Shanghai Cityscapes

View of the skyline from the Bund near Nanjing East Road. All photos by K.

Shanghai was one of my favorite destinations from my trip. The weather was quite rainy during most of our stay, which did prevent us from seeing quite as many tourist sites as we might have wanted. We stayed at the Grand Central Hotel Shanghai near Nanjing East Road's Pedestrian Street area, and we received a slight discount because I was able to book it during an Orbitz promotion. I highly recommend staying in that general area because it's close to two subway stations and a direct ride to several major tourist attractions, and I would also  highly recommend the Grand Central Hotel in particular. It was a rather fancy place to stay, and I thought the service was very good. They even gave us a cake on the night of K's birthday. 

The nighttime walk along the Bund to view the lit-up skyline was one of our favorite experiences in Shanghai. There are big crowds on the section of the promenade right near the intersection with Nanjing East Road, but the crowds thin out very quickly once one walks a bit further away from the intersection. One thing that surprised us was that the lights across the water and on Nanjing East Road start turning off by 11:00 at night. Because Times Square is a 24 hour kind of place, we were expecting Shanghai to be somewhat similar. 

A rainy nighttime walk on Nanjing East Road's Pedestrian Street. 

Shanghai is a very different city from Beijing, which almost goes without saying. Shanghai feels more similar to Hong Kong than it does to Beijing. Among other things, it doesn't have quite as many true historical sites. Some of the areas that market themselves as historical are anything but. We were at one "old street" area, but found that it was a rather commercialized tourist trap. The crowds of tourists, both international and Chinese, can also be quite daunting at most of Shanghai's major attractions. We quickly nixed the idea of going up the Pearl Tower because it would have been at least a three hour wait. We were able to go up to the observation decks at the Shanghai World Financial Center, and that wasn't half as crowded because it was a foggy evening. 

The Nightgown Dress

One of my clothing purchases in Korea was a navy blue tank dress almost exactly like the Madewell one pictured above, but for the color and, of course, the price. I bought it mainly for my many plane rides during the trip, but I've also been reaching for it quite often for day to day wear. It's not a look that I previously thought I would like. I've mentioned before that I generally don't like unstructured t-shirt dresses, and similarly unstructured tank dresses would seem to run the same risk of clinging in unflattering places. But the one I have is made out of a slightly thicker rayon fabric, not thick enough to be uncomfortable in summer, but heavy enough so that it skims nicely over the body. It is also a more casual look then I generally used to go for, especially when paired with those flip-flop sandal hybrids that I've been wearing all summer. 

In other news, I've found my new apartment! Move-in day is not until the end of October, though. I only have a bit less than two weeks before I start my new job, and I'm looking forward to just taking a break until then.  Cooler temperatures are also beginning to settle in, and I'm going to miss my super-casual summer staples. 

Lunch at Tin Lung Heen in Hong Kong

All photos by K.

To celebrate K's birthday, which occurred during our trip, I treated him to lunch at Tin Lung Heen, a two Michelin-starred restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, a hotel which occupies the top several floors of the International Commerce Center (ICC) in Kowloon, Hong Kong. There are several one, two, and three Michelin-starred Chinese restaurants in the same general mold as Tin Lung Heen. They all seem to serve a largely Cantonese-style menu (naturally, given the location), seem to be priced about the same (read: very expensive), and are all located in fancy hotels. It was an experience I couldn't justify paying for in the earlier times when I worked or interned in HK, and it is still something that I wouldn't necessarily pick out just for myself because, well, fine dining for one is a possibly strange notion. Either way, I wanted to treat K to this type of special food experience while we were in HK. 

I made my reservation for our weekday lunch about ten days early, though as far as I could tell from the size of the crowd, a day or two in advance is probably fine for weekdays. Getting a window table would require reserving earlier or, possibly, being a guest at the Ritz-Carlton, and I wasn't able to get one. Reviews for both Tin Lung Heen and the Ritz-Carlton's bar, Ozone, suggest that both are too high up to actually get a particularly good view, especially after the generally hazy summer weather is taken into account. 

We had the executive set lunch, which was 598 HKD/person before 10% service charge and additional surcharge for tea, and came with either a glass of wine or juice. It includes five courses, each with two dishes except for the soup course, and it also includes a dessert course. Behind the cut, I've included photos of each of our dishes. 

