 All the UK papers are talking about - the weather. | It was the penultimate day in our three-week UK visit and it just so happened to be our two year wedding anniversary. We were back at the Rafayel Hotel in Battersea and enjoying our full English breakfast outdoors overlooking the River Thames. All the morning papers were talking about – the weather. Literally from the moment we stepped off our flight from Shanghai we have had unprecedented sunshine and hot weather throughout. “Not since the summer of 1976 have we had continued heat like this…” read one article.
Downing the last of our fruit juices and slapping on some sun protection it was off to central London to mark our 24 months as husband and wife.
| Despite having a relatively long stay in the UK, there were still countless things and people we hadn’t managed to visit. One such location we could not leave without a viewing was Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s official London residence and perhaps the epicentre of all things related to the Royal Family. | Thousands upon thousands had lined the streets – more than usual. And it became apparent why. We had just arrived before midday when they were changing guards and a full marching band display was in process. I think the last time I witness such a glorious display of British monarchy etiquette was when I was a child during a family visit, funnily enough, from the Far East (then we were living in Japan). The marching guards in their brilliant red uniforms and tall black bearskins headwear stepped in precise unison as a loud brass section with accompanying percussion led the procession.
|  Marching guards in display by Buckingham Palace. |  Getting interviewed for the BBC World Service. | It brought the whole Buckingham Palace experience alive, seeing a Royal tradition of many years still very much alive today. We stood in crowds ten people deep. Everyone had their arms extended high with some kind of camera device, making it look almost like an act of worship. In the midst of the moving crowd of mainly international visitors was a lone BBC reporter, mic in hand, capturing people’s reaction to the day’s guards display. I don’t know what it is, but I seem to act like a magnet for the media and no sooner had she finished getting a brief statement from a German couple, I found her sponge-covered microphone under my nose.
The main angle of her story was people’s take on the pending birth of William and Kate’s baby. To be honest, I hadn’t really been following the story, but I managed to come across somewhat clued up (I think!) by relating to the fact that even in a place like China, the young Royal couple do generate a lot of interest.
| | I predicted that they would have a boy and that Kate being the trendsetter that she is, I was sure she would unmistakably become an icon for all things yummy mummy. Lezil got in on the interview action too with Lucy (the BBC reporter) commenting on how she loved her South African accent and how Cape Town is her favourite city anywhere. Our random rants were later broadcast on a BBC World Service Royal special that evening. A first for both of us.
With the crowds slowing dispersing, we went for a lazy walk up by St James’ Park towards Trafalgar Square. |  Soon the BBC mic turns to Lezil! |  The Union Jack lines The Mall leading up to Buckingham Palace in the far background. | Rows upon rows of Union Jack flags fluttered in the light breeze, proud and majestic. The heat of the day was really kicking in at 29C and so we opted to jump on a double decker bus to our next destination which was a surprise for Lezil. In fact, it was actually a lovely present from my parents and my sister Katherine. We were to enjoy afternoon tea at the renowned Grosvenor House in Mayfair, Park Lane (thank you very much darling!). Being a five star establishment, a quick change from our beachwear clothing in their super posh bathrooms and we were ready to blend in with some of London’s high society.
At £35.50 + VAT per person, it wasn’t cheap. But then again, here is a venue where since 1929 members of the royal family, celebrities and influential leaders have all stopped by for a cuppa. And this cuppa had the most exquisite taste. I want for a Pure Assam whereas Lezil sipped on her Royal Blend tea variety. | | A pianist provided a sound-soothing backdrop with the tearoom’s décor of pastel green adding to the calming effect. Our entrée was a cooling fruit cocktail which was then followed by a three-tier cake stand with more than seven types of sandwiches and colourful desserts.
You may have been hungry, but it seemed like as soon as you stepped into that tearoom, everything ran in slow motion, including our eating. Perfectly sliced rectangular sandwiches were held with more care than a new born baby which were, then, ever-so-delicately placed in the mouth for a bite that resembled more of a rabbit nibble. It was all so poised and la-dee-da (if you know what I mean!). Lezil and I were having such a laugh there as we both know how ‘un-posh’ we could be, but that afternoon we were Lord and Lady Freeman!
By the time the oven-warm scones with clotted cream and a selection of four different jams arrived at our table, we were stuffed. |  Lezil ready to enjoy her afternoon tea surprise at the Grosvenor House. |  Lezil with our 'food porter' boxes from the Grosvenor House. | It was surprising how full you became sipping all that tea and mini-munching those sandwiches. We had our desserts to go all boxed up in nice Grosvenor House food-porter boxes. (I call them ‘food porter boxes’ because using the word ‘takeaway’ seems unfitting for such a high-brow setting!)
A reverse clothes-change back to our more uncouth selves (well, me more than Lezil!) and it was the final part of my wedding anniversary surprise for Lezil. Love truly does make you do some crazy things including going up Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel, the London Eye. Those who know me, are aware of my utter distaste for heights. But I was willing to man up and withstand sweaty palms and a racing heart beat to give Lezil a sky-high panoramic London experience.
| | I had booked fast track tickets where for a few extra pounds, it meant that you could skip the general long cue for a much shorter one within your allocated timeslot. Admittedly, Lezil was very surprised and kept asking me if I was OK to do this. I wasn’t sure, but hey they say jumping in the deep end is sometimes good for you. Less than 10 minutes lining up and we were being shown into our glass capsule. Being open on all sides, you had a spectacular 360degree view of the city. Panic hit me as soon as the capsule door was firmly shut. The coolness of the air conditioning and the seamless slow rise of our bubble platform relaxed me somewhat.
|  Lining up for part two of our wedding anniversary activity - The London Eye! |  Two years married and feeling on top of the world! | It took about 30 minutes to do the entire round. At its peak, 135 metres, the evening sun was setting and it was the most picture-perfect moment to end our UK vacation. The sun’s rays were breaking through between some clouds and all before us you could see many of London’s iconic locations – St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St James’ Park and the River Thames. London truly is a magical place. All proud of myself having survived the entire journey, I was even happier to know that Lezil had done and seen some of the best that the UK has to offer.
