Blond-E in Asia: 9/5/11 - Shanghai, the city of shopping

So, yesterday we did more shopping. There is a magical place in Shanghai called the fabric market, or Tailor Market, in the Pudong district. You can get custom made designer-style clothing items. Of course, I would never miss this opportunity.

It was spectacular. It was an indoor space with a bunch of little booth-like "stores" featuring different clothing items/designs. You see something you like, they will get you to try on the sample they have. If you decide you want to purchase it, they will give you fabric swatches to choose your fabric and then take your measurements. These custom made items are cheaper than those pret-a-porter in the US retail stores.

While others went for the suits, I was drawn into a booth with cashmere and wool jackets. I fell in love with one jacket, but failed to take a picture. Luckily, it is being delivered to my hotel tomorrow evening so I will be sure to update this post with an image of my purchase. In total, this custom jacket will cost me $70! I bought a few gifts for some of you peeps back at home, but none of them custom made since I would have needed measurements (I know, poor planning on my part).

Katie and Lindsey in front of the scarves

Lauren getting sold on a scarf

The Fabric Market

After fulfilling our desire for custom made apparel, we took a walk around the area surrounding this market. We found some great street food, a few fruit stands, and a couple DVD stands.

Yummy fried wontons!

Some street meat we were not adventurous enough to try

A fruit stand

Spice shop

We were told these DVD stands actually sell some legitimate quality DVDs. While Katie and Lindsey made some DVD purchases, I decided to purchase Adobe Photoshop. :-) I haven't tested it out yet, but if it doesn't work, I take comfort in knowing I only spent about $1.30 on it.

After we had our fill of the local sights, we headed to Century Ave, and made our way toward the river. Some pictures of the sights we saw on our journey.

Navigating the Shanghai subway!

Interesting graphic we saw on our walk.
Drastic change in Shanghai skyline from 1990-2007

The Shanghai World Financial Center
Better picture and info here

Snail sculptures

Oriental Pearl Tower (TV tower) and other
buildings

We ended up going into the Jinmao Tower, an 88-story tall skyscraper and a center piece of Shanghai's Pudong skyline (Jin Mao Tower). This tower houses the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel and some offices. Rather than pay $10 to go to the top, we decided to head to Cloud 9, Hyatt's bar on the 87th floor.