Just published: my story in City Weekend Parents & Kids

I recently wrote an article for the Shanghai magazine City Weekend Parents & Kids about being pregnant in Shanghai. When I first found out I was expecting in mid-2011, I couldn't really find an article like this in any of the parenting magazines or websites, so I pitched this first-person story idea to the editor.

Here is part one. The second part (out in a few months) will detail my experiences as a new mother in Shanghai. Happy reading!

Our little koala has arrived!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus but I have been a little busy of late. Our baby girl arrived in the world on March 10 (six days late!) after a five hour labour. I'm falling more and more in love with my sweet baby each day. For now, we're finding our feet with feeding and sleeping schedules but I hope to be back blogging soon.

"Yes Mummy, I'm very warm for a cold Shanghai day, but I think my coat is too big!"

Smile magazine - a Shanghai contribution

I recently contributed to the November cover story of Smile magazine, the inflight magazine for Cebu Pacific based in Manila. My former colleague and friend Noelle de Jesus asked me to provide some shopping tips for Shanghai. Here's the result (you can open the story in a new tab for a larger version):

A Christmas Getaway

As this will our last Christmas pre-kids, we've decided to head away for one last holiday. Because I've grounded myself from flying, we found a great deal at a new hotel just a two hour drive from Shanghai. It's called Naked Stable Private Reserve. And "naked" means "eco", not "nudist". Check out our digs. Nice!

My Shanghai: grocery shopping

One of the things that has taken a bit of getting used to since moving to Shanghai is grocery shopping. Unlike Australia, Singapore or the UK, there is no one-stop shop like Cold Storage, Woolworths or Sainsbury's. Here, you can spend HOURS and HOURS shopping for your groceries from a combination of sources. Fortunately, Shanghai is really, really into online shopping and home delivery. You could literally get one lemon delivered to your door. If you were really lazy, that is!

So here is my shopping hit list:

Fields - For some reason I avoided using Fields for a long time. But recently they have improved their delivery times. For example, if you order before midday, you can have delivery between 4 and 6pm; if you order the night before, you can have a delivery between 9am and midday. And I'm sure their prices have dropped slightly. Their fresh fruit and veggies are great quality - and most of it is organic. As is their meat. I've not tried their seafood, but will do at some stage. I find their website very easy to navigate, so this is now my main go-to place for a weekly shop of fresh goodies.

Feidan - this is my closest shop (left) within walking distance that I can pop into for import goodies. Perfect for milk, cheese, yoghurt, wine, cereal - whatever I've run out of, really. And best of all, they stock the Financial Times weekend paper (from 5pm on Saturdays). And they will home deliver if you spend over 200 kuai.

City Shop - I usually shop regularly at two of their branches - the Shanghai Centre on Nanjing Xi Lu or Huahai Lu (near Shanxi Nan Lu, downstairs from Sephora). You can also order online, however it's actually quicker to pop in and do a shop yourself and pay at the checkout as they will then deliver it within an hour or two. They stock loads of imported brands and have a decent selection of fresh fruit & veggies and sometimes meat and salmon. Remember to check the prices before buying. This place can add up!

The Avocado Lady - I don't know what this lady's real name is, but she's known around town by this moniker and it has stuck. She has a fruit & veggie stall on Wulumuqi Lu (about 10 mins walk from my place) and always has a queue of laowai (expats) and locals running out the door. She stocks more than just fruit and veg; she also sells imported cereals, wine, olive oils, olives, sardines, anchovies, capers, muesli, tinned chick peas and a good selection of fresh nuts and herbs. She also has a fridge full of cheeses that you can buy by weight. Best of all: she is CHEAP! And she's honest to boot. She'll often throw in free herbs with my veggies. And if she thinks the raspberries aren't going to last well, she'll tell me to eat them that day or not bother buying. A smart lady. And she almost always has avocadoes in stock.

