Brave smiles on the last day of school

Monkey

Poodles with denim and winter jumpers

Street side pomegranate juice

Winter flora

Look like cabbage but they are actually flowers.

One more week of school left

Gang of three

L to R: Bottle opener, Jin Mao Tower and the new kid on the block the second tallest building in the world. Yes, it's twisted.

Pollution

View from the Park Hyatt this afternoon.

Happy car

Or flirty??

Vintage Rolls Royce stretch

What else did we expect to see on a Sunday stroll?

Posers

This trio is probably famous - they were accosted for photos while walking in Xintiandi, an upmarket area of shanghai.

A sign of the times

As a sign of China's growing prosperity I am often amazed at how many people now have air conditioning units strapped to their apartment windows. Most places in this old building seemed to have a/c.

Shopping

Max signs for a parcel received at the guardhouse - another purchase from the addictive Taobao site!

Water-proof seat

Final Fifty!

Well, after a long hiatus, the blog is back... We have roughly fifty days left until we leave China and head home - so stay tuned for a final rush of Shanghai snaps!

A precious commodity

This photo was taken in a convenience store in Wuhan. It's common to see all sorts of expensive liquor and imported chocolates kept in a locked display cabinet behind the counter, only accessible by the shop assistant. What I found amusing was the jar of Nescafé Blend 43 (bottom right) afforded the same security!

Snorkeller

Spring blooms

Zara up a tree

World's second tallest tower

The Shanghai Tower looked amazing against a blue sky yesterday.  It has topped out as the world's second largest building - only one in Dubai is taller.  The second picture shows it towering above the famous Shanghai 'bottle opener' and the spiky Jin Mao tower. 

Read more its 121 floors and 380,000m2 of glory here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Tower

And do watch a white-knuckling clip of two Russians daredevils climbing it without any safety gear here:

http://youtu.be/gLDYtH1RH-U

Rollerblader

Sweet tooth

Meanwhile Max has fun pretending to eat a rather large frozen yoghurt in a local shopping mall.

Dog fashion

Fashion-conscious Chinese dogs can have their pick of styles at market stalls these days. Here, Zara checks out a particularly fetching number.

Snorkeling

Max was shown how to snorkel recently and has taken to it like a fish to water. We started off in the pool one Saturday afternoon then he wanted to keep going in the bath! Not sure what he is looking apart from white steel and a plug but it sure does keep him occupied.

Spring

Spring is definitely here and Zara got to take some tulips to school today.