Bridge 8

Bridge 8
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

On a rare day out last month (sans the kids), Simon and I went to check out this place called Bridge 8. It's a cluster of renovated old industrial buildings which now houses a design companies, shops, and restaurants.

A bookshop selling design books has also just opened at the annex building's ground floor. We had a great time browsing thru the books and magazines and ended up purchasing some for the office.

The offices within Bridge 8 looked really cool and interesting place to work in but both Simon and I are still happy with where our office is currently at, conveniently located in the heart of the shopping area on Huai Hai Road.

Pixie Hats

Recently, I finished knitting 5 pixie hats for my colleagues. It took me a while to get started with work and kids taking up most of my time. I found a very easy pattern for the hats from craftbits.com. As I did not have the exact yarn specified in the pattern, it took 2 attempts before I got the size right.

For this project, I used 2 strands to knit the pattern. For the edgings, I crocheted a contrasting colour yarn, and used the same yarn colour for the pompoms.

Sheshan

Sheshan
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

Right before the Chinese New Year, we took the kids out to The Le Meridien in Sheshan, about 30 minutes from downtown Shanghai. It was to get away (even for a couple days) and also do a trial run on how it would be to travel with the kids.

The hotel is surrounded by a lot of greenery and even has a man-made lake and a beach! It just felt like a totally different world in spite of it only less than an hour away from our home.

The kids experienced playing in the sand for the first time ever. If only it weren't nippy and we were wearing coats, then it would have felt like we were in a beach resort.

The kids' swimming pool was also great! We were there each day we were at the hotel. The look on the kids' face when they were splashing about and enjoying themselves was just a great feeling, so you can say we enjoyed the pool time as much as they did.

And on top of all these amenities, the hotel also had a playground complete with swings and slides on the other side of the man-made lake which one had to cross via the stepping stones.

The other interesting thing is the kids enjoyed playing in front of the full-sized mirror in our room. They were simply fascinated at seeing their reflections and would sit in front of it, keep walking back and forth, dance, and more. It was just so funny seeing them making faces to see how their reflections looked!

Certainly a place we would go back again.

I've posted some more photos on my Flickr. Check them out now.

Air drying

Air drying
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

A few common items you will see being air dried in Shanghai esp. in the winter. I thought the chicken was interesting as it's rare; you see sausages, fish, or meat air drying but not chicken.

The red knickers (underwear) are typical as locals wear them during the Chinese New Year to add luck starting from the 'inside'.