Things to Do In Shanghai and What To Expect at Disneyland Shanghai | Tips and Travel Story

Call it audaciously sculptural or pared down and pristine , the architectural ingenuity of the old town in Shanghai engages with the eyes and imagination in such a way that you can't put your head down for a second .
Be prepared to bump into people and poles as you gaze up to appreciate the beauty .
You can't understand this unless you are over and around it .

Shanghai a city and the most idyllic location to find a  sleek and a savvy vibe that you would never run out of things to do. Its a city with modern and an interesting twist to tradition.

I absolutely loved globe trotting in a new era of personalization and identified a whole lot of local secrets and adventures the city has to offer.

Trying to sum up what to expect in the city in a wildly unfiltered way and revealing much more from a local's perspective. Resourcing it all in this blog post , so be patient lovelies.

We were booked at Hotel Howard Johnson Plaza which is straight opposite Nanjing road, one of the most happening streets of Shanghai, also coz you get to do all the touristy things around like the most famous Bund river sightseeing, which is about 750mts .I have a panoramic shot of the beautiful Shanghai at night which could just light you up .Check it all out here.

Nanjing road, is a shopping heaven . And in case your motto is to shop , this street would eat your entire two days.Nothing like walking out of the hotel lobby and bang suddenly you are in the buzz  of it all.

You can get used to the skyscrapers and sit with a beer along the Bund riverside for hours . The twinkling ferries ushers the passengers along the riverside and delivers them to the waterfront . The ferry ride is a package deal with the Pearl tower sightseeing and  should not be missed.

The locals do not speak English. Its very rare that you find someone who would jump onto having a conversation with you. I figured a few were even scared to even share some broken sentences in English hence totally ignored us when we asked them directions. I realized this on Day 2 , and after that totally figured everything out via google maps.

Shanghai is a paradise for food lovers. And those who feel a vegetarian could not survive , damn I put on weight despite all the walking. Shanghai can literally spoil you for food. And boy you can get Vegetarian food in Shanghai almost everywhere. The hotel had a vegetarian menu , plus we discovered a lot of local restaurants who could just switch any dish to your preference. There are some stand alone shacks who sell rice noodle salads, with cucumber , bean sprouts and peanuts, and you cannot miss that too. There are a lot of dotting restaurants at the Bund riverfront along with gorgeous river views, and the staff can communicate well with you for the kind of food you want..

The most popular and another must visit place is Yuyuan Graden , and the city gods temple.Its staggering lovely. It keeps the integrity of the old 15th century charm { the only temple from the ming dynasty ( that's what the sign boards told us )} It was just one stop from our hotel, and the train ride was so much fun. 

Yu yuan was stately , and inviting and boasts of the old world construction and a never forgettable china town experience. The houses and shops even starbucks is designed to keep the structure of the whole place authentic. Beautiful photos of the temple follows after the post, so don't miss any. 

We shopped for some local souvenirs and about 50 chinese fans from the market which begins just after the exit . Great to take home some inexpensive trinkets and local chinese tea and chinese toys.

The only proper way to get around Shanghai is by a Taxi, and the train.  The weather was too hot and humid . After reading some vague reviews about the hop on and hop off bus , which practically gets you around most of the sightseeing places we dropped the idea. But it sure is fun for a day, only if the weather outside doesn't get the better of you. I would still recommend sticking to taxi or the sub.

Nanjing road has this cute little toy trains - almost only a dollar expensive easily making out way on the pedestrian street carefully honking . Even if you are an adult, you would just freak out.

Now coming to where it all started . The planning , and why did we pick Shanghai this time.Well Disney may have a hand in this. Thanks to the commercials we were continuously hammered by our daughter that how eager she was to visit Shanghai disneyland as all the Frozen princesses have their legit squad there . Turns out she was right. Disney is not new for us, its magical, everywhere but a little less in Shanghai . Blame it on the sizable number of people inhabiting the city , Disney was overtly crowded. Also because Shanghai disney just opened up in June and is a little more Disneywise  trending than others.

