Plus, Lezil and I were to embark on our longest bike journey yet – a 18 kilometres round trip from our home to The Wharf right beside Shanghai’s Huangpu River. DAFF (Design Art & Fashion Fair) was holding its spring 2013 event. The bi-annual weekend gathering is where many of Shanghai’s expat creative enterprises set up shop to promote, sell, network and generally have a good time. It was considerably overcast but at the least the temperature was in the high 20s making it the ideal T-shirt wearing day.

Having given our legs a good 35 minute work-out, we secured our bikes by the Cool Docks railings and walked the one block to where we could hear music being pumped out by one of the DAFF DJs. The distinctive fluorescent pink of DAFF’s logo was at eye level everywhere you looked.

Over 80 different brands across a number of industries – fashion, food, hair, interior design, art – all lined the edges of the normally-disused river dock area. The city’s impressive skyscrapers just on the other side in Pudong were deceptively close, including the fast-growing Shanghai Tower. Slated to be finished in 2014, it will be the tallest in China (632 metres) and will be the second tallest in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Meanwhile down at sea level, we went for a wander throughout the entire DAFF grounds. We stopped by a number of unique boutique stalls, many of which had one-of-a-kind designs. One in particular caught my attention and that was of Spaniard Celia Bernardo whose bold use of different cultural prints was eye-catching indeed. Her Celia B range had a number of custom-made items of clothing especially using material designs from different parts of Africa.

Stopping at another table, I read the slogan “Come play with us” alongside the company’s logo Playroom which used hand cuffs for the double “o” in “room”. It took me a split second to register what the angle was which turned out to be products for sexual wellness and pleasure. This caught my curiosity. Playroom co-founder Andrew McGregor wandered over to where Lezil and I were standing. Originally from Australia, he told us he had moved from New York with his Chinese-American girlfriend CiCi to set up shop in Shanghai six months ago. I asked him how did it work, marketing sex-products in a seemingly conservative country like China?

By now we had pretty much passed through all the vendors and had arrived at the fair end of the dock to where the food stands were. Why is it that one moment you are not hungry, but the mere whiff of sizzling outdoor food being cooked suddenly sets off hunger pangs? You could literally country-hop with cuisine from all corners of the globe on offer. We eventually settled for Haya’s Israeli Cuisine where we wolfed down a tasty lamb kebab of which I generously spread some kicking chilli sauce on. Owner Tzachi (from Israel) was manning the stall and he was surprised when I told him that we had never come across his restaurant before which he said he had been running in Shanghai now for seven years. Handing over my Israeli lamb kebab, he gave us a discount voucher to come and visit his eatery located downtown.

Just before leaving DAFF, we dropped by our friends at Studio Ebony who were busy readying their models for a fashion hair walk around the event.

They had a number of hair products and actual hair pieces out on display to promote their services for African/Caribbean community residing in Shanghai. And of course, their invited hair stylist from the US (Ms Mikko) was in her element as she jazzed up various hair dos as she only knows how.

Biking back to our home, we had a quick turn around and we were soon cycling up town to a little complex known as Anken Green.

It’s a converted six-floor building which now houses a number of upstart and established enterprises. Right at the top there’s an endearing rooftop area with a large-sized vegetable garden, outdoor decking and a renovated hall. The latter was the setting for the much-advertised and much-talked about play Black Is The Color Of My Voice.

The one-woman show is performed and written by American Apphia Campbell who has been working on the concept for several years but only really sat down since last September to piece together, what has to be said, something that has become a very hot topic today. An official movie of Nina Simone’s life is in the works with Latina Black actress Zoe Saldaña (Avatar/Pirates of the Caribbean) cast as the lead role. In the US it has caused all sorts of controversy not least because of Zoe’s apparent unlikeness (appearance-wise) to the late great Jazz singer, but also because of the lengths the movie’s producers have gone to adapt her look adding in a reported larger nose.   

No adversity was felt in Shanghai to the staging of Nina’s life story where we sat with our good friend Deji right on the front row of that cosy converted rooftop theatre. We were to witness Nina Simone’s life according to its script creator Apphia Campbell. The story focuses on ‘Mena Bordeaux’, a fictional character created by Apphia and loosely based around Simone’s journey. The first half was an exquisite display of Campbell’s uncanny way of playing several characters where Mena ends up in Liberia (West Africa) as she locks herself in a room, facing her past demons whilst yearning to free her future-self.

