Shopping At 田子坊

Plenty of kitschy and cute shops at Tian Zi Fang (田子坊). Entirely your taste and choice of whether to buy anything from there. Some are an outright rip-off, many sell silly looking useless (relative) souvenirs, silver and beaded jewelry, and there are some gems in handmade items. After brunch, we had quick stroll through the narrow alleys. To us, it was more to have a look than to buy anything. However, it's embarrassing that none of us managed to catch the names of the shops we like. We randomly know where they're located though.

The pretty Flying Pigeon bicycle with its rustic woven basket caught our eye. In we went to the shop to have a look at their wares. They sell craft items made of felt. Many cute animals and sea creatures! Loved the colors and the vibe of the shop. And the music! Not ching-chong-dong-dong-chiang Chinese New Year music. After browsing around in the shop for a while, we realized the stereo was playing the soundtrack from 'Juno'.

I lingered long in the leather shop where they sell handmade leatherbound books. While I may not have been very nimble in notabilia's bookmaking classes, I've at least learnt (without googling) to recognize what's a coptic bind, a Japanese side stitch, long stitch, using beewax, etc, to make gorgeous handbound books. The ones I picked up are just as beautiful as those I've seen in other countries where leather bound notebooks are abundant. But, the paper used in the leatherbound journals in this shop is not nice. It's thin, almost like tracing paper. Certainly not acid-free paper. I was so tempted to buy a couple of notebooks, but for the low grade paper used. What a shame.

A good spot of seeing some old buildings, ancient architecture and its adopted new forms to breathe life into the area. We finished up at Tian Zi Fang and ran off to the indoor gym where it was much more interesting to exercise the limbs and gain some muscles.