Shanghai China Snippets

Brunching is one of my favorite activities on late Sunday morning. Last time we tried a Spanish brunch at Indalo, now we went to more of a Fusion brunch at Maneo’s on Tongren Lu.

Food

Instead of a buffet Maneo offers a big menu and you can choose as much and as many times you like.

Ranging from a Mixed Grilled Plate with lovely lamb chops to Teriyaki Salmon or a Grilled minute steak and even an Open laced-blue cheese burger. All great quality.

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Have you ever dressed up like a vending machine when you were afraid someone was after your money.

They can do it now in Japan and, no, not just for Halloween.

As I don’t see many vending machines in Shanghai in the streets I was wondering what would be a good alternative here.

Dress up like a bin? Any other ideas?

Source: NY Times

A couple of years ago already I went to Pasti on their old location. This spot is now occupied by Napoli while Pasti moved to a old villa only footsteps away. A lot more space and the food even better. I have been a couple of times now and even ordered in using their convenient website.

Food

The food is good quality Italian pizzas and salads.

Pizzas have thin crusts and fully topped, salads are well dressed.

The pastas I tried where not as good as the pizza but then again, I really like their pizza.

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The Special Olympics in Shanghai are well on their way now and the first medal has been won on the marathon.

Some Special Olympics Stats:

• Number of sports - 25 (see which ones here)
• Number of participating athletes - 7,500
• Seating capacity of Shanghai Stadium - 80,000

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When I took a taxi I noticed the driver was wearing an orange shirt instead of the standard suit and I asked him why he had changed.

“All for the Special Olympics”, he said. He also asked which attire I preferred. I must say I like the suit better.

Most bus drivers are also wearing orange this week.

It’s not the clearest picture but you can see the orange.

and even vaguer, the taxi driver’s orange shirt

Today was the car free day in Shanghai. Traffic was the same as usual.

Jimmy Speaks pretty good English.

He’s been a taxi driver for some time now and is still young.

Jimmy also likes to talk, about football, about Feijenoord, the club from Rotterdam.

That’s a major plus for someone coming from that city.

As my Chinese still needs a lot to be desired this was my chance to learn more about the taxi trade.

Jimmy …

• works 16 hours on a day, and is the next day off
• makes between 40 and 45 rides a day
• pockets between 4000 and 5000 Rmb/month

He likes his job but it’s tiring he says. He probably won’t be happy with the new tiringno-eating and yawning regulations.

He has 1 star and wants to become a 3 star driver.

Give him a call if you need an English speaking driver.