She reminisces about her late father and mother, her times at Church and the preacher’s messages. Growing up as a young black girl with an exceptional piano-playing talent soon began to open her eyes towards the prejudice that existed because of the color of her skin. Apphia portrayed each character in such a defined way that you soon forgot it was just her up there. And this wasn’t just a play full of dialogue but, pulling out her secret weapon, Apphia peppered her performance with various musical numbers, again inspired by songs from Nina Simone’s collection.

Her haunting delivery of “I Put A Spell On You” was spine-tingling as she stood in a long purple dress, iconic green head wrap and a single spot-light where you could almost feel Nina Simone’s very spirit in that room. All around me, I could hear nothing but praise for Apphia’s work during the short 10 minute interval as people took time to digest the vibrant story-telling performance of the first half.

Up until then, the play had focused primarily on Mena’s personal and artistic journey. Whereas the second half highlighted more her involvement with the American Civil Rights movement. There was an excellent sound insert of various radio reports featuring speeches from the likes of Dr Martin Luther King and President John F. Kennedy.

Apphia dug deep as she acted out Mena’s despair and anger towards the death of Dr King and the inequality that ostracized African Americans during that time. None one in the audience moved an inch. The realness of the scene was simply sublime.

The play reached its rightful crescendo with the number “Feeling Good” seeing Mena belting out the hit song, arms extended wide towards her adoring fans. The figurative curtain fell. The end. What a ride. I had seen Apphia act in last year’s Blue Lane Productions of No Exit. And clearly, she stepped up what was already then, an impressive performance. There’s one more weekend showing in Shanghai before she takes the whole thing over to the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York during the summer. All-singing, all-acting, all-writing the question begs, what’s the next story to have Apphia’s magical theatrical touch?

“You are so laid-back, down-to-earth and level-headed,” I commented to Olympic 400 metres champion Kirani James. From where we were seated, there was an impressive view of Shanghai’s athletic stadium. A number of world class athletes were in town for the annual Diamond League competition. The one day track and field event had ended a couple of hours ago and now a small number of us had gathered at the top floor bar of the Regal Shanghai East Asia Hotel (yes, a rather long name) for an evening hosted by the Grenadian Embassy in China.

And of course, being Grenada’s first ever medal-winning Olympian at last year’s London 2012 Olympics Kirani James was guest of honour. It was a small invite-only cocktail reception with Charge D’Affaires Mr. Richard Nixon from the Grenadian Embassy overseeing proceedings.

A number of Caribbean students from various Shanghai university campuses were also present, many of whom we already knew from previous social events. That added to the friendly atmosphere where Kirani sat with our group and happily engaged in our lively conversations.

That impressed me. I have come across other well-known ‘celebrities’ in my previous working life and more often than not, a diva-ish mentality along with touch of snobbery tended to linger around these so-called personalities. Not with Kirani. If anything, he was somewhat timid at first but with Lezil sat right next to him they spent practically the whole evening chatting about his first impressions of Shanghai, his sporting career and life back home on his Caribbean island of Grenada.

Even his management/coaching team were also a reflection of his no-nonsense attitude. Americans Renaldo Nehemiah (manager) and Harvey Glance (coach) come from a glorious sporting background and now they form the core team which has contributed to the rise and success of Kirani’s career to date. Renaldo himself became the first man to run the 110m hurdles in under 13 seconds and pretty much dominated the sport during the late 1970s. Harvey’s discipline was the 100m – at one time equalling the world record (1976) and taking home the gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Upon hearing Lezil’s distinct South African accent, coach Harvey soon broached the subject of recently disgraced paralympian Oscar Pistorius (aka the blade runner). Harvey told us how Kirani and Oscar had trained a few times together and not forgetting the media attention-grabbing shot from the 2012 Olympics when both athletes swapped their name bibs after Kirani bagged the gold in the 400m final. Harvey said that to this day he still can’t believe that Oscar had got caught up in that alleged murder mess. According to Harvey, he was one of the nicest guys on the circuit, always upbeat and smiling. I guess we have a few months still to wait before the whole case (and the media circus that goes along with it) comes to life again.

Having sampled some Grenadian rum, downed a few glasses of Chilean red wine and swayed to the reggae and soca music playing over the bar’s speaker system we bid our farewells to Mr. Nixon thanking him for organising a fun evening. (Also, thanking our lovely friend Nicoleen for the hook up!) Riding the elevator down to the hotel lobby from the top 12th floor, Renaldo and Harvey were also turning in for the night. I noticed Harvey’s huge signet ring which he said he got to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympics of which he was Team USA’s assistant coach for. In a few hours’ time they both had return flights back to the States. It was a real delight to have met them all. And yes, Kirani James won the 400m that day with a time of 44.02 seconds. USA’s LaShawn Merrit came second (44.60) and the Dominican Republic’s Luguelín Santos in third (45.11). 