Dia - is located directly opposite The Avocado Lady on Wulumuqi Lu. Apparently it's a cheap chain run by Carrefour (but don't quote me on that). It's good for stocking up on essentials like toilet paper, soap, shampoos and the like as their prices are considerably cheaper than the import-heavy supermarkets like City Shop and Feidan. I give their "fresh" fruit and veggies a wide berth as they look like about as fresh as Lindsay Lohan after a night on the tiles. They don't do delivery (or if they do, I can't figure it out), so bring your own bags and muscles for the walk home.

Baker & Spice - this is my favourite bakery. It's on Anfu Lu, just a hop, skip and a jump from Feidan. I absolutely adore their baguettes and mixed olive sourdough bread. And I'm quite partial to their zucchini and carrot cupcake, jam doughnuts and raspberry/chocolate tart. Oh and their lemon meringue tart and pain au chocolat. And their parma ham and rocket panini. You get the drift. It's all good. There's always a queue here. You can eat at the big communal table (or out on the footpath on a stool - no tables) but I prefer to take-away and avoid the crowds.

Sunflour - this bakery (left) only opened recently (at the Wukang Lu end of Anfu Lu). Their croissants and pain au chocolate are better than Baker & Spice and definitely worth trying, as are their cakes, particularly their chocolate mousse cake. I've not tried their bread, bagels or pretzels yet, but am sure they are delicious. It's nice to see B&S with some competition. It can only be a good thing for the consumer.

Marks & Spencer - I really got into M&S when I was living in Singapore, mostly for their frozen foods  particularly their quiches, curries, fish, sea scallops and pasta (I love their spinach and ricotta ravioli). We pretty much stock up here at least once a fortnight and fill our freezer for easy mid-week meals (for those nights you don't really feel like cooking from scratch). I also throw pasta sauces, tea bags, canned soups and biscuits into the trolley. And don't forget to stock up on their wine. If you buy six bottles, you get a discount. The store is located on busy Nanjing Xi Lu but there's a metro station next door - or you can get taxis fairly easy at the front door (but avoid rush hour).

Ikea - it might sound odd, but I visit this Swedish furniture store to stock up on their food. It's only two metro stops from my place and they have some great products: crispbreads, condiments, cordial, salmon, chocolate and their famous Swedish meatballs.

Carrefour - if you have a death wish, you can shop at this big French supermarket chain. Prices are cheaper but you have to get yourself to Gubei (about a 25-minute taxi ride from my place) then battle crowds, hideous muzak, more crowds and yet more crowds. But if you want to buy wine, toilet paper, a live fish, a duvet, a billboard-size TV and an electric scooter, you can do it all under one roof. They also have a good selection of organic veggies and their wine selection is vast. But there's a catch: there's no dedicated taxi queue. Good luck finding a taxi and battling the crowds on the footpath while wrestling with your heavy shopping bags. You can also shop online, but the site is clunky, takes hours to navigate and then when you do press "buy", a message appears: "we'll deliver sometime in the next three days. Cash on delivery". So you're then house-bound for three days waiting for the delivery. Burned once and never again.

GL Japan Plaza - this is a new supermarket to my repertoire. Located in Xintiandi, it's a basement-level Japanese supermarket chock full of imported goodies, fresh meats, fruit & veggies, a bakery and sushi counter. The prices are good (particularly with a member card) and the experience is entirely pleasant as the shop is clean, easily laid-out and spacious. I've never encountered any crowds here and it's never a problem to get a taxi on the street. If I'm down Xintiandi way, it's an easy supermarket to pop into.

Wet markets - I do know that some of my friends shop here for their fresh veggies - and some meat. I don't. Since falling pregnant I am extra careful about what I buy and where. Mostly because of pesticides and health standards. Prices are much, much cheaper, but for me, it's not worth the risk. Particularly when I see meat that's been sitting out for hours and from dubious origins. My Chinese teacher once said to me: "We Chinese believe that every food is poisoned, so we just eat a little bit of everything rather than a lot of one thing. Just in case." 'Nuff said.