We were heading back to the underground for our train to the hotel when I got an unexpected call.
| | As I had mentioned before, being away for more than three years I had a lot of catching up to do with a number of people. It was tight trying to fit all the visits in and inevitably there were a few that we just could not accommodate at the risk of having a total burn out. On the other end of my mobile was a long-time friend Muyiwa. We had tried three times before to arrange a meet up but had failed. A formative music industry insider, nowadays, he heads up a leading Christian UK radio station (Premier Gospel) and has his own successful singing career both in Europe, the US and in Africa (particularly in his native Nigeria).
A few years back I partnered alongside him leading a PR/Marketing campaign for one of his album releases. A great guy to work with. He happened to be at the radio station’s offices and we were just two stops away. So 15 minutes later and I found myself in the studio’s hot seat. |  Dropping by Premier Radio to see my good friend Muyiwa. |  Feeling strange being back on radio again! | I hadn’t been interviewed since leaving for China back in early 2010. It felt weird being back in a radio environment after so long and, admittedly, I was feeling a tad nervous. Muyiwa’s laid-back manner soon put me at ease and we whizzed through two different pre-records for the station. I enjoyed it.
Stepping out of the recording session and I bumped into another guy who I used to collaborate a lot with back in the day. It was none other than DJ Redz – one of the UK’s top DJs when it comes to all things Reggae Gospel related. | | He was gearing up for his show on the station which was up next. It was one happy reunion with both of us showing mutual respect to our crafts as DJs who know how to mix and blend the tunes. He had a friend of his, Will, who upon hearing that I was the infamous DJ El Niño, commented: “Boy, I used to listen to you all the time back then…”. It was an honour to be complimented that way, even after more than three years away from the scene.
There’s something enriching about having a connection with people despite the distance and obvious physical absence. I have to say, I am so blessed to have incredibly sincere people who I call friends in the UK. |  Getting a new reggae mixtape from my buddy DJ Redz. | Each and everyone one of them play a part in contributing to my growth as a person, increasing my creativity and forever expanding my mind into new and wonderful things. I hope it won’t be another three years before I can share more life-building moments with them again. To all in the UK – thank you!!  With BBC World Service reporter, Lucy.  At Buckingham Palace.  Afternoon tea at the posh Grosvenor House on Park Lane.  One lump or two darling? |  Our three tier stand arrives! |  A lovely rendevouz at the quaint Grosvenor House tea room.  Delicious cakes!  Going up The London Eye by the River Thames.  About the enter the capsule.  The tablets inside give more information on the views. |  As we go higher, feeling a little jittery! |  Lezil enjoying the experience.  Central London from the top!  Lezil remembering the day she said "I Do"! |  The top of Big Ben with Battersea Power Station in the distance. |  Arrving at Premier Radio in central London.  With drive-time presenter "B".  Getting back into my old radio swing! |  Muyiwa at the controls. |  Reuniting with DJ Redz (second from the right).
London's M25.
| The distinctive London city rooftops became a haze on the horizon as I looked at my rear view mirror. Like small tributaries winding their way to a main river, we navigated out of the minor roads into the beastly flow of the M25 – the capital’s massive circular freeway. Everyone obviously had the same idea to escape urbanisation for more idyllic settings. We were headed for the small town of Thame in Oxfordshire and the traffic was particularly heavy in parts (not helped with a couple of lane closures).
| | The weekend was to offer Lezil a contrasting taste of what she had seen back in London. A real country escape. For me, it was more of an emotional journey and one that would see me reunite with my cousin Cristiana. Well, in actual fact she is not my real blood cousin, but we are connected via law. In Latin America, often when your own blood cousin marries, their spouse’s side of the family become like your own too. Call it cousins-in-law.
But she and her family have been around my family for the longest I can remember. So she more than qualifies. We arrived about 45 minutes later than planned and it was the most surreal thing seeing both her and her giant-of-an-eleven-year-old son Alex again. He easily surpassed Lezil in height and standing next to me, I could see that his feet were already three foot sizes larger than mine.
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Enjoying my drive (minus the motorway traffic!).
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Back again with my cousin Cristiana and her son Alex.
| It was straight into her car and zipping through the country lanes the scenery just got quainter as we past thatched houses, barns and communal ponds. The tiny village of Brill was where Cristiana had booked us in for lunch at The Pheasant with some of the most spectacular views anywhere. According to the pub owners, from where we were seated outside, you could actually see across five different counties. And adding to the wow-factor was a recently done-up windmill which completed the postcard-perfect picture.
The weather, too, was playing its part blessing us with even more sun than we could ever hope for.
| | We stuffed our faces with some hearty country dishes and it was an ideal time for Cristiana and Alex to get better acquainted with Lezil. Needless to say, she slotted right in as part of the family. Before long we were taking a gentle walk across to the magnificent windmill taking in the sweeping views of the English countryside. We had a lot to catch up on and with the enticing long daylight hours, we sat out at Cristiana’s back garden till 11pm when the last of the sun’s rays finally gave into the gentle luminous beams coming from the moon.