That was Saturday night. Sunday and it was time to welcome another newcomer to Shanghai.  Her name – Ms Mikko. As part of Studio Ebony’s month of workshops and specialist consultation sessions, the Shanghai-based Afro hair salon had invited over renowned American cosmetologist and hair professional Ms Mikko who hails from Dudleys – a leading brand in hair care and products in the US.  As big as her reputation is, her personality was even bigger.

Barely walking through the salon’s front doors and within seconds Ms Mikko was cracking all manner of jokes about her Chinese experience thus far. Living in China over an extended period of time, you almost forget the obvious differences to living in the West and it’s not until a fresh outsider steps in, do you realise that actually you have unintentionally become just that little bit more Chinese in your ways.

It was late afternoon and Ms Mikko was on her last client of the day. She was busying herself on a hair-curling job. Sitting under her magical hands was German/Tunisian Sarah. She mentioned that she had been to other very expensive high-profile salons in Shanghai over the year and half she has lived here and none were able to produce the results she was looking for. “They just don’t get my hair,” she said. It was her first time visiting Studio Ebony and she excitedly glanced at the huge wall mirror while Ms Mikko was unfastening her curling tongs and expertly loosening each curl. The result was instantaneous. The curls were defined with plenty of volume and bounce.

“This is what I have always imagined,” tailed off Sarah holding a small mirror with one hand and using the other to gently scrunch the loose curls. Ms Mikko couldn’t have been prouder. There went another extremely happy customer out the door.

Apart from dealing with clients at Studio Ebony, Ms Mikko will be holding a series of workshops to cover a number of topics from examining the hair effects of hard water damage (a big problem in Shanghai) to healthy hair maintenance and understanding hair growth and curls which is all slated for the beginning of June.

Back home she owns two salons, is a beauty industry educator, comes with over 23 years of first-hand experience and holds a number of recognised qualifications in different fields. It’s safe to say that Studio Ebony have pulled out the big guns. As for her impromptu stand-up comedy rants, well that something that just can’t be taught.

I don’t think I have ever been to a city as ‘migrant’ as Shanghai. In the last 12 months we’ve said goodbye to more people than in all our three years residing in China. Now it was the turn of Matt, our German buddy. He was up and leaving to go back home and he was marking the occasion with a charity event in honour of GAT – Global Alpha Training. It’s a worlwide Christian-based organisation helping local churches to set up Alpha courses, which are there to provide a platform for people to be introduced to the faith.

He had hired out the swanky 2nd floor of an art gallery by Shanghai’s Suzhou Creek area. His goodbye party was to be done in 1920s style in honour of one of Shanghai’s earlier boom periods. All proceeds from the ticketed event were to go towards the work that GAT does. OK, so Lezil and I don’t exactly own any vintage gear as such, but half the fun was digging around our closet and get to as close a look as possible to the period.

Lezil had various pre-event costume changes until she finally settled with an above-the-knee black number and matching shawl. I went for a pair of brash purple trousers, white shirt, bow tie and an off-white jacket to complete my transformation (oh, and not forgetting lashings of hair gel to slick my mop back!).

We had arrived over an hour late, but thankfully the first band (a local church based one) was just getting started. They all looked the part with band members in matching hats and the accompanying three lady dancers out front in traditional Chinese Qipaos. Canapés of meat and seafood varieties were regularly served by the waiting staff as people chi-chinged their wine glasses and posed for photos which would no doubt end up on some social media platform later.

The intro band completed their set and Matt was on stage to greet his attendees and formally kick off the evening.

Matt’s background is in the auto-industry but clearly his passion was with the music. Over the years spent in Shanghai, he had become well acquainted with a number of musicians, particularly within the city’s Jazz circuit. Tonight, he had called in the best of the best making it feel almost like an unofficial music festival, but with that exclusivity of only a couple of a hundred of people in the venue to witness such a musical feast.

First up was one of Cotton Club’s diamond performers – Denise. When she speaks, she has this irresistible low raspy edge to her voice. Transfer that one stage and boy, dynamite is the result.

She weaved her way through a couple of more folky/rock numbers before ending up with a good old foot stomping  rendition of “Oh when the saints go marching in…”. She absolutely destroyed that stage (figuratively speaking!).