Fun with Korean Beauty Products

There's no denying it, Korean beauty products are so hot right now. There was even an interesting article recently about the role the Korean government plays in promoting this trend. I actually have some reservations about how the American market is approaching the K-beauty trend. My thoughts on the topic are not particularly well-developed, and I might write something more polished later on.

For now, I will mention that, as a western consumer, it's hard to know what products to try and how best to obtain them. It can be easy to get sucked in by online buzz surrounding a specific product or brand, buzz that was initially generated by just a small handful of people and their anecdotal experiences. In the 18 months that I've been following r/AsianBeauty, there have been several short-lived crazes that might or might not have perfectly matched up with the quality of the products at issue: Benton, the Su;m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick, Mizon Returning Starfish Cream, Cremorlab, and CosRX. This is not to say that any of these products were bad, it's just that it's easy to forget that there's no universal miracle product.

Also, while I generally have much better luck with Korean and other Asian beauty products priced in the drugstore range than I do with American items at almost any price range, Asian products are not inherently superior. A lot of the biggest brands, even ones that market themselves as focusing on natural products, are heavy-handed with the use of added fragrance, which I generally prefer to avoid in my skincare products. Admittedly, the most popular brands right now don't have that issue. Also, I've had fairly bad luck with Asian makeup and generally prefer western brands, despite my Asian coloring. Among other things, I dislike BB Creams as a general category.

That being said, I'm a huge proponent of the East Asian approach to skincare, which is what Korean products are designed for. I have a few Korean products in my regular routine, and am working on incorporating a few more since my trip.  

For today, I just have a list of quick reviews of K-beauty products that I tried recently, mostly items that I purchased during my trip to Seoul or, in one case, received as a gift at the airport.  Behind the cut, you'll find a list of things I like and a list of things that didn't work for me. One important note: in all cases, I'm linking to US-based retailers where possible, but there is often a cheaper way to get it online from a Korean seller, whether on Ebay or the seller's website.

Shopping for Beauty Products in Taipei and Seoul

My haul on just the first day... Some of these items are gifts for others, though!

I went a little crazy with shopping in Seoul, and the vast majority of my purchases were skincare items, mostly sheet masks. I parceled out a variety pack of sheet masks for basically all of my friends and family, and I still have several months' supply left for myself (assuming a fairly heavy usage schedule of 3-4 masks/week). I also bought a not-inconsiderable quantity of items in Taiwan, but some products were French because the in-store promotions made the products in question a bit cheaper than they would be in the US, though still not as well-priced as they are in France. 

It'll be a while before I get around to personally testing most of what I bought. I will probably have a post in the next week or so with quick opinions on a few items, though. For now, here's a quick guide on what stores or parts of town I would go to in Taipei or Seoul to get my skincare shopping on.

A Sudden Obsession: the Longchamp Miaou Tote

The limited edition Longchamp Miaou tote is totally not my usual style, given my rather plain-jane handbag collection and my current preference for minimalist-ish, more versatile accessories that are office-appropriate. Even so, I fell in love with the Longchamp Miaou items in Malabar Pink when I glimpsed one of the totes in a Kuala Lumpur department store. In the absence of bright color and whimsical details, Longchamp totes are an item that I know I get an excellent cost per wear ratio with. My large Longchamp Planetes tote (discontinued, similar linked) is likely my single most worn item, and I had been thinking vaguely about getting a second, more casual, tote.

Sadly, I didn't realize how much I would want to try this item until the day after I left the department store. I've since been a woman possessed: I've been to four different Longchamp boutiques since, in three different countries, and the Miaou items were nowhere to be found. Only now that I'm back in the US do I realize that I probably should have checked department stores like Sogo as well. My original sighting was in a department store, and I think I saw one out of the corner of my eye at a Sogo in Hong Kong as well. Too late for that, though! Malaysia had excellent prices on Longchamp, similar to the French prices under the currently favorable US-MYR exchange rate, and I'm kicking myself a bit for missing out.

Now that it's been a few days, I think my ardor might be diminishing slightly. I put in an order at Neiman Marcus online before the tote sold out, and I should have the opportunity to try it on soon. If I end up thinking that it's actually a good item for me, it'll be in my next monthly budget post. There's also a possibility that I'll end up getting the medium size instead.

Do you ever find yourself suddenly wanting something that is dramatically not your usual style? If you end up buying the item, does it usually work out for you in the long run?

Shopping in Seoul (Myeongdong, Hongdae, and Insadong)

Shopping in Myeongdong in the evening. 