Sunday willed us out of our beds, again with a cloudless sunny sky. |
The view from The Pheasant pub in Brill across five counties.
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Sylvia (far left) serving up her delicious Arroz con Pollo!
| We had a busy schedule of a local Church service in the morning followed by more family visits. Lunch was at Cristiana’s mum’s sweet little bungalow in the nearby village of Haddenham. She lives there with her South African husband Gordon. Sylvia is a loving aunt to me and Gordon hypnotises me with his appetisingly-adventurous stories which took him from South Africa to all over the African continent. I was elated when I could smell the familiar mouth-watering hints of Sylvia’s famous Arroz con Pollo – a stable dish from Latin America made with a lot of love, chicken, seasoning and vegetables. | | That day was no exception and boy did we eat to our hearts content amongst the vibrant floral colours of their cozy patio garden out back. As was expected, Lezil and Gordon formed an immediate kinship with their South African roots. I was also happy to see one of Cristiana’s older brothers, Emmanuel, who was actually the first person I met out of her entire family 20 years ago back in south London when we attended the same college.
Sylvia had informed me that since I had left they had purchased a new piano. Me and big mouth relayed the story of how I was a minor childhood protégé learning to play at a very young age when I grew up in Asia only to rebel and ditch the instrument at 16. Cristiana being the cheeky ring leader soon had everyone chanting my name to get me on the old ivories for a tune. Did I know one? Uh, no!
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With Emmanuel who I met 20 years ago.
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At Miriam and James' cute country cottage.
| All I could conjure up was a pitiful presentation (if you could call it that!) of chopsticks which I would consider a ‘Dummies Guide To Playing The Piano’ type of tune. In other words, anyone could have done it!
Our party of people moved to our final country stop for the weekend, a tiny hamlet next door to Haddenham and the home of Miriam – an older sister of Cristiana’s. The cottage was right bang smack in the open with fields being dominating scenery all around.
| | A football-pitch of a garden surrounded the house with a gazebo and chairs at the ready to host our afternoon of socialising and tipples. Mir and her husband James hadn’t changed a bit. They were the same fun-loving upbeat couple with two strapping young sons who kept themselves busy playing football as the adults nattered away.
I leaned back in my comfy chair and took deep breaths of air in. “British country life,” I thought to myself. They made it look so appealing reiterated by them firmly stating that they would never, ever go back to the city to live. I had to give myself a reality check. |
With Miriam, James and their two sons.
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Cristiana and her black cat Kiki.
| Yes, in the hot summer weather we had been experiencing each day, the country is the best place to be. But when it does get gloomy, windy and overcast I can imagine that it can feel pretty bleak. Either way, Cristiana and her entire family seem settled, loving life and making the most of the opportunities out there. Even traffic is non-existent. Cristiana tells me she can’t remember the last time she had to drive “stop and start” as she put it. The country lanes are speedy and easy to get around in.
The sunny day turned to a sunny evening and it was time to say our goodbyes. It was awesome to reconnect with people who play a major part in my life and, now, in Lezil’s too. Setting the coordinates in the Tom Tom, we briefly made a re-appearance on the M25 but soon drifted due south on small A roads and country lanes for our next stay which was to be at my sister Katherine’s. Again, her and her husband Nathanael was another couple who dusted off the city smog in favour of a greener existence. | Pulborough in West Sussex is where they reside. No monstrous shopping centres or building complexes. Only country houses and local village shops where life moved at an obvious slower pace. The timing was all there. My sister had just given birth to her third child, a baby girl and my mum had flown in from Ecuador to help out. (My dad stayed in Quito “to water the llamas”.) Plus, I could see my nephew Zion who was just two when he came out to our wedding in Shanghai and the new addition Levi who I hadn’t met yet. They had all gone to bed by the time we touched down. | So that left us time to catch up with my mum and Nathanael who, in the end, had us back in his car and off to a nearby farm to show us their latest purchase – a puppy Labradoodle.
Their farmer friend’s mummy Labrador ‘Honey’ gave birth to eight puppies (four male/four female) who all came bounding up to us in the small field where they were kept in. The dog’s owner Carlene eased us past the main gate and soon we were bombarded with these energetic bundles of fur licking, jumping and pining for our attention. They oozed a cuteness beyond description. Nathanael picked up one of the chilled-out males which was actually the dog they had purchased and which my nephew Zion had named ‘Snowy’ owing to its white fur. All the puppies were ready for collection but Snowy was to be brought home at a later date as their household was full of visitors right now (i.e. us!).
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Labradoodle puppies coming at me from left right and centre!
| Country air coupled with long-distance driving was the potent combination for a total knock-out when it came to sleeping. Good to be home with family. The next few days we would be stationed at my sister’s and would provide the more chilled aspect of our trip so far.
Stunning views from Brill.
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Eating an excellent outdoor pub lunch in Brill.
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The Pheasant pub at Brill.
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Brill and the windmill!
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Evening at Thame where Cristiana lives.
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More food! This time, dining at Prezzo in Thame.
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The following day, Sunday, and I bring a bottle of Caribbean Twist to Sylvia and Gordon's for lunch.
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With some of Cristiana's family for a super yummy Arroz con Pollo lunch!
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Ready to eat! Myself, Cristiana and Alex.
