Steaming hot breakfast in the front yard before the cars come in. While life on main street moves at hyperspeed and is always uber class, Shanghai still has a place for an older lifestyle that harks back to the days when only the basics will do. In the side streets and byways small businesses thrive providing affordable sustenance and services for the ordinary man. Pavement barber taps power for electric shears from a renovation site. A chair and a mirror, with the day's clippings swept up against the wall. Catching a meal on the run.

Take a seat. Join the conversation. Once the epicentre of intellectual buzz and meeting place for radicals like the League of Leftist Writers, Duolun Lu lost its mojo until it was turned into a pedestrian street cum cultural centre. Many buildings were restored and statues installed to pay homage to the luminaries of their time. There’s a rebirth of sorts, with visitors rediscovering their heritage as they stroll down the street, stopping to admire the historic buildings of varied architectural influences, or take snapshots posing with statues of literary celebrities. Other attractions include the old church, writers’ museums and the Duolun MOMA. Then round off with coffee at the Old Film Cafe to catch a screening of rare Chinese movies from the 1920s. Quintessential old style shophouses. Hongde Tang, church blending eastern and western architecture. Come sit with me. The Duolun Museum of Modern Art where the entrance is itself a work of art. The Ol...

Just taking a breather  Just off the streets lined with gleaming towers, another facet of Shanghai beckons the visitor with the offbeat taste. Here people live cheek by jowl, little touched by the lightspeed development sweeping across Shanghai and beyond. This hidden world, inspiring and beautiful to those with an artistic eye, is fast vanishing. Here today gone tomorrow, as the bulldozers enter, and another bit of old world charm is wiped off in the name of progress. Hopefully, the memories will linger on. Small and cramped but it's a start This old road warrior still has mileage to go A simple abode with bikeport for two

The Bund awash with light, perfect setting for romance. The historic Bund where the colonial powers first took a foothold in the old city and built a showpiece of power and glory on the bank of the Huangpu River. Their inroads created a cosmopolitan society hungry for all things foreign, especially western culture. Emerging from the Mao era, the Bund has been restored to its former splendour and more. At sundown, the promenade turns into the world’s largest dance floor with residents in their evening best strutting the Latin and waltzing the Viennese, weather permitting. On the opposite bank towering new edifices of capitalism line the promenade, a sharp contrast to the predominantly neoclassical architecture of the Bund. Dominating them are the futuristic Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and the Jin Mao Tower, all beautifully bathed in light. While tourists cruise the river, landlubbers stroll the promenades under the bright city lights that give Shanghai ...

The signature globe facade of Metro City. Geeks and techies of all degrees will find nirvana in several giant pc malls in Shanghai, notably Bai Nao Hui behind Times Square Pudong, and Metro City. You can't miss Metro City because its building facade is a gargantuan geodesic sphere of steel and glass. Inside are five stories chockfull of desktops, laptops, game machines, mobile phones, software, books and more. And when you're drained after all the browsing and bargaining, simply recharge yourself at the restaurants and cafes, or the food court in the basement. For those when only an Apple will do, there is the premier Apple Store at the IFC Mall. Entry is via a spectacular glass cylindrical tower sited in the centre of the mall plaza facing the Oriental Pearl Tower. Its translucent spiral staircase takes you down into the underground showroom packed with Apple fanboys touch-screening and swooning over the latest i-gadgets. The upper half of the Apple Store glass ...

No gloves to lose . The Chinese are masters of invention. Think paper money and gunpowder. Not surprising that they have a novel solution to that darn nuisance of losing your gloves on a wintry morning. Just tape that hand warmer onto your handle bars. Any tubular object like the sleeves of a suitably lined throwaway jacket will do. In busy Shanghai there are more important things to occupy your mind than "where did I leave my gloves".

Soak up the atmosphere on the sidewalk Cafes spilling onto the pavement and "five foot way" (or verandah) are commonplace all over Asia, and Shanghai is no exception. These shops provide quick meals all day for the proletariat, and is the perfect spot to catch the top-of-mind matters of the masses. Elsewhere the people chatter and chill in swanky international-branded joints like the Starbucks. And of course, the many local wannabe setups which serve their cuppas with more local flavour. All this cafe culture isn't quite Montmartre, but the bohemians are not complaining, and keep returning for their inspiration and caffeine fix. Unwinding on the sun drenched patio For your branded cuppa

View from SWFC looking towards the Huangpu River. There's a saying that the way up is harder than the way down, but the view is from the top. Well, this is one view from the top that you don't have to work at, not even to lift a finger to press the elevator button. Instead you are escorted by an attractive stewardess on a flight of fancy in a futuristic bullet-capsule, complete with mood-changing lights, that takes you to the observation deck on the 100th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Here you can drink in the breathtaking view of the city studded with skyscrapers of all architectural flavours. After your photo ops and kodak moments, you can pick up your mementos, including a bottle opener shaped like the building. Yes, the SWFC is affectionally nicknamed the Bottle Opener by the natives.