My two-night trip to Seoul was my first ever visit to South Korea, and I loved it! I stayed in Myeongdong and also visited Hongdae and Insadong, each of which focuses on different types of shopping. Certain things, though, such as the popular Korean beauty brands, are easily found in any of these areas. For today, my post focuses primarily on clothes, accessories, and souvenirs. I'll eventually post about my skincare and cosmetics purchases as well because, spoiler alert, I went a bit crazy with buying beauty products in Asia.

Shopping for Clothes in Korea

Because I rarely shop for clothes in other Asian cities, largely because the styles are too different from what I'm used to, I was surprised to find that I greatly enjoyed browsing clothes at street vendors and small shops in Korea, mostly in Hongdae (the trendiest area I went to). The clothing styles that are popular in Seoul have a different feel from those at similar vendors in, say, Taiwan. It's hard to explain what I observed, but popular styles include both a minimalist-ish aesthetic as well as a different, more feminine look with some nice prints, but not too much in the way of frills or other embellishments. To try and illustrate what I mean, I might point you to Zipia, an online wholesaler selling Korean fashion, though I don't think their offerings are perfectly representative of what I was seeing. I've tried to find some Tumblrs that showcase Korean style, and this one seems alright.

There was, however, a significant sticking point: at the shops I went to, most items are "free size" or one size only. Furthermore, there's no fitting room with street vendors or at many of the small shops. Even when a fitting room is available, it seemed that the norm was for shoppers not to try things on. (I've been at Taiwanese stores where shoppers aren't allowed to try on certain things for fear of sweat or makeup stains. I wondered if that was the case in Korea too, though I couldn't check because of the language barrier.) I tried to think carefully about each piece and to use my best judgment about how things would fit. Various more tailored dresses were completely off the table, as I definitely have a larger chest measurement than most Korean women. The items I bought were all looser fitting, and even then, I made mistakes. Something that I thought was a dress ended up being too short for that, even though I'm likely not taller than the average for Korean women. (Another blog's guide to clothing and shoe sizes in Korea can be found here.)

Quality-wise and production-wise, everything I saw was quite good for the price (better construction and materials than H&M or Loft for basic cotton or rayon items that cost about $11 USD each, with an occasional sale promotion driving the price down to around $6 USD). Everything was labeled "made in Korea."

Given that I prioritize careful shopping and getting my money's worth from my purchases, I couldn't really justify thinking about the many fancier and more expensive pieces that were available. For instance, I saw one dress design that would have cost 44000 KRW or $37 USD, which I couldn't consider for an item that I couldn't try on. It wouldn't be that consistent with my current shopping philosophy to do that much shopping here, but if I came out on another trip, I'd like to browse more.

Behind the cut, I've included more detailed descriptions of the different shopping areas I've visited and a few additional photos.

Visiting a Cat Cafe in Myeongdong, Seoul

One of the highlights of my brief trip to Seoul was visiting a cat cafe in Myeongdong. Although I love cats, both K and I are quite allergic, which makes it highly unlikely that I'll ever own one. Once I learned that cat cafes could be found in Seoul, visiting one was high on my to-do list. I greatly enjoyed going to the one nearest to my hotel. Because the employees are constantly cleaning, my allergies didn't even act up too badly despite the presence of so many cats in an enclosed space. There were no bad smells either. The cats seem happy and well taken care of, and the employees are very affectionate towards them, a feeling that the cats seem to reciprocate. 

There are a good number of cat cafes in Seoul, including multiple ones in both Hongdae and Myeongdong. As far as I've seen from a few other blogs, the protocol for visiting each one is generally the same: 

• At the door, visitors are asked to swap their shoes for slippers provided by the cafe.
• Visitors are generally asked to use hand sanitizer or wash their hands before entering.
• Cat cafes  charge for admission, and the price will often include a drink. The one I went to charges 8000 KRW, which is about $6.75 USD.
• The cafe I went to also provides large plastic drawstring bags for handbags and shopping bags to keep things clean. 
• Sometimes, the cafe also sells treats that visitors can feed to the cats. Sadly, these were sold out when I visited in the late evening! 

I posted a few more photos behind the cut. Also, for those who find themselves in Seoul and would like to experience it for themselves, I tried to give some directions. Seoul can be a bit difficult to navigate when one has no Korean language skills, to the point where I'm not completely sure of what street the cafe was on, or even the proper name of the place!