Things to remember when grocery shopping in Shanghai:

1. Cash is king. With all home deliveries, you will need to have cash for the delivery driver. Some places accept PayPal (for example, Fields) but most don't. So you always need to have a cash supply handy.

2. Meat comes frozen. If you want to cook dinner tonight with the meat you're having delivered at 4pm, think again. It will be frozen. Plan ahead.

3. Not everything is in stock. Most places will give you a heads-up phone call if something you've ordered online is not in stock. But if they ring me at 3:55 for a 4pm delivery and I placed the order at 9am, they can expect me to be annoyed. More often than not if I get suitably outraged, the item magically appears at 4pm.

My Shanghai: favourite weekend afternoon pub

One of our favourite spots to hang for a few hours on a weekend afternoon is Boxing Cat Brewery. They have a couple of locations in Shanghai, but we prefer the one nearest to our place on Fuxing Xi Lu, near Yongfu Lu. In the warmer months, it's lovely to sit outside on the terrace. But in winter, it's just as lovely inside, either at the bar or nearer to the fireplace.

They have their own beer on tap, but really, it's the food we love - Southern comfort food. Think sweet potato fries, pulled pork sandwiches, grits, biscuits and gravy. I cannot call myself an expert in this style of cooking, however I can tell you, I love Boxing Cat's menu, particularly their snack menu. We often pop in here for a late lunch/afternoon snack or with friends if we've done a bit of a mini pub crawl in the area. Top of the list: "Fists of Fury". Chicken wings with an incredibly spicy sauce. And by spicy, I mean lip-burning spicy. I can usually only manage about three wings before my lips fall off. But it's worth the pain.

Boxing Cat Brewery
82 Fuxing Xi Lu (near Yongfu Lu)
复兴路82号, 近永福路

My Shanghai: home sweet home

Home is my sanctuary. This apartment has a different feel to anywhere we've ever lived - and I loved it the second I saw it. Apparently the block is only a decade old, but it's been built to look "grand" and "Parisian" with art deco light fixtures, polished floors and detailed mouldings. Unlike a lot of expats, we don't like furnished apartments and prefer to move with a shipping container of everything we own. Having your own things around you makes a rental property feel like a home instantly, particularly when you're living overseas. I love the juxtaposition of the art deco feel of the apartment and our retro, modern furniture.

Our Banksy artwork leads the way to our Eames rocker (from Living Edge Sydney)...

We have one huge living/dining room where I spend most days. It overlooks a beautiful tree-lined street and the floor-to-ceiling windows let in a lot of light. I particularly love the polished floors, although I popped a wool rug in the living room part of the room to make it more cosy. We had the dining table made to order here in Shanghai through Elm Workshop. It's solid walnut and I am totally in love with it. The white side table is a huge piece of lego that I bought in Singapore at Trolley for my husband's birthday last year. He LOVES Lego and when I saw it, I had to have it. 

The artwork is called "Assault Lolly" and is a limited edition print from Jamie Hewlett (best known for Gorillaz and Tank Girl) that we picked up at Outre Gallery in Sydney. We bought the 1950s sideboard from Penny Arcade in Sydney's Surry Hills and our sofa from King Furniture in Sydney. 

We bought these book cases in Shanghai at Casa Casa on Anfu Lu. They're from a designer called Sean Yoo and are actually made from polypropolene, so they're light as a feather. I can pick them up with one hand (when they're empty!). I had seen them in the shop and fell in love with them. A few days later I took my husband to the same shop to see what he liked. He picked them out instantly. Sold! Because they're a modular design, we'll be able to repurpose them easily in any of our future homes as room dividers or separate shelves. 

I've popped a few of our favourite things on top: (from left to right) our pet pig from Casa Pagoda on Taikang Lu (I'm obsessed with pig ornaments lately and this is the first of my collection); a Kozyndan "Uprising" print (from Outre Gallery in Sydney); a bakelite phone that I tracked down years ago on eBay as a present for my husband's 30th birthday; a watercolour original painting of my old neighbourhood Woollahra in Sydney by my beautiful friend, the talented Erin O'Connor, Kozyndan "Taka on Acid" print (again, from Outre Gallery), a red wooden doll we picked up on travels in Takayama, Japan; a red vase I bought for $5 from the Bondi markets about eight years ago; and my bone china high top sneakers from Have You Met Miss Jones, owned by my fabulous friend JJ.