Somehow after lunch, I end up doing a mini-recital!!
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Sylvia shows us all how it's really done!
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In the front garden of Sylvia and Gordon's (far left) village bungalow.
We all end the day at Miriam and James' huge garden at their country cottage.
Lezil, the hot summer babe.
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With wonderful family friends (left to right), sisters Miriam and Cristiana.
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Goofing around...love these guys!!!
That evening, we are in Pulborough (West Sussex) and Nathanael (right, my brother-in-law) shows us their new puppy, Snowy.
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Lezil gets all cuddly with a Labradoodle.
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This one can't stop licking me!! LOL...
Lezil is surrounded!!
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They soon tire and fall asleep...
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I had forgotten how obsessed people in the UK are with the weather. Even paying at a shop counter, two cashiers were busy chatting about how at the weekend it’s going to get up to 29C. “Here’s your change love. Enjoy the sunshine,” she said handing back my change. I have to admit, there are very few places that can rival the UK when it comes to basking in sunshine. London looks just that bit more majestic. The English countryside bursts with vivid greens and soft rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Everyone opens up more, becoming (dare I say it), less stiff-upper-lipped ‘British’ and more sociable like we were actually all living down south by the Mediterranean.
Meeting friends at Brixton's Bamboula restaurant.
| The timing couldn’t be more perfect especially as Lezil and I are travelling about so much – England is definitely showing its best side for my South African wife. We may be on vacation, but my organisational skills are not being laid to rest. It’s a bit like working in HR and a job advert has been sent out and now you are having to juggle some tight time slots to accommodate various people you need to see. Mid-week and we drove down to Brixton, one of my favourite south London suburbs. The rendezvous was at Bamboula, a Caribbean restaurant which worked alongside side our music organisation United by ONE (UB1).
| | They would sponsor a number of our past music events. So it was nice to go back to a bit of history and enjoy their sumptuous selection of Caribbean cuisine which was heavily Jamaican. That night we were joined by previous UB1 members: Maya Simeon and George Luke with long-time friends Syane, John Fisher and Natalie Phillips also at the table. Antonia and Chantal were present too along with Antonia’s sister Fiona. Both John Fisher and Natalie Phillips have established music careers with John heading up one of the hardest working and lasting Gospel choirs in the UK called IDMC. Natalie, again a major feature in the UK Gospel industry, has been faithfully honing her craft over the years and had just released her debut album ‘Unique Perspective’s a couple of months back.
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With Natalie Phillips and John Fisher - UK Gospel artists.
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An emotional moment reuniting with Anthony King - my friend and MC!!
| As to be expected, there was a lot of reminiscing of the early days and lots of new news to catch up on. And all the while we were devouring our jerk chicken, rice and peas, coleslaw and festival. A few other people were meant to have come but were unable to attend. But we did have a nice surprise towards the end of the evening and that was the appearance of none other than, my close friend and brother Mr Anthony King. His exact first words as he entered the restaurant were: “My husband’s back!” All the other eating patrons turned around to see what the commotion was about. Anthony is a big guy with a big voice, so it was impossible not to listen in on the conversation.
| | That’s his talent – speaking. From pretty early on, we became a formidable duo, me DJ El Niño and him, MC Pass-Da-Mic. We travelled up and down the country playing private gigs, club gigs, festivals you name it. We even went out to Barbados and took part in a Gospel soundclash, the first of its kind, in 2005 at Club xtreme which is the Caribbean’s largest nightclub. I have missed the guy, sorely. It was his first proper introduction to Lezil and he had nothing but incredible things to say about her. Not to mention the fact that he knows South Africa very well, or as he calls it “Cape Town, it’s home”. Loved seeing all my old friends again that night.
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Anthony meets Lezil for the first time.
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A night out at south London Jazz venue, Hideaway!
| Knowing Lezil’s love of live music, especially of the Jazz/Soul variety, Chantal had organised another night out. Hideaway was the name of the venue which was based in Streatham, again in south London (I am a south London boy!!). The venue had opened just after I left for China (more than three years ago) so it was new for me. The distinct orange keyhole branding of the club adorned the car park which was tucked away from the main road. And the club itself was literally hidden away.
Once inside and the music hall was impressive. Tastefully decorated with tables and chairs all of which had people enjoying drinks and dinner while they waited for the show to start.
| | What’s more it was practically a full house and it was only a Thursday night. Getting our cocktail orders in, the lights dimmed and the Street Soul band introduced the evening with featured vocalist Vanessa Hayes from Jazz outfit Incognito fronting the musicians. It was a night of pure Soul, Funk, Jazz hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
The atmosphere was uplifting and Vanessa really drew the crowd in with her easy-going on stage persona and interaction. Vocally, she was impeccable. Flexing some outrageous vocal gymnastics but also showing great poise and control. She even doubled her singing playing percussion which added to the visual element of the show. |
Vanessa Hayes performing at Hideaway.
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With Mr Roy Ruffler - owner of Hideaway.
| By the close of the night the whole venue was up on its feet unable to resist the infectious grooves coming from the stage (a big tune was the Jocelyn Brown cover ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’). Afterwards, I managed to grab a few minutes with Vanessa where she came across as down-to-earth as they come. A real gem of a performer.