August Shopping Reflections

This was a highly atypical month because I spent the vast majority of it traveling. In addition to the listed items, I also bought three pieces of fairly cheap summer clothing from street vendors in Korea and a very large quantity of Korean beauty products, but those came out of my separate travel budget. My general rule for categorizing purchases was that brands or items that I would have purchased in the normal course of my day-to-day life in the US would fall under my regular shopping budget. The other clothes I bought were primarily for wearing during the trip because the humidity and heat made some of my packed clothes less appealing. 

In terms of my travel spending, I set aside a fairly generous budget for this trip, but with the vague expectation that I likely wouldn't spend it all. I ended up buying more than expected in Korea, some of it to serve as gifts, which has brought me a lot closer to using up my entire trip budget. 

Fashion - (TOTAL: $112.16) 

• Ann Taylor Lace Dress - $83.40 - I bought this dress just before I left the US, during a 40% off regular price promotion, which resulted in a price that was decent, but a bit higher than I typically spend on an Ann Taylor dress. 
• H&M Paisley Shorts - $12.65 - I bought this pair of shorts on sale as an impulse buy in Taipei. H&M items are generally marked up a fair bit in Taiwan, but the sale price on these proved to be about as good as the same item's sale price in the US. Although these shorts are 100% polyester, they are loose-fitting enough that they're generally comfortable in the summer weather here. 
• Black Ballet Flats - $16.15 - Similar pair pictured. The only shoes I packed for my trip were the Keds I bought a few months ago and my Fitflop sandals, and I had a few fancier outings planned that required more formal shoes. I picked up ballet flats from a vendor in the underground mall at Myeongdong subway station. I'm not sure whether these are leather, though at the price (19,000 KRW) I don't really expect them to be. The quality on these is otherwise better than I would expect from similarly priced pair at Urban Outfitters or Forever 21, though they were more difficult to break in than the flats I typically buy. While I don't typically believe in spending a lot on ballet flats because they have an extremely short lifespan with me, I would normally like to spend a bit more to get more comfortable ones. I'll continue to wear these when I get back home. 

Linking up to Franish and the Budgeting Bloggers this month. Be sure to check out what everyone else bought this month! 

Korean ATMs, The Great Firewall, etc.

One lovely corner of the Gyeongbokgong in Seoul.

I have not been posting half as much as I initially planned to during my trip! Things have been extremely fun, though a bit more tiring than I expected. Since my last post, I have been in Taipei, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and I am writing this post from a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. In a little less than a week, I'll be flying back to the United States. I plan to write a few more travel posts, but I will probably get to them until after my return home. 

In the last few weeks, I've encountered a few of those unexpected setbacks and minor problems that are inevitable when one travels without doing exhaustive advanced planning and research: I learned that many Korean ATMs do not accept foreign cards, which is problematic when one has a habit of traveling with fairly little cash and relies on an ATM card. (Almost all ATMs in Seoul's subway stations accept international debit cards, though.) I also found that, unlike in 2011 when I briefly lived in Beijing, the Great Firewall in China now blocks access to all Google products (Gmail, Blogger, Google Maps, etc.) in addition to the Google search engine and Facebook. Discovering the latter when I got to Shanghai and expected to use email and actually research my itinerary with my usual online tools was an unpleasant surprise. I felt the absence of Google Maps particularly strongly. It was, admittedly, a major oversight on my part because a few people tried to warn me about the Google issue. 

Perhaps because I've lived and travelled through East Asia more than most, I was a bit lackadaisical with much of the research and planning for this trip. It generally hasn't worked out too badly either, though failing to prepare myself for the Google issue in China was a bit silly of me. I can't wait to share some of the actually fun details about my travels! 

First Stop: Taichung, Taiwan

A shop in Feng-Jia Night Market in Taichung.

My post for today will be extremely brief. I'm back in Taipei now, but I spent most of the past week in Taichung to visit my mom's family, and my trip there included a stop at Feng-Jia Night Market. My primary activities of choice when in Taiwan are shopping and eating, and night markets are a particularly good place to engage in both.

Cute socks. I do suspect that these are not licensed products...

When I shop in Taiwan, I generally stick to buying small, cute items like the socks pictured above. I generally also buy some Asian skincare and makeup while I'm in Taiwan, but this time I might wait for my stopover in Seoul to buy those things because most of what I want to buy comes from Korean brands. I'll also need to think about what items to get as souvenirs for friends back home. 

I'll hopefully write some more detailed posts with more photos in the next few weeks as my travels continue!