Another collection of much-loved items: a wedding present from my Pop - it's his father's (my great-grandfather's) railway light from when he was the station master at Corinda Railway Station in Brisbane in the early 1900s; an original Kozyndan etching (from Outre Gallery) ; a globe/paperweight we picked up in Tokyo last year (at Barneys New York); and some art books from various travels.

 I absolutely love our bedroom, particularly the two windows which let in such gorgeous light. We splashed out on a new king-size bed (a long-held dream!!) when we moved to Shanghai and I bought a mattress from Slumbermaxx which is soooo comfy to sleep on. My husband has been wanting a dark brown leather armchair for years and years. Finally, he spotted what he wanted this year and after about ten trips back and forth, he finally bought it. It's from Little Dragon on Changle Lu. And it's mega comfortable. The perfect reading chair.

Our guest bedroom has seen lots of visitors this year. I'm sure they're not just visiting us but really coming to see this beautiful bed runner that my Mum made for me about seven or so years ago. She knew I loved Japanese fabrics, so she hunted down this gorgeous vintage kimono silk. She was a wonderful quilter and this is just one of the few that she made for me. Although she said this one gave her grey hairs! Apparently the silk was very temperamental. It's something I will treasure always.

And this is a pic of what it looked like BEFORE we moved in (with the landlord's furniture). It's a bit too formal, right?!

My Shanghai: Why Do I Live Here?

One of the most common questions I’m often asked is, “so why are you living in Shanghai?”. My response: “Why not?”

We moved to Asia because we wanted to shake our life up a bit. Before we met, my husband and I had both travelled fairly extensively. Sydney was the adopted hometown for both of us (I’m from Brisbane, he’s from Durban), so moving to a new city didn’t mean that one of us was uprooting long-term ties. While we loved Sydney and our family and friends are there, we just couldn’t get ahead career-wise or financially, so we were open to any opportunity to change things up.

When my husband was offered a job in Singapore, we jumped at the chance. Within one month of living there we were hooked on Asia, the expat life and the opportunities it offered. Two years later another job offer appeared and we made the move to Shanghai. It was a difficult decision for us to make as I had to leave my much-loved job in Singapore to allow my husband to move up the career ladder. But we knew it was the right decision for us as a couple.

I love that we threw caution to the wind and have created a new life for ourselves by living overseas. We are in it together and are discovering and exploring new places, meeting new people, having better work opportunities and generally crafting a different life to what either of us expected or planned.  I love that our life is not mapped out and we could be living in a different country or city next year or next decade. I am thrilled that we are having a baby here and will be able to offer our children a global perspective of the world. I truly feel that we could live (almost) anywhere as long as we are together. With an internet connection of course!

As with everything, there are pros and cons with any city. Here’s my list:

The best things about living in Shanghai

1.     1. The lifestyle – Don’t be fooled. Shanghai is not a backwards hick town. It’s a cosmopolitan city of 23 million people. It’s the financial centre of a booming economy and is a city seriously on the move. There is oodles of opportunity here and China is changing rapidly. Shanghai offers a perfect blend of East and West. Yes, you can find cheap dumpling shops, falling-down houses and cheap fabric markets, but you also have world class restaurants, corner bakeries, trendy boutiques, high street chain stores, sports pubs, wine bars, gyms, yoga studios, cafés, museums and galleries. There are old Chinese temples and laneways, European art deco buildings and modern skyscrapers. We live in a gorgeous apartment (double the size of our apartment in Singapore and three times the size of our apartment in Sydney) on a tree-lined street, with taxis at our doorstep, a park at the end of our street and a local pub showing the rugby around the corner. I have friends from England, Malaysia, Portugal, Canada, US, France and Switzerland. I can sit in my local café on a perfect wi-fi connection while reading an international newspaper and listening to the next table’s inhabitants chatting in French, Spanish, Japanese or Chinese. Some people call it an “expat bubble”. I call it “living the life”.

