cathy at G-012 is my personal favorite.

3) A hand hammered wok

Matt bought one of these woks when visiting Shanghai in 2011 and we have treasured it ever since. I thought the shop was long gone but Nancy over at jamjnr was able to recently visit the workshop. Any foodie will simply melt when opening one of these babies.

 

4) A Shanghai Calendar Girl Advertisement 

Used in the 1920's and 30's to sell cigarettes, gum, and perfume, these advertisements featured perfectly coifed, modern, beautiful women. Though the ads were meant to sell products, the pictures themselves were works of art. You can find prints for the art or history lover in your family at the Dongtai Antique Market or the Shanghai Propaganda Museum.

5) A pair of Feiyues

These iconic Shanghai shoes sell for 60 rmb (less than $10 USD) and come in various colors. Matthew and I can often be seen wearing these retro kicks around Shanghai. A pair of these shoes will make your family and friends feel like Shanghai insiders.

I hope I've inspired you to gift a few Shanghai themed presents to your loved ones this holiday season. We will be taking a break from blogging for the next two weeks to celebrate and spend time with our families and friends. We look forward to seeing you all in 2014. From our computer to yours, we wish you all a happy holiday!

Shanghai Shopping: Spin Ceramics

Upon entering Spin, you may think you have stumbled into an art gallery rather than a retail shop. Founded in 2004, Spin features reasonably priced, contemporary Chinese ceramics. Many of the products draw inspirations from Chinese culture with new designs being introduced every few months. 

The pieces themselves are manufactured in Jingdezhen, the ancient porcelain capital of China with traditional techniques dated from Ming dynasty. 

Every time I visit this shop, I walk away with a few pieces and plans to come back and buy more. Some of my family members may even find a few things from Spin under their Christmas tree this year.

To visit Spin, head to:

360 Kangding Lu, near Shanxi Bei Lu
 康定路360号, 近陕西北路

Shanghai Shoe Shopping

I have massive feet, even by US standards. So shoe shopping in China, where small feet were once so coveted that women had their feet bound, is no easy task for me.

Enter Feiyue.

Feiyue, pronounced fey (like Tina!) yu-eh, is a shoe company founded in Shanghai in 1959. Shortly after, it became the choice shoe for shaolin monks and kung fu masters. The simple canvas shoes are known for being durable and feature a light padded sole.

I scored a pair two weeks ago at Culture Matters on Dongping Lu for 60 rmb (or $9.80 USD). I probably would have bought them just because they happened to be my size. Thankfully, I also actually liked them. They are the perfect shoe for the massive amount of walking and biking I do around this fine city.

And apparently Orlando Bloom owns a pair. Not that I recommend doing everything Orlando Bloom does. His facial hair is usually rather questionable. But you should be safe following his shoe choice.

image source

Shanghai's Worst Kept Secret: The Avocado Lady

"I've found the best place to buy imported groceries". The statement is said in a hushed voice, as the speaker slowly eyes the crowd around us, leaning in closer to ensure this piece of wisdom is for my ears alone. The hint of a smile is coyly forming on the speaker's lips as they whisper, "She's called the Avocado Lady".

The thing is, the Avocado Lady (also known as the Basil or Arugula Lady) isn't exactly a secret in Shanghai. Pretty much every foreigner has not only heard of her, but has visited her legendary store. And it's totally worth it.

 

The Avocado Lady (real name Jiang Qin) is a savvy businesswoman who moved to Shanghai after finishing high school. Initially, she sold only eggs and Chinese vegetables. It wasn't until a French chef who lived in the neighborhood asked her to stock certain goods that she ventured into the imported goods market. Shortly after, she began stocking hard to find avocados at a reasonable price and thus, her nickname was born.

Today, the Avocado Lady has achieved a cult like following among Westerners with her ability to stock an impressive selection of imported foods at her modest store, which vastly undercut prices at City Shop and other foreign grocery stores around the city. And if you are unable to find the product you want, she is more than happy to order it for you. While the stock changes rapidly, she regularly stocks fresh mints, herbs, tropical fruits, jams, cheese, olive oil, wine, and of course, avocados.

If you too want to be let in on the secret of the Avocado Lady, head to her shop at 274 Wulumuqi Lu, between Fuxing Lu and Wuyuan Lu (closer to the latter). If you have trouble finding it, just look for the large herd of foreigners milling around the cheese fridge.

How much does it cost?

I'll buy it. Actually, at these prices, I probably won't. In order to give you a little glimpse into the price of imported goods here, I took some awful cell phone photos of  foods people commonly buy in the US. All of the products featured below are sold by a nice little store called City Shop, which stocks all types of international goods and is conveniently located in my basement.