I also had a good chat with the venue owner Mr Roy Ruffler who astonished me when he said that his background was in banking and that his was his first venture into music venue management. He is certainly hitting all the right notes (if you pardon the pun!) with Hideaway picking up Best Venue in The UK at the 2011 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and being featured on CNN as one of the nine best Jazz clubs in Europe. South London was in need of a reputable venue for homegrown and international acts to perform in. Hideaway is definitely leading the way and has set the musical benchmark very high indeed. | | And now back to that spectacular weather. If I had a RMB 100 note for every time someone commented on how we had “brought the sunshine over…” I would be very rich indeed, even against the UK exchange rate! With a hot sunny setting, it allows for so much more activity including dining outdoors – which is somewhat of a novelty in the UK. My friend Syane had invited us over to her little home in Crystal Palace which is another of my favourite south London spots. The ‘town’ itself resembles a provincial village with boutique stores, markets and a huge number of enticing eateries. But Sy had gone all out and actually set up a private picnic for us.
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My friend Sy and her private picnic with champagne and all!
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Sy's perfect little sanctuary in south London.
| A large satin purple bed over was in the middle of the back garden with Thai food, drinks, champagne glasses and, of course, a bottle of bubbly. It was so relaxing and fun sitting there all afternoon chilling in the sun (no umbrellas, to all my Chinese friends!) and catching up from the last three plus years. Sy’s home is also something of a rarity. I call it her little ‘log cabin’. It’s a gorgeous self-contained studio, well-kitted out in a wooden-type structure with an entire garden to herself. Looking around, you’d think she was right in the country and not in busy south London. A real sanctuary.
Afterwards, we went for a good wander around Crystal Palace ‘village’ and the nearby park. Then barely having just digested our yummy Thai lunch, it was goodbye to Sy and hello to Connie! (I told you we had lined up our meetings back-to-back!)
| | Connie, another incredible long-standing friend, had arranged a dinner that evening. It was to be Lezil’s first experience of an English pub. We had actually seen Connie about a year ago when we spent a month in Malaysia and had the honour of staying at her lovely three-bedroom apartment on the island of Penang.
She’s back in blighty for a bit and certainly gave Lezil the British grub experience – Fish & Chips. The Fox was the name of the pub and it was a beautiful historical building dating a hundred years back based in the Farthing Downs area of Old Coulsdon. |
Meeting up with Connie for our lovely English pub experience!
| Again, this was a place I had frequented a lot not only for walking my Labrador Sasha (R.I.P.) but a number of friends used to live within the vicinity. We sat there eating, drinking and chatting til 9:30pm and the daylight was still going strong, something which astonished Lezil. The perfect weather, for the perfect getaway. UK, keep the awesome summer coming please!
Our reunion at Bamboula restaurant - (left to right) Syane and Maya.
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(left to right) George and Toni.
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Amazing to see my bro Mr King aka MC Pass-Da-Mic!
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Lezil gets to witness the funny man himself!
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An honour to get a signed copy of IDMC's latest CD!
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Natalie Phillips also blesses me with her latest project!
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Some of my crew in London who I have known for more than 10 years.
At south London's hot new Jazz venue, Hideaway.
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With Toni getting our cocktails in.
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The stylish interior of the Jazz club.
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With Vanessa Hayes after her performance.
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Friends out to enjoy the sounds of street soul, funk and Jazz at Hideaway.
Syane organises a top notch picnic lunch.
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Lezil and I bask in the English summer sun.
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And...the champagne starts flowing!!
The view from Crystal Palace into central London.
Going for a wander through Crystal Palace.
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A cute second-hand market tucked away down a small alley in Crystal Palace.
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A bit of Shanghai in Crystal Palace.
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Going for a walk in Crystal Palace park.
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The mini-lake in Crystal Palace.
We go up to Old Coulsdon for a pub dinner at The Fox.
With Connie and her family.
Lezil getting her first proper taste of Fish & Chips!
London, what an incredible city. Before making the trip, I had spoken to a few UK friends in Shanghai, most of whom said that after the initial excitement of the first few days they were all ready to go back to China. For them, nothing had changed. The same people, in the same pubs. The same buildings, still work-in-progress. And the same depressing news from the British media.  Going in for 10:30am service at Ruach City Church - my spiritual home for ten years. | The days following the grand Nigerian wedding, it was time for me to re-acquaint myself with the city and for Lezil to be introduced for the first time. Sunday and it was off to catch the 10:30am service of Ruach City Church in Brixton which I attended for ten years before leaving the country. Since then the church has expanded with locations in Kilburn and in Walthamstow. The founder and head of the congregation, Bishop John Francis, was still on a flight back from the US, so that morning his wife, Sister Penny Francis preached.
The entire morning was a moving display of worship and passion – a form of Church expression we sorely miss being in China.
| The message was simple enough – stir it up. Whatever it is God has given you, use it, chase after it, live it. After those inspirational words, I managed to say a quick hello to Nicky Brown who not only heads up the music division in the Church, but is a renowned UK music producer in his own right. |  After service, catching up with Nicky Brown. | | | From Church and it was off to Chantal’s parents’ home. This to me was like a true homecoming. Have a friendship spanning more than 20 odd years the Daniels household is just like extended family. As Chantal’s mum explained to Lezil “James is a son to me.” And over an incredible Sunday lunch of English-roast-meets-West Indian-curried-mutton, they recounted the story of how I first taught Chantal’s younger sister, Tiffany, how to drink from a straw when she was just baby. Now sitting there, she is an aspiring 20 year old actress with a sharper-than-sharp witty humour.
|  At Chantal's family home for a delicious spread of Sunday roast and curried mutton with all the trimmings!! |  It's been 19 years since we graduated from Coulsdon College. | After a few hours spent there, it was back in the car and we decided to do a little trip down memory lane. Firstly, there was a quick stop at Coulsdon College – the very spot where our friendship (myself, Antonia and Chantal) blossomed. Posing outside the entrance, those passing by may have thought we were recent graduates (at a push!) taking photos. But in fact, it was exactly 19 years ago we finished our college education. Scary just thinking about how time flies!