Check out my new vanity project Nanyang, a graphic novel by Tan Choon Hong at: http://www.tanchoonhongcreative.blogspot.com This is a work-in-progress so words and illustrations are roughly sketched in to get the story going. The layout is in storyboard format to provide a widescreen cinematic feel.

Sussing out the goodies in a pedestrian tunnel. While the above-ground economy booms, the subterranean counterpart in the below-ground linkways at busy road junctions is also thriving. These urban bazaars provide a bare-bones living for enterprising locals as well as itinerant traders from far flung provinces like Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia. Operating like guerrilla marketers, they pop up here, there and everywhere, sometimes under the very noses of the authorities. Spreading their wares on sidewalks, overhead pedestrian crossings and underground passages by day, these smooth operators melt away by night. Perhaps city zoning is enforced with a light touch because these activities are not particularly disruptive to the legit biz, and they help prop up the lower-end economy with affordable staples. No overheads for these baubles, bangles and beads.

Cathedrals of consumption tower over the pedestrian traffic. Located off the Bund, Nanjing Lu is a shopping street reserved strictly for human traffic, except for a mini train that takes shoppers from one end to the other, and electric police buggies. With a history stretching back to the Opium War era when it became a conduit for foreign goods, Nanjing Lu is the go-to place for luxury imports, attracting tourists and locals alike. Shoppers can shop till they drop.... into some comfy seats in the many restaurants and cafes to refuel. Sidewalk benches and concrete planter boxes provide more basic respite for the shopper on safari. On your lucky evening, you might chance upon some live jazz sax-player on an upstairs balcony, stirring visions of old Bai Le Men. A foot patrol sends out all the positive vibes. Wind down the day with an evening stroll.

Iconic towers vie for your attention on the Pudong side of the river. Shanghai is built on the banks of the Huangpu River which flows into the estuary of the mighty Yangzijiang (the Yangtze River). A leisurely cruise down the river lets you admire the soaring skyscrapers, among which the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Building and Shanghai World Financial Centre were the world's tallest till dethroned by newer builds. Facing off on the opposite bank is the historic Bund with its colonial era architecture. Interspersed on both banks are gleaming condos, hotels and office-mall complexes. This spectacular lineup is punctuated by picturesque old factories, warehouses and quays bustling with the day's business. As you soak in the splendour, your cruiser weaves through an endless stream of barges, launches and small coastal ships. There used to be waterborne electronic billboards beaming their enticing out-of-home messages straight to the riverside residents. Then you might also...

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Shopping boulevards keep shopaholics suitably inebriated. In a culture where face is everything, Huaihai Lu and its cousin pedestrian street Nanjing Lu let you play oneupmanship against other haves or have-mores, or even the have-mosts. Wallet-busting establishments of conspicuous consumption line both sides of the street offering signature buys of the rich and famous. New money or old money it gets you all the status stamping your lusting heart can desire. Here and there, and in the side streets, wannabe places cater to those who prefer indulgence lite.

All in a day's work. Talk about a hard day in your climate-controlled cubicle! These folks literally have to eat noodles by the sweat of their brows. Through the millennia neither war nor famine, earthquake or flood or whatever catastrophe that man or nature can cast their way, these descendants of the dragon have triumphed over all. It's written in your 8 numbers of fate. Take it as it comes.

Cafes and salons reset the life of a grand old building It's koo to be here and to be seen in here. Former fit-for-wrecking-ball buildings were gutted and refilled with elegant cafes, salons, restaurants and other fashionable retail biz that nourish body and soul. Across the plaza stands a newbuild for more income disposing. And just a block away, the famed shopping belt of Huaihai Lu for all manner of luxe living. They say if you're tired of London you're tired of life. The same can be said of Shanghai. The plaza leads to a multi-level complex of swanky shops.

A quick bite and it's back to the grind. The income canyon between rich and poor is obvious as you step out of a fancy restaurant and pass these road-side stands dishing out the day's lunch for the proletariat. There's no eat in. Only eat standin' or takeaway. Across the city small eateries serve the countless workers who toil away for subsistence pay. These fast meals help sustain a low wage workforce that fuels the factories that build for the world.

A picturesque labyrinth of alleys crisscross the complex of ornate shophouses. Located inside the old city is Yuyuan Garden, a sprawling multi-generation owned, and multiple-times destroyed-restored real estate comprising placid ponds with willows, rockeries and pavilions. Part of the garden complex, and this is where the diehard tourist heads to, stands an imposing array of buildings packed with shops offering ceramics, herbs, silks and of course tea in all its varieties. Just as plentiful are restaurants, snack bars and tea houses catering to every whim and taste both local and foreign. Narrow and broad alleys between the ornate buildings lead to spacious courtyards where cultural shows and other demos are regular fixtures. Adding to the buzz are the numerous pushcarts flogging a wide assortment of tourist trinkets. Together with the crush of humanity this latter day bazaar offers the sights, sounds and smells that draw tourists hungry for a piece of oldtime action when gold nugge...