For the sake of this very unscientific experiment, I am using the price of the good as found on Amazon (I am fully aware that with sales and coupons, the price for these products would be even lower in most US grocery stores). All prices are in USD and calculated using the exchange rate as it stood on the date I wrote this post.

First up, we have mayonnaise. In a squeeze bottle no less. Am I the only one that used to squeeze this stuff directly into my mouth as a child? No, no one else? Moving on then.

Hellman's Real Mayonnaise (9 oz)
Amazon Price: $2.81

City Shop Price: $9.33

Jif Creamy Peanut Butter (18 oz)

Amazon Price: $3.28

City Shop Price: $12.55

Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips (12 oz)

Amazon Price: $4.50

City Shop Price: $11.23

Life Cereal (13 oz)

Amazon Price: $4.30

City Shop Price: $15.29

Prego Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (24 oz)

Amazon Price: $3.27

City Shop Price: $8.37

Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (1.5 quart)

*Average US grocery price: $5.99

City Shop Price: $27.04

No, that last price is not a typing error. If I want to buy Breyers Ice Cream, it will set me back a whopping $27. (Understandably, you cannot buy ice cream online so I was unable to price it through Amazon. But a quick online search of a few US grocery stores revealed a fairly consistent price for this product).

Total of above goods on Amazon: $24.15

Total of above goods at City Shop: $83.81

And that my friends, is why we stock our suitcases full of food whenever we are back in the US. I just wish we could use that same trick for ice cream.

Fabric Market

Shanghai is a shopping paradise. There are markets for everything from pearls to crickets, antiques to fake designer bags. For clothing hoarders such as myself, one can find American brands such as GAP, high end international labels, vintage boutiques sporting looks from Japan, and the ever popular local designers such as Annabel Lee (which has the most divine silk scarves) and Shanghai Tang. And I would be remiss not to mention the ever frequent cabbage shops, known as such because their merchandise “fell off a truck”. At these boutiques, I've gotten bargains on factory rejects and overruns of Marc Jacobs and Phillip Lim dresses for a mere fraction of their US retail price.

But for someone looking for something a little more unique (or those with hips wider than the average Chinese woman), a visit to the South Bund Fabric Market is a requirement. Here, you can literally have anything made.

Three floors of nearly identical stalls fill the large building, selling a dizzying array of men's suits and women's wrap dresses. From there, your task to is simply pick which tailor you want to make your attire. Once you have settled on who will make your apparel, you can either provide a drawing or photo of what you would like or choose from one of their samples. Fabric choice is next, followed by thread color, buttons, lining, and fit. Your measurements are taken, you haggle over the price, and once you have given the tailor a deposit, you have an agonizing week wait until you can pick up your garments.  

 

For my first purchase, I went to a stall which had been recommended by a friend. I had this cute linen number made for a mere $35.

Since then, we have commissioned crisp cotton button downs and a beautifully tailored sports coat for Matthew while I walked out with a killer blue blazer, which is a dead ringer for the one I was coveting at JCrew. Of course, mine cost about a third of the price and fits me perfectly.

The only bad thing about the fabric market? The way my bank account is starting to look after a few too many trips there.

Nap

I had a conversation recently with my sister that went something like this:

Kristin: Blah blah blah. It's just like the people sleeping at Ikea, blah blah blah.

Carolyn: Um, hold up. People are sleeping in Ikea.

Kristin: Well yeah, but that's not what I was trying to tell you.

Carolyn: I don't care. What do you mean people are sleeping in Ikea?

Kristin: Well you know. They just climb into the beds and take naps.

Carolyn: Um, how did you not tell me this before?

Kristin: Oh, I guess it just started to seem normal...

I feel like that happens a lot in China. I see things so often that I start to forget that not everyone is having the same experience as I am, whether it is slit butt pants or sleeping in Ikea. 

So over the weekend, Matthew and I ventured to Ikea just so I could take pictures of the napping that takes place. Sadly, there was less sleeping than normal but I think you still get the idea.

 

Ikea Love

On Friday, Matthew and I went to Ikea to stock up on organizational items we needed for our apartment.

The Ikea in Shanghai isn't much different than in the US. Mobs of people, Swedish meatballs (which I still don't eat), cheap prices, and excellent ice cream after checking out. Only the ice cream in China is only 1 rmb instead of a dollar. That works out to 16 cents. I got ice cream for 16 cents people. And this is why I love Shanghai.

Ikea Shanghai Xuhui Store

No.126 Cao Xi Road

Xuhui District, Shanghai