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Happy Dragon Boat Festival Day!!!
Today Charles and I met up with Sunil and Nancy in the "French Concession" area in Shanghai for brunch... well, brunch at 3pm. I was a little nervous when they said we were going down a back alley to get to this place, but in China it seems like everything is down a back alley. So we go down this alley and suddenly we are in this area with shops and cafes - it seems like it came out of no where. We had lunch at a cafe called Kommune - yum! Exactly what I needed. After brunch, we just kinda walked around the shops/alleys. There was one thing that really surprised me. We were at a dead end in what seemed to be a residential area with laundry hanging, etc. and we looked in one of the doors to a small 'gaming' shop and people playing Wii on a large screen TV. So random.
Next we went for afternoon tea at Nap Cafe... again, down a back alley and into an apartment building. I hate having their stairs that are 5 inches and trying to walk up them with my big feet. So we get into what had been part of someone's house that they converted into a cafe. There were chairs, a futon, and the most adorable little kitten. There were other customers there too, and I had to take a picture of the tea pots they used - they were awesome. I will try to upload soon.
At this point, it was about 6pm, and we were having dinner at 8:30. So after a full meal and tea in a super relaxing place, we were all about to fall asleep. We tried to do something "active", so we went to the bowling alley. IT WAS PACKED. The wait list for a lane was forever long because it was a holiday. So we decided to go to a bar instead.
Despite my sleeping in, I was going to fall asleep at the table. I decided I needed a drink that contained Red Bull. Well, I had never had a Jägerbomb before, and it was suggested that we get one. Only problem is that they did not understand what drink we were asking for. So Sunil got creative and asked (in Chinese) for a "Red Cow". That worked and we got our drinks. :)
So after that bar, we went to get dinner, but decided to sit outside first in the garden of the Face bar. Face Bar, in the Ruijin Guesthouse complex, is also in the French Concession. The building was one of the private residences of Benjamin Morris, a wealthy British taipan who lived in Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s and the garden is part of the whole estate. When our table was ready, we went to Hazara, which is in the same building. It is an Indian restaurant named after of a tribe and a region in Afghanistan whose cooking is associated with northern India. I am pretty sure this is the first time I had Indian food, and I really enjoyed it - especially the butter chicken...yum!
After that we went to one more bar called Time Passage for a few more drinks. After that, my Red Bull had worn off and I was definitely ready for bed!
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