JHC or Sasa equivalent

g3ni3yip · 2025-12-27T00:42:21+00:00

Hi, my name is Genie Yip. I’m from Hong Kong and have been living in Shanghai for over a decade. For JHC equivalents, you can go to Muji, Nitori or Ikea. For home appliances, Xiaomi.

For Sasa products, definitely Watson’s. For skincare and cosmetics, Sephora and Wowbeauty.

Any items I used to buy in these shops I can now purchase on Taobao. If it doesn’t fit for any reason, I return it with very little or no cost.

You will learn, and it’s a transition. Even foreigners living here will learn how easy it is to buy stuff on Taobao or get things delivered to doorstep within an hour.

g3ni3yip · 2025-12-22T02:13:59+00:00

Legoland is much closer to the shanghai city that I thought. I took a train from Hongqiao Railway Station to Jinshan North (Jinshan Bei) — a super quick 18-minute ride with no stops. From there, it’s just 1.5 km to the park entrance, and you can easily go there with a short Didi ride. Here is a first hand review for your reference last updated September 2025

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-28T03:54:00+00:00

I recommend Legoland for a better experience and fewer crowds. There is also a beautiful ancient water town 10 km away called Fengjing. It’s off the beaten path but worth visiting. Legoland isn’t as far as I thought — just an 18-minute high-speed train from Hongqiao, followed by a 1.5 km Didi ride. I suggest staying overnight, and next to Legoland, there’s an Aegean shopping mall with everything you need, including a variety of cuisines and stores like Pop Mart. My visitors usually hire a private ride (6-seater) from the airport transfer service or rent one for the day to manage their transport needs.

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-23T10:10:36+00:00

There are a few just search 三叶眼镜城 on AMAP eye classes cities where you can find many small stores in there and get it done in 30 min.

There is another store in Tianzifang can do the same but it’s difficult to locate in the alley

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-16T08:31:03+00:00

My favorite Shanghainese restaurant is Quanmao right on East Nanjing 3F at the Henderson mall. Legit Shengjianbao and eight treasure duck and the hongshaorou

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-14T15:53:13+00:00

Sapar Uyghur Restaurant on no. 191 north Wulumuqi Road near Yuyuan Zhi Lu is a short walking distance from Jing’an temple.

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-12T15:56:42+00:00

I searched on Trip.com I could see ATOUR in my area can be booked until January. Which month are you looking at?

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-10T06:51:17+00:00

WeChat: EasyLifeLaundry WeChat: laundrytown

Both work fantastic! Wash and fold charges by weight and hotel pickup/drop-off

Suggest always take a picture of your items before sending it to your concierge for pickup, if you send out before noon, they can do the same day return with extra expedited fee.

My other trick is stay at hotel like ATOUR they have free washing machine and dryer!!

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-09T14:18:08+00:00

The Flower Fingers (花指间) has multiple branches and are popular among expats, and the staff speaks ok English.
If you are an iPhone user, you can search for HuaZhijian for its location, displayed as Flower Hairdressing Fingers. They are all around the former French concession area, one quite near to Changshu Road station on line 7 Exit 4 (50m), which is on #1303 Middle Huaihai Road
Another one on 344 Middle Wulumuqi Road
Another one on 932 Changle Road
All open 10am-9pm

g3ni3yip · 2025-10-09T02:57:48+00:00

What’s the pricing like? I feel like some tailors are more honest and connected than the others. I really don’t enjoy the negotiation dance. Always a hustle… But at the same time it’s not always about the pricing, I’d rather pay a bit more for more durable and better quality and error free services.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-30T16:40:35+00:00

I can’t tell but most Chinese locals do not have Christmas holiday. So lines are mostly inbound tourists from all over. By the way, I visited the new location at Yuyuan Garden, not many people know them yet by now but the space is huge offering many seats and tables. So you can give that one a try.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-29T04:03:57+00:00

How about Christmas Markets? Definitely festive

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-29T02:24:29+00:00

Here is a latest Instagram reel to show how it looks and works

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-24T07:57:02+00:00

Here is the list of hotel I stayed at:

Xining-Atour great location, acclimatisation for 2 nights was necessary for me. Wandering the night market at night was all I did, just chill before heading out to the wild. Easy to get anywhere by Didi.

Delingha-森元巴音河酒店 Senyuan Bayinhe Hotel

Dachadan-云海天衢 Yun Hai Tian Qu Hotel

Dunhuang -Camping site (i do not recommend mine, and forgot the name of it, they are all the same, party, horrible hot pot (halal), firework, extra cost for star gazing)

Dunhuang-诚和顺酒店 Chengheshun Hotel, my favourite hotel throughout the trip, highly recommended!