Dragging our ageing butts into the car seats again, we took a scenic back route over to Sanderstead and the location of my family home.
| | My parents’ four bedroom property is in a quiet cul-de-sac and because it was such a nice sunny day, I spotted my neighbour’s daughter out in their front garden sunbathing. I motioned Chantal to stop the car. I stepped out and shyly said: “Um, I don’t think you remember me, but we used to be neighbours. Is your mum in?”
Immediately, her parents Jackie and Byran came running out for an unexpected reunion. In a short 10 minutes they updated us on the goings on of the road and mentioned that the tenants living in our house were great. And as if planned on-cue, the lady who had moved into our house pulled up in her car. It felt so weird being introduced to a complete stranger and not being able to go into my own home. She seemed nice enough and I guess I’ll have to arrange a time with the estate agents to make a formal visit. |  With our long-time neighbours Jackie & Bryan in front of our south London family home. |  With Antonia's mum. | The final stop was over at Antonia’s mum’s three floor town house in Thornton Heath. Like Chantal’s family home, I had spent uncountable time here over the years including celebrating her 60th birthday just before I moved to China where Antonia’s mum gave a moving farewell speech for me. She is an amazing culturally-rich woman who has such depth to her intellect that I can literally sit there for hours listening to her. It was through her, in my late teens, that I got a better understanding of African identity, civil rights movement, the Black British identity and her impeccable taste for interior design and the arts.
| | Two (out of three) of Antonia’s siblings were also there (Fiona and Gavin) along with adorable five year old niece Akilah. There was soothing Jazz music drifting throughout the house as we caught up from the last three years away. A wonderful way to end our first Sunday out and about. And I have to say, being around those who have that relationship-history with you proved to be a powerful bond – something that was a lot stronger than I expected. Do I want to go back to China? Not just yet. |  With Antonia's entire family, except for one additonal sister. | Below are more pictures from our additional two days in London. Highlights include Notting Hill, the iconic Big Ben, catching a West End musical and bumping into the most unexpected people. London – you ROCK!
(Click to enlarge photos)
Day One. Hopping on the train to central London and we hit: Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, etc...One of the craziest incidents was bumping into an ex-work colleague who I used to teach alongside with at a school in Inner Mongolia!! The world is small indeed.
 Lezil can hardly believe she is standing by the iconic Big Ben!!  The London Eye in the background. |  Westminster Abbey. |  We meet up for a coffee with Paul - an ex-Shanghai working colleague. |  Nelson Mandela in statue form at Parliament Square. |  London's famous red phone box. |  Hello Mr Prime Minister! Lezil by Downing Street. |  The Queen's horse guards. |  Trafalgar Square is transformed for 'Canada Day' with a free concert. |  A one-in-a-million chance of bumping into an ex-colleague (Amy) from a school in Inner Mongolia!! |  Arriving at Covent Garden. |  Antiques market at Covent Garden.  Looking at vinyl.  At London's Chinatown to meet our friend Deji.  He takes us to ECC - Experimental Cocktail Club which is an exclusive guestlist/word-of-mouth place. |  Although a bit pricey (£13 a drink), there is no doubting the calibre and incredible taste of our lovingly-made cocktails! |  Regent's Street with commemorative Queen's 60th Jubilee decór.  After our cocktails and we went to Vapiano - an italian resturant with an open kitchen and made-to-order dishes. |  Enjoying our pasta with friends Deij and Akin. | Day Two. And we hit St Paul's Cathedral, Notting Hill and taking in the London theatre experience.
 St Paul's Cathedral. |  A blue tree by St Paul's. Lezil reppin her SA colours!! |  Outside the cathedral (you are not allowed to take photos inside).  From the cathedral dome, a view of some of London's skyline.  Arriving at Notting Hill!  The area is so quaint and appealing! |  Lezil is outside the former home of renowned English novelist George Orwell. |  The colourful houses on Portobello Road.  The stores are all decorated so nicely. |  This is one product which didn't come from the Far East! LOL. |  By Portobello Market. |  Stocking up on our Jazz and West African music. |  Colourful street art. |  A novel way to advertise a shoe store! |  We grab an early dinner by Mike's Cafe which has been running in Notting Hill for many years. |  One of their crazy mottos! |  Inside Mike's Cafe. |  Excellent portions, excellent prices. |  We round off the day with tickets for the award-winning Matilda The Musical.  The show is about to start!
 Outside our hotel, ready to go to the wedding. | I looked at the time. 11:15am. The driver will be here any minute, I thought. Moments later and our room phone rang. It was Michael the driver who was apologising for being late. He was stuck in all sorts of diversion as central London was being closed for the big Gay Pride parade. “It’s OK,” I told him. “This is a Nigerian wedding. It’ll never start on time.”