Be prepared to walk , sweat and stand in the queues for most of the rides. People were just rattling all over the place. 

Disney Day 1 we decided to take the most newest rides first and the ones which has the maximum hours for waiting . Turned out it was everybody else's  plan too. Enter Plan B - Forget everything and just concentrate on the princess. But the good part was that we managed to catch all the shows 

( although in Mandarin ) and they were hilarious and funny . Unlike other Disney's this one is humongous ,and would impress even the most jaded tourists and locals alike.There's a reason why there is a huge waiting for most of the rides, but there were a few which were outrageously boring. Truth is you need minimum three days here, although it deflates you completely ,but I would still suggest that if you want to go to Disney , Hong kong Disney is way better( crowd wise ). Or wait till till the craze dies out a bit, Chinese wants to be the first one to taste everything , so let them do that first. Rest of the world can wait.

Disney pictures with the captions are all below. Have fun browsing through them.

I wore this striped dress from Zaful on one of the days in Shanghai. I have already mentioned how hot it was, and I needed some ventilation. Its a cute shirt dress with some trendy patches . A lot of you asked me about the bag . Its from Zaful too. It was a perfect companion for my entire trip.

Putting down all the details of the outfits below. This post is already becoming so lengthy, or may I say word- crowded . At least I braved Disney on a weekend and that too in chinese school beak holidays. A superpower that I can add to my list of achievements. I deserve a pat or some emojis thumbs up would also suffice.

Ending my travel stories with this post. I am always available to actively engage with your queries on social networks. Come let's Chat.

More on my Instagram. See you with a next outfit next week.

Can you spot the Toy Train ??

Can you see the Tiger Kissing the Panda ?  The theory of glass full or empty in full practice

A Day In Loungewear | The Club Emerald - Mumbai

These summer holidays were a perfect time for me to gussy up and go out, but hubster was too less inclined to spend time with family. It was a holiday vs Work Tug-O -War situation at home.

The work kept him busy all throughout , and he was a living example of Ass Jack of all trades,( work front ) engrossed in climbing some Mt. Kilimanjaro, Disconnected and not reachable. It was time to break a bottle of some old wine, alone at home,when an idea struck me to follow him everywhere.

Co-incidentally both of ours work made us land in Mumbai at the same time. Now it was a golden opportunity to take a break from solo-parenting and just throw everything and perform my laid back couch potato edit. 

Things became slow. Mumbai was rainy and sluggy, not that I am loving Delhi at the moment, but its that time of the year where the pattern of sweat don't know the city its trickling down from. Yes, Monsoons !!

Obviously we don't have a different wardrobe for monsoons,like we do for winters, but casuals and lounge-wear only seems like an obvious directional choice in this weather which on a side note, also lets me achieve the bonus of every conceivable form of daily activity and save me the Gusset between my legs too ( I said that on Instagram already )......

This Kurti and the linen pant set was the most dressed up I needed to be on a rainy day in Mumbai. You can see my hair is tied up already in a bun. Kurta's can prove to be a Mecca for lounge-wear and also maximise your chill time and that's what precisely I was doing at newly launched Sports Club -Emerald in Chembur, Mumbai. I think there is room for style and taste in every part of women's life. But its only when a fancy place like Club Emerald which is full of luxury notes provides a vantage point for me to swaddle myself up with a cup of coffee in the quietness of the library and loose myself to a book.  After hours of curling up on that library sofa couch, I got in a mood to hit the playground , play some squash and it was exactly when I found out that this Fab India outfit proved every bit in the righteousness to obscure my secondary sex characteristic, unencumbered and non fussy.