2.     2. The travel – since moving to Asia, we treat travel as a necessary expense not an indulgence. With other countries and cultures on our doorstep, it would be a crime not to spread our wings and experience as much of the world as we can. I love living in Australia, but it’s a geographically isolated country. After living in London in my early-twenties, I was used to jumping on a flight and being in a different European country. Similarly, in Asia, you can be in a completely different landscape just as easily. This year, we’ve travelled to Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Palawan (read about those trips here). Next week, we're off to Tokyo. When we lived in Singapore, we could regularly nip away for a weekend in Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bali and Malaysia. My husband travels a lot for work so I often travel with him and we’ll add a weekend on before or after. He likes the company in his downtime and I like the change of scenery. And we love exploring new cities together.

3.     3. The weather – it might sound strange to say this, since a lot of people moan about the Shanghai weather, but I love it. This city has proper seasons. Sydney has seasons but it’s not geared for it. Few houses and apartments have central heating in winter or air-conditioning in summer, so often you’re bundled up in clothes or boiling hot under a fan or on a packed beach. And in Singapore, it’s a steamy 32 degrees year round. Yes it’s sunny, but it can be disorienting when Every. Single. Day. Is. The. Same. I think weather can be a marker. “Oh I remember I was wearing my black coat when we found that cute shop,” or “I was in my red shorts when we ate at that restaurant.” Here in Shanghai I can rug up in coats, scarves and boots in winter and in summer I can turn the aircon up.

The worst things about living in Shanghai

1.     1. The pollution – there’s no denying that the air is cleaner in other parts of the globe. If you want to breathe fresh air 365 days a year, you can live in better places than Shanghai. It does worry me that food standards are slippery, development is rapid and industry is king. That said, it’s a million times less polluted in Shanghai than Beijing. You just have to take more care to stay indoors on exceptionally smoggy days, choose organic or imported foods, have good health insurance and stay fit and healthy.

2.     2. The traffic – with a city of 23 million people, there’s bound to be a lot of people on the road and on public transport. Throw in some very flexible road rules (turning on red lights, beeping your horn for minutes on end) and you have a difficult city to navigate quickly. You can catch the metro (clean, quick, packed like sardines), you can hire a driver (comfortable, expensive, isolating), you can walk (flat, explosed to the elements, dodge the flying spit) or you can get a taxi (affordable, no seatbelts, no English). Whatever your mode of choice, it takes time to get around this city. 

3.     3. The language barrier – with Mandarin or Shanghainese being spoken all around me, there’s clearly an inbuilt barrier to experiencing all the city has to offer. No matter how much Mandarin I learn, I will never truly be able to understand the city like a local does. I do try, but it’s a difficult language for me to grasp and retain. Particularly with baby brain.

Living abroad is not for everyone. Sure you have your off moments and I have desperate pangs for home. But for us, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

My Shanghai: a favourite lunch spot

I have been a big fan of banh mi, a Vietnamese-style sandwich, for years. And I'm so glad there's a great eatery in Shanghai that produces an amazing version. It's called B Real on Fumin Lu in Shanghai and it's one of my favourite spots for a quick lunch. There are only seven seats, so the place can get cramped, but you can take away. I love the counter with a streetside view. I try and count the crazy bicycle loads going past. I was too slow to take a shot of the old man today who was cycling with about 14 car tyres strapped to his bicycle. Crazy.

There are a lot of variations to a banh mi, but essentially it's a crunchy baguette filled with a heap of delicious fillings: pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, coriander, red chilis, mayonnaise and some kind of meat. I usually prefer grilled chicken but over time, I've seen versions with roast pork, grilled pork, BBQ pork, steamed pork, pork belly, Vietnamese sausage or the super traditional version of cold cuts and a meat terrine (not my fave).