The evening followed with some stand-up comedy by Drew, from Kung Fu Komedy – mainland China’s first and only full time comedy club. The 15 minutes set touched on marriage (comparing it to playing Nintendo Super Mario) and observations of life in Shanghai (including a reference to various Sesame St characters and who they represent in real life). All in all, pretty funny stuff. 

Matt surprised us all by jumping on the keyboard and singing a couple of songs. He had especially written a multi lingual goodbye song which was touching. The other main part of the evening was the auction which admittedly a lot of us never knew about beforehand. First out the block were a couple of ladies rings both retailing at around RMB 1,200 (£120) and went for pretty much the asking price. Already, these were out of our league. Talk about being unprepared.

And the price range just kept escalating finally reaching its pinnacle, to which I turned to Lezil and asked “How much for that Chanel bag?”. The limited edition accessory was retailed at RMB 80,000 (£8,000) and the starting bid at RMB 20,000 (£2,000). It became a real battle between two lady bidders with one eventually walking away with her prize at RMB 46,000 (£4,600). All I could say was, people in Shanghai still have money!

I jealously looked at all those cyclists zipping past our apartment window and I declared to Lezil that May was the month to finally get our bikes. All around the city there are bike shops. A local friend even suggested we pay a visit to one of a couple of so-called bike markets (translate: stolen bikes for sale). Whilst we could have picked up an incredible deal (according to him, he paid RMB 200 for a bike that really cost near to RMB 1,500) – it just didn’t sit right with me, gaining pleasure out of someone else’s misfortune.

As we weren’t that far from the main shopping mall at Zhongshan Park, I suggested we venture into the huge Carrefour supermarket there. Admittedly, this was not what I had in mind. I romanticised about finding a unique and obscure bike place to pick up a one-of-a-kind model at an unbelievable price. But budget was the leading factor and I had been told that supermarkets arguably offer the best deals (apart from online, of course).

I knew straight where to go to as I had walked past the supermarket’s bike section countless times without a second glance. This time, it had my undivided attention. A dedicated staff member was there to talk you through the various prices and styles.

I was adamant on having something more classic looking and Lezil wanted one that was more compact and easier to manoeuvre. And to my pleasant surprise we found both. And, I might add, at a killer price.

Our two chosen bikes also happen to be a Phillips make – an originally British-made product which was then taken over by the Raleigh Bicycle Company. Nowadays, the brand has been licensed out to different territories and China now produces its own national line. The famed Phillips badge with the motto “renowned the world over” was proudly stuck to the front bars of both bikes. After taking it for a quick spin inside the supermarket (which was interesting to do!) and securing the seat height and bike locks, we were at the payout counter handing our cash over. Total price for two new bikes including front baskets, bike bells and reinforced locks – RMB 900 (£90).

All I could think about was “freedom at last”. Just to be able to jump on our bikes and go, was a liberating feeling. And we wasted no time. A few hours later and we were pedalling our way through the small French Concession streets in our area to meet some friends outside the Hengshan Cinema. Built some 60 odd years ago, the outside had been lovingly restored to its original classic façade. With three screens, the largest holding 896 seats, the wide foyer was packed with people all keen to watch the new Iron Man 3 release.

The 7:30pm screening was a full house as we slowly filtered through the small entrance into the main Screen 1. This third installment of the Iron Man series had unprecedented advertising in China thanks, in part, to Beijing based film production company’s DMG Entertainment involvement in co-producing the project.

Also, like all foreign films official screened in China, it has to pass the government’s ‘OK’ on a number of items on their cultural checklist, often resulting in altered storylines, scenes cut out all together or not being shown at all (like Django).

Thankfully the Chinese version of Iron Man 3 didn’t have any major omissions but rather a somewhat out-of-place 5 minutes addition which featured a rather bland conversation (all in Mandarin) between Dr Wu (played by Chinese veteran actor Wang Xueqi) and his surgery assistant played by immensely popular actress Fan Bingbing.

There were a also a couple of scenes shot with Iron Man entertaining a bunch of Chinese school kids before jetting his way up to the sky. At the very end of the film, after the credits had finished, all we were given as a simple line on-screen with the words “Tony Stark will be back…”- as opposed to the extra ‘Tony Stark therapy session’ skit shown in the West.

Iron Man 3 has already set a record in China for the biggest opening day takings at RMB 130 million ($21 million). This is a sure sign that China’s box office continues to grow at break neck speed. China is now the second biggest film market (after the US) standing at a whopping $2.7billion annually with a reported 10 cinemas a day being built.