Plaid for Winters | Pench Travel Diaries

Though right now, its a struggle to show off these bare legs in Delhi, thinking of the chilly season hovering ahead, its simply not possible. But you would laugh if I tell you that I was freezing my ass off last month exactly for this outfit shoot. These pics are from Pench National Park,(in case u are on insta u would know I was there ) 
It was raining when we landed, and the weather took a steep turn into being very very cold. I was only thinking of all those shorts which I had packed, coz that part of India is never that cold. To add to my woes, hubs disclosed that our safaris were booked for  5 A.M for 3 consecutive days, and suddenly shopping became the most prime agenda.
We loved our hotel- Village machaan Resort, which apparently had the best rooms (all glass) and a private Machaan(vantage Point/ Watch tower ) - offering a great view.
The roads leading to the jungle are actually not that great, and can give you a really spooky experience, but the safaris were well worth the risks. We spotted the tiger on our very first safari , and the other two days we almost followed the  leopard  paws, but missed the beast. The drivers and the guides inside the park are very well trained , and they make sure that we all have a great experience. The last day , I finally had a chance to take these shorts out and pose in from my room (if u can see in  between blur and portions). This also happened be  the only day I smothered on some lipstick like a jerk, coz my lips were too busy either complaining of the cold or involved in  tittering every second. 
Except the bag, shoes and shirt, I have shopped everything from the men section here. Its not unusual that you see me mixing prints these  days- Been there and done that , but it was some kind of different thrill to mix n match stuff from the HE- Man ? Like it ??

The Girl By The POOL | PHUKET

We were in Phuket last year too. Same resort, Same beach, and co-incidentally Same dates . On a second thought nothing was incidental as it seems, since we fell in love with the whole place, so much that we couldn't get enough of Phuket at one time. We had an amazing time last year,so decided why not go every year if it turns out to be a blast every time ? You know the places you want to return and pick up things to-do which you couldn't complete before... something like that.
Its a very MEAN GIRL vs. SHE IS TOO COOL TO CARE ABOUT STRICT POOL DRESS CODE look, where I can still lounge around a pool in heels and get away with it. Wanted A very laid back vibe which reinterprets luxe glamour and then found a spot to read and even got some Queer attention BTW..
This wrap skirt was a flea find from Phuket  last year, and I went overly board to pair it even cropper version of the top - Than last Time .... I know I may sound going on a loop, but I feel that I am still stuck in my memories of 2013 mode.
As I write this post, I have chopped my hair to almost half of what you see now, and even Got some highlights. Watch this space to know my hair-makeover story !

Lookbook: Fashion Pearls And Singapore-Day-2

It was Day 2 at Hotel Marina Bay Sands, Singapore where I  made the most of the remainder of my Vacation.   I never planned that I would be posting these pics, but had to, as I wanted to Show off my new Pearlie's which I bought while my stay in Singapore. Every women should at least have a pair of pearl whites, as they make up for a perfect summer accessory and always remain fashionable no matter what the trend.

Besides in possession of a small dainty pearl necklace,passed on by grandma which forever remained keepsake in her jewelry box,  this is the only Pearl statement piece I own and look forward to wearing it with everything. 

We planned on having some casino time and I dressed the part, kept the look around semi-casuals and clutter free. For the sake of limited luggage coz we had to change almost 6 flights,and spending a fair amount of time living out of a suitcase(15 days) packing light was so valuable to my sanity. A pair or two of  bikinis, and shorts and these denims and heels, were stretched to be used for multiple outfits and activities, saving the luggage space good enough to fit a Pup .