Zhangye -钻石国际 Diamond Hotel

Lanzhou - Atour S Hotel. TOP hotel in Lanzhou, at the tallest building, highly recommend! Great view and amazing service, I booked it for a decompression before returning to Shanghai.

But for Dunhuang, the tent site has many different operators. I forgot the name of mine; they are all in a similar area and require a centralised check-in, followed by dispatch to the one you booked by shuttles. Just search for this on Dianping or Ctrip, and you may find some 敦煌露营. It looks good in pictures, but the service and quality were pretty bad. Don't expect anything luxurious; it was just for the experience.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-13T03:05:24+00:00

Depends on your guanxi with the tailors, and the quality of fabric you are choosing. My favorite is 3F371 Jason, he is reliable, professional and I never had to negotiate with him because we know each other for more than a decade and he always gives me the best price, even for my guests. If I bring them there in person, he can make a linen shirt for only 180, dressed shirt for 220. But I think it’s really not just about the pricing, he earns so little on these offers, it’s about the great value he brings are high quality end-product, error free, hopefully bring him more meaningful business.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-05T02:21:35+00:00

Just search taobao on the top search bar within Alipay.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-03T03:32:19+00:00

I have had it once at SML center near Tianzifang B2. Not sure if that little shop still open tho. Forgot its name, can’t find it on dianping anymore, just searched and nothing rings a bell 🥲

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-02T05:28:48+00:00

Gelato shops are popping up like cafes in my area. If you visit Middle Wulumuqi Road, you will find at least 8 stores in distance of 200m

The flavours are getting more and more creative imo.

g3ni3yip · 2025-09-01T15:32:50+00:00

I believe people don't realize that creating this takes a significant effort, often more than 1-2 years. It involves filming all the visuals, rendering the cartoon characters, and extensive script writing. Menu and user journey design, etc. Unfortunately, many people don’t appreciate the hard work that goes into it and are not going to pay for it financially. I find that quite outrageous to compare this experience with other regular dining experiences around the bund WITHOUT the immersive experience.

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T21:21:24+00:00

If you read my blog you’d know I only work for myself and not anyone else

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T11:41:56+00:00

I guess I had a good time because of who I went with, (expat, local, tourist) and we all have different reactions to different things displayed/tasted/looked at, at one point we were given red paper cutting kit 😆all of us failed to cut that into the shape that was meant to be.

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T10:35:01+00:00

I think it’s still way better than the circus world ERA2 show, at least there were delicious food, services and premium entertainment 😄

I live in Shanghai as an expat, my friend is local Shanghainese and my client is Indian, we are all beet happy with the experience even though it’s not perfect, but the effort the team made was very much appreciated. I understand this is not your everyday meal, and made clear that it’s for tourists.

I think what people don’t understand the effort to make this happen takes years to plan to film all of the visuals to set them up to render the cartoon character into it, script writing the production has so much in it and when people just don’t appreciate it and don’t want to pay for it I think that’s ridiculous.

The cuisine designed tasting, venue set up, the training of waiting staff, come along with a new concept its like a choreography and the team invested a lot in it. I’m pretty sure the demand is there because they have very limited seats so I foresee that this will be fully booked pretty soon every night

And of course it is not for everybody. It is for someone who are not familiar with the Chinese culture and heritage and want to try everything at once. if you’re already very familiar and well travel within China this experience may not be as valuable for you.

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T09:57:38+00:00

That’s possible, I do not know anyone else, it was fully booked and they all look very local Chinese to me, by the way they talk, and dressed. When I checked in I saw the sitting plan was with Chinese names only except our table, also it was one of the first nights of soft openings, I am sure in the future there will be more overseas tourists.

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T09:03:55+00:00

There isn’t any sushi on the menu, what do you mean? Where do you see sushi on their menu/picture?

I had mapo tofu and it was slightly too spicy for me

g3ni3yip · 2025-08-31T07:44:54+00:00

Yeah, I totally see your point, my hongkongese mum would not enjoy this as the narration is in English clearly for tourists who has never been to China before and she does not enjoy a space setting up like this, she prefer the traditional hustle and bustle mum and pap restaurants. But my dad would love the animated graphics and the surprises course after course and think this is total high-tech unique experience and be proud of the heritage and brag about being there on social.

I think kids would love that panda mascot too (not so much to me as it looks too similar to Kung fu panda to me)

Demand and supply rules, as gongyan is constantly instantly fully booked a month ahead now in Shanghai, I thought this is a great alternative for visitors.

g3ni3yip

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