I used to eat at least once a week at my favourite place in Singapore (Baguette in the Market Street car park near Raffles Place) and at one stage, I ate it every day for lunch for a year when I lived in Sydney (Little Devil on Broadway in Glebe) but for my money, B Real comes up trumps. I think it's due to their deliciously crunchy-but-not-too-crunchy bread. They mix up the fillings a bit (Korean chicken, etc) but you can stay relatively traditional too if you want.  That said, their serves are huge. You could easily share one sandwich between two.

B Real
185 Fumin Lu (near Changle Lu)
Open 11am-9pm

While I was chomping away at lunch, I thought about all the other delicious Asian dishes I love, so watch out for my next post: my Top 20 favourite Asian dishes....

My Shanghai: Our Local Park

When I was about 10 years old, I uttered the phrase "I hate nature".  And do you think my family have ever forgotten this most ridiculous of sweeping statements?  Ah no. I have been reminded it of it at every opportunity.  "Look Mary, it's a beautiful view. Oh, but you hate nature. Never mind."

I think I made my nature-hating statement when asked to go on a 10km bushwalk in a national park on a Sunday morning. As if.  I had mixtapes to make, music videos to watch, movies to dissect, newspapers to read. What pop culture-loving 10-year-old would choose nature over that?

A decade later, I left Australia and moved to London in the tail end of winter. Hmm. I'd grown up in a Queenslander house with a big back garden. Now I was living in an apartment surrounded by concrete and grey skies. But then summer arrived and I fell in love with public parks. Regents Park and Primrose Hill to be exact. I used to go walking every morning and evening. On weekends I would sit on a parkbench for hours, read a newspaper under a tree or have picnics with friends. At lunchtimes, I would escape the office and sit in a deck chair and soak up the rays.

I've never lost this love for public parks. In fact, it's essential when living in urban environments. In Singapore, I had the Botanic Gardens. In Sydney, I lived across from Centennial Parklands. I love the freedom that living in an apartment brings but I do love being surrounded by greenery. When it's absent, I really miss it.

And so, when we found our apartment in the French Concession, I thought we'd sacrificed access to a park in favour of a more central location. In my immediate area, I could only see private gardens behind brick walls of consulates and in bigger residential compounds.  Surely there had to be a park closer to me?  Duh. There is. It's called Xujiahui Park. And it's gorgeous. And only a 15 minute walk from my front door.

Check out the shoes on the dog!

Another find: a wonderful restaurant with a sun-soaked courtyard

My Shanghai: my neighbourhood

The view from our apartment.

I have completely fallen in love with Shanghai. And it's mostly because we are living in a gorgeous part of the city known as the former French Concession.  

Here's some quick snaps I took this past weekend on my iPhone.  Excuse the quality - I still can't find my camera battery in our many unpacked boxes! 

Spring is in the air, the sun is shining and the days are starting to warm up.  Soon we'll have green leaves on all these bare trees.  I can hardly wait. 

Encompassing the districts of Xuhui and Luwan, the former French Concession is on the west side of the Huangpu river called Puxi.  On the east bank of the river is Pudong with its futuristic skyscrapers and shopping malls.

But it's the leafy boulevards and distinctive Chinese-European style architecture in the French Concession that appealed. Plus the boutiques, bakeries, cafes, restaurants, bars, pubs, fresh fruit and vege, street vendors, spas... And this is just one tiny pocket of one district in a city of 20 million people.  

It can also be a surprisingly quiet oasis. Except for Sunday mornings when the congregation at the Church next door start belting out off-key hymns from 7:30am.  Just outside our bedroom window. Oh well. A tiny price to pay.

My Shanghai: Soon, I'll be living here

Check out our new apartment in the heart of Shanghai's French Concession area. We collect the keys this Saturday.

I can't wait to be settled. After commuting between Singapore and Australia for the last few months and then spending the last month in a hotel, it will be wonderful to unpack all our stuff and make a brand new home.  Now, we just have to get our shipping container delivered. Fingers crossed it arrives next week.