Riding Bikes in Shanghai, originally uploaded by kdt.

A proud owner of a wool and cashmere tailored suit is writing this post! It was one of my goals of this trip to buy a tailored suit. It is quite an experience, not because of the flourish but rather the ruthless efficiency. We arrived there sweaty (long and some times lost walk from the Metro station) and within 15 minutes I had selected my fabric and been measured up. That was Sunday, they had three days to finish the suit because it need to be ready by Wednesday. So another fitting was booked in for Tuesday and with pickup on Wednesday.

I am impressed, Dave’s Custom Tailoring managed it. The two subsequent visits were also less than 15 minutes.

Our second visit involved us riding our bikes from our B&B to the shop through the centre of Shanghai. I suspect we are amongst a few select customer’s of Dave’s that have arrived by bike. Usually customers arrive in large black European cars or at worst a cab. But no matter, the kind guard at the gate looked after our bikes.

After the second fit, we rode our bikes to the Metro station to catch a train so Helen could give a thumbprint…. Hey Helen when is that story going to be posted?

The second half of the ride was in three words… wet, Wet, WET! I wish I had bought those emergency ponchos I mused about during the Kathmandu sale. Oh well. Riding in Shanghai traffic with one hand on the handlebar and one holding an umbrella is amusing. We didn’t catch a chill though because it was way too hot.

All up we rode about 21kms that day.I have embedded a google map to show our route (so you may need to visit our webpage to see it blog.hmkdt.id.au). You may need to zoom out a couple of levels to see our route.

I bikes were almost brand new and the seats were so low even Helen complained! We got plenty of stares and an occasional smile. We managed to stop an entire worksite as would stood at the side of the road trying to work out where we were. No one offered us their ponchos though.