Fashion- Dressy Blouse and Ripped Denims| Travel Post | Singapore Clark Quay

Its good to be back, well, but literally ! For those of you who didn't know, I was on a backpacker kinda vacation, with  no pre-agenda and hotel bookings , primarily just the visa and air tickets ! It was a first time ever that we took a risk, skipping the research, and reviews, with a plenty of unscheduled free time ! Trying to squeeze in too many things -to-do lists, gets us no time to chill,it becomes a chore. But this time it was different. We did a lot-Snorkeling, canoeing,Buddhist temple visits, Hand shaking with the tigers(tiger Kingdom-Phuket), Bum beaching, almost drowning ourselves in the sunsets- all without the gnawing sense of missing something really Important. Made new discoveries each day, and found out that Ignorance might indeed be a bliss :)
Over the years I have found that my best vacations have always been the ones,where I am able to truly connect with the places I have visited and soak in the local culture. I visited three places and changed almost six flights over a period of two weeks ! Overly Ambitious?
These pics are from Singapore Robinson Quay ! It was my second port of landing . We decided to stay over at a loft style  hotel, Studio M (millenium group). Had heard a lot about these style of hotels, but just after one night and paying USD180 per night, we felt it was pretty exorbitant to pay that price for a duplex room concept. The very next day we moved over to Novotel, at Clark quay, which had an undulating view of one the best location of Singapore ! Check out my small Insta Video here .
If you are a nightlife person then I suggest that you stay over at Clark quay which has the highest concentration of bars and unadulterated view of riverside restaurants offering global cuisines and hip cafes and entertaining people.  This place has a vibrant young crowd of locals and tourists who are there to drink , eat and make merry but with elan !
For my outfit, I kept it, pretty much cool, and hassle free, less accessories, tied up here, and shorts with a formal blouse with neon trim edge. I had to meet my work associates for dinner, hence it worked well for an informal meet. 

Best Places for Vacation in India | Postcards From Kerala

Today's post is in continuation to my previous post on my travel diaries, just a different author . I persuaded my hubs to do a guest post on my blog, while I intend to go on a spring sabbatical. Since he is a hotelier, and a frequent traveler, he is better equipped to do a complete justice for a travel story. I thought of  giving his hitherto hidden travel bugs and avid eye for quality -  a voice, through my blog space and starting a string of travel post on thefashioflite.com . Guys- Is it a nice idea or should I separate him out ?
At least Let's hear it from him :

Experiencing nature in all its curative best without compromising on the creature comforts is the best part. The name Anantya (infinite) does only half the justice to the infinite natural concoction of waterfront,cloud covered mountains,occasional rainfall,misty rubber plantations,huge variety of local birds,etc.etc.
Maybe if the owners could add another letter to the name to make the total letter count to 8 which is a Chinese favorite as it connects the heaven and earth-Anantyaa.

The vacation at Anantya Resort, Trivandrum,Kerala, was very special for my Family.  We were mesmerized with the sights, smells and sounds (or the lack of it) of this enchanted place.

Pristine nature views all around, unbroken by man made structures, is a rarity which we seldom experience.The sprawling Chittar lake literally hugs Anantya resort from three sides.The beautiful resort nestles quaintly in the blue waters and Rubber Plantations.  Anantya Resort truly enabled us to immerse in nature.

The towering ranges of the Western Ghats capped the scenery, making it picture post card perfect.The breeze and the greenery rejuvenated the soul and filled us with a sense of well being.

The private villas, open vistas, and the alluring restaurant and bars, the welcoming blue waters of the swimming pool and the abundant lily and lotus ponds all around, offer a heady mix for the guests.

Opportunity to commune with other visitors abounded at the Swaad- their lake facing restaurant and the deck bar. 

Oh ! the breeze at the Swaad Restaurant literally and figuratively gives one an opportunity to let the hair down.

I- The Pool Villa with an outdoor private pool and garden space is probably the best waterfront hotel accommodation in Kerala.

 II-The huge and spacious Bathroom with Jacuzzi and open air shower area
III- villa-Poolside at night
IV- The Spacious Bedroom with our monster kid

L- head chef, C- myself ,R- Resort Manager

I- Yali(the demon god) your private water fall
II-Enjoy your wine in the bath-tub with a peek at the lake and mountains through the glass partitions
III-Our lil spa space by the waterfall

From playing Badminton and Volleyball to reading a good book on the quiet shores of the lake or Enjoying a rejuvenating Ayurvedic Spa to attending Yoga lessons a midst natural surroundings there is no dearth of activities to immerse in . Pure luxury !!

Anantya waterfront Resorts,Kerala has unleashed the writer in me. Maybe a week long stay could do some justice to the place . Wishing Anantya all the success with an endless stream of discerning visitors, wanting to invigorate their souls !

Ciao

Dk

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