Fast-forward 45 minutes later and we are making our way down the A3 towards Cobham in Surrey. Vidal calls Michael’s cell phone who, in turn hands it to me. “Hello?” I shouted. In the background I could hear, what sounded like, Church music. “Where are you guys?” Vidal replied barely audible above all the background noise. It turns out that this was ONE Nigerian wedding that was going against the grain and was actually starting on time. 12:30pm on the dot.
| | Vidal had stalled the bride’s entrance so that we could ‘sneak’ into the service somehow. After losing our way on the road a bit, we managed to find the not-so-obvious entrance to Painshill Park. The stunning 18th century landscaped gardens and walking grounds was where the ceremony was being held – at The Conservatory. It was a risky option going for an outdoor venue what with the unreliable UK weather. But just like the unexpected on-time start of the wedding, the weather itself did a total 360 degree turn from the day before going from miserable drizzle to glorious sunshine and a very warm 23C.
Vidal met us by the on-sight coffee shop’s toilets. He gave us a thumbs-up and we swiftly followed him to the covered venue.
|  Vidal meets us outside to sneak us into the venue. |  The wedding ceremony in full swing. | The Church band was in full swing. Inside at the back was a line of groomsmen ready to walk in. I said to Lezil that I was worried that if we came in now, we would cause a distraction once people would have clocked our presence. Waving his hand frantically, Vidal beckoned us inside. Like a shy geisha, I kept my eyes to the ground only glancing up occasionally to see where I was stepping.
Our friend Gemma, who also worked alongside me for a while in my previous company UB1 Music, was the first to spot us. “What? Oh my gosh!” she reacted. She was like a deer caught in headlights. I rushed over to her, gave her a huge hug. “How on earth…”she didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence as the groomsmen were next to see that we had indeed rocked up to the UK and that caused a next wave of commotion. So much so, that they were completely oblivious to the stunning bridesmaids already gracefully walking to join their awaiting male partners. | | I grabbed my wife by the arm. “We better sit down quick as we are going to mess up the opening sequence here,” I whispered loudly to Lezil. I gave those that knew us one big cheeky grin and a wave not unlike that of her Majesty the Queen (when in the UK!) and quickly plonked ourselves on two aisles seats. The music changed and Tiwa, the bride, started her controlled paced walk down the aisle towards her waiting husband-to-be Daniel. He brother S.O. (who is also an established Hip Hop artist) was walking her down the aisle. She looked immaculate all dressed in white.
Just as she walked past our row, that was when she saw me. “Oh my days!” she mouthed through her white veil. And she drifted past us. The ceremony had begun. It was a concise service around one hour 30mins with a few songs, vows, exchanging of the rings, a sermon, prayer and signing of the marriage register.
|  The beautiful bride, Tiwa, walking in with her brother. |  The couple saying their vows. | Just as the religious proceedings were coming to an end one of the pastors was about to close with a final blessing for the couple. That was when Daniel, somehow, managed to see me in the crowd. I had strategically positioned myself so that I would be partially blocked by the lady sitting in front of me who was wearing a colourful, and high, head wrap.
He was grinning like mad and shaking his head. I could see that he wanted to give a bigger reaction but as he was the centre of attention upfront, instead it was a controlled smile as he leaned over to Tiwa probably whispering something like “Did you know that James and Lezil were here?!”. | | The final benediction was given and the new couple were walking off stage now. As part of the wedding trail, both sets of family members walked behind them. I know Tiwa through Daniel. But it’s Daniel and his family who are ‘my’ family and the reason why we made the undercover trip in the first place.
Together with him and his four brothers – we had some crazy, intense, unforgettable times working and touring together for a number of years. It’s one thing working with musicians and singers, but when you bring in the fact that they are four blood brothers – the dynamics shift into a whole different realm. So it was inevitable my role would go that much further than just being a manager. A close family friend of theirs came up to me during the reception and retold the story to Lezil of her reaction when she first saw this skinny white guy “raising four Nigerian boys like a true father”. |  Everyone celebrates as the couple is now married! |  With Daddy and Mama Juba. | As a result, I have a close bond with both the boys’ parents – Pastor Juba and Mrs Juba. I had to juggle demanding touring schedules along with ensuring studies were being completed and Church commitments were being met. To this day, I am honoured as to how Mr & Mrs Juba have made me a part of their family and literally welcoming me as their son into their home.
And that was how we spent pretty much the entire dinner and dance that day, re-connecting with people whom I haven’t seen in over three years. For me, it was almost too much to take in. A couple of days ago and we were in the rhythm of Shanghai life. Now, we got sucked through a time vortex, got spat out the other end landing in the idyllic English countryside, celebrating a mass Nigerian wedding! How crazy was that?
| | Once the buffet had opened up, I didn’t hold back in piling my plate up with Nigerian PARTY food!! When I got to the tray where the plantains were, I told the server to give me three spoonfuls. That’s one thing we cannot get in Shanghai and I was adamant on making up for lost quotas! Man, the food was lip-smacking delicious and I think I suffered a case of ‘mouth bigger than my belly’ as I struggled to shovel in the last remaining mouthfuls.
A band playing high-life, afrobeat and Naija Pop got the masses up and dancing. Dollar notes were flying everywhere as guests blessed the couple dancing in the middle of the moving throng of people with financial gifts. I sorely missed all this. A sense of cultural community. Speeches followed with the cutting of the cake and the first dance. Then the DJ sparked up the dancefloor with all the big tunes from the motherland. Lezil and I partied hard! Daniel and Tiwa, along with the bridal party, all changed into traditional clothes for the latter part of the night. It was 9pm and Lezil and I were seriously battling against tiredness (the remnants of a seven-hour time difference).
|  I went for a triple portion of plantain! | We stayed for a couple more songs and thankfully our driver had arrived to take us back to our central London hotel. We left the jubilant party-people behind bidding farewell to all we had re-met that day. Operation: ‘London Surprise’ – mission accomplished!
