JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Traditional proctological exam, originally uploaded by 160507.

I’m back. Shanghai was a blast. Lots to write about.
1. Shanghai is having an extended winter: it got colder by the day. Rained all weekend.
2. It’s very dusty, probably because there’s so much construction going on. You can see new Bentleys drive by with dusty roofs.
3. It always looks like dusk or early dawn because of all the lights.
4. If you are not accompanied by a local, you need to carry cards with the Chinese characters for “washroom”, “taxi”, “subway”, etc, and all the places you’re going to, especially your hotel.
5. It takes ages to change dollars. There are queues. You have to change your money at a bank as there are fake bills going around.
6. The locals only sound like they’re fighting, or at least one hopes so.
7. The Filipino brand Oishi rules the snack market.
8. Traffic is as bad as Manila’s, and the drivers are as nuts, so you feel right at home.
9. The locations in Lust, Caution no longer exist, but you can see where they used to be.
10. There’s a beautiful two-storey branch of Figaro in Luwan district. They have a book club.
11. The Bund Underground Tourist Tunnel screams, “We have so much money, we don’t know what to do with it!”
12. In the Museum of Sex you can buy an assortment of lewd figurines and a tea set that, when you pour water in the cups, shows you couples in different positions. However, the most popular item was out of stock. Tell you about it later.
13. Through a strange series of events involving Eileen Chang, Bread Pan, and chairs, my schlubby non-designer label-wearing self ended up at a preview of the Ferragamo 80th year retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In attendance were actual Ferragamos, both footwear and humans. Have plenty of pictures.