 Mrs & Mrs Juba!  Pastor Juba sees me for the first time!  Perfect weather as everyone enjoys canapés and drinks outside.  The Juba clan.  The four brothers, their parents and Tiwa.  The reason for our trip - Dan and Tiwa!  Reuniting with Uncle Wale and his lovely family.  The wedding reception.  With Tiwa's mum.  The newly wed couple about to enter the venue.  Presenting...Mrs & Mrs Juba!!  Yum!! The buffet opens up.  My plate stacked up with amazing Nigerian flavours!  Dan gives a speech.  Cutting the cake.  Feeding his wife.  First dance.  And so, the party begins!! Big tunes from Nigeria!  Blessing the couple with dollars during the money dance.  Back again with my four brothers...(left to right) Vidal, Daniel, Deji and TJ aka Four Kornerz.  Another friend I haven't seen in the longest...Michael who performs under the name 'Faithchild'.  Catching with up comedian/actor Simply Andy who hosted the evening.  Meeting up with TV CEO Akin and his wife.  TJ with his two year old son Joshua.  With another good friend, Lola.  Dan & Tiwa change into traditional clothes.  Lezil partying away with Dan!  Having a blast at Dan & Tiwa's Yoruba wedding!
Drawing the curtains back from our luxury hotel suite, London’s weather certainly hadn’t changed much. Typical English summer - cloudy with some light rain. And the fact that it coincides with Wimbledon gave me that overwhelming sense of familiarity despite having been away for more than three years.
| | Yes, folks Lezil and I have landed up in London!! This will come as a surprise for everyone who knows us (and who didn’t know about the trip!). We had to keep things off the radar for the sole purpose of making a special, unannounced appearance at the wedding of one of my very close friends. So, please don’t be offended if we didn’t disclose the details of our travel plans. It had to be an airtight operation to ensure that an absolute minimum amount of people knew of the clandestine journey which I dubbed as Dan & Tiwa’s London Surprise!
| The mastermind and facilitator of the entire hair-brained idea was Vidal, one of the brothers of Daniel – the groom. These four brothers (literally blood brothers) are like my solid family. I’ve known them, now, coming onto 14 years and the core of our relationship was formed around our incredible ten years of working together as management (me) and band (‘Four Kornerz’ as they are called). We toured the entire length and breadth of the UK and Europe performing over the years to tens of thousands of fans, spreading feel-good music all written and produced by the four talented brothers.
| Daniel and his eldest brother Deji actually flew out to Shanghai when Lezil and I got married in July 2011. So when I got an out-of-the-blue phone call just before one of my afternoon classes in Shanghai a month ago, with Vidal proposing the idea of a surprise trip over – it was near impossible to resist taking action. ‘Wonderboy’ Vidal took charge of organising the entire visit and it wasn’t long before Lezil and I were cueing up at the UK Visa office in Shanghai with our flight and hotel confirmations to hand. This was the first time I had experienced the ‘other side’ (as in, a non-UK national applying for a visa to get in).
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Lezil outside the UK Visa office in Shanghai.
| Up and until a couple of years ago, South Africans could waltz into the UK with an automatic tourist entry, but immigration laws have tighten up considerably and now require a visa to even consider stepping foot into the isles. The adapted Chinese application forms were never-ending, a number of support documents were required and a small interview with quick-fire questions all had me considerably anxious.
Checking to see if Lezil's UK Visa has come through!
| The timing was tight. Week one went by and no news. Week two went by and still no news. Week three was ending and it was one day before travelling out and I was hopping around like a mad hatter. I had been relentlessly calling the UK Visa call centre in Shanghai for constant updates and still the visa hadn’t been approved. So with just 24 hours until check-in and with moral low, I called them up 10 seconds after their 8am opening time. “One moment Mr Freeman, let me check my system updates,” said their cheerful Chinese call-centre operator. A few knife-edge minutes went by and she came back on. “Your wife’s visa has arrived this morning. You can come and collect it,” she confirmed. Hallelujah!
| | The flood gates opened and we blitzed our packing and cleaned up the apartment. 7:30pm the next evening and our taxi arrived to take us to Pudong International Airport. We were flying to London via Dubai on Emirates. Those of you who have been following my blogs for sometime will know that I am not a huge fan of flying. Today was no exception. However, the distractive anticipation of flying on the new Airbus A380 was ebbing my nervousness away. The majestic double-decker aircraft made the other nearby parked airplanes look minuscule. The entire lower deck was dedicated to economy class with the upper deck for the privileged in business and first bringing the passenger capacity to over 500.
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Pudong airport and the start of our undercover journey to the UK!
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Flying economy on Emirates.
| Three jetways, instead of the usual one, were used for boarding the aircraft. Emirates’ trademark high quality interior ensured the even in cattle-class, the seats were comfortable with ample leg room between seats. But it was its award-winning ICE in-flight entertainment system that was a big draw for the airline. Hundreds of movies, TV shows, documentaries, music and so on meant that you could content-hop for hours at a touch of a screen.
The nine-hour flight from Shanghai to Dubai was an uncomfortable one. It was a stormy day in Shanghai so that proved an unsettling ascent for the aircraft and pretty much for the next seven hours the airplane barely stayed still, especially over west China and northern India. That meant zero sleep for me as I can’t stand turbulence.
| | Exhausted, we touched down in Dubia at 5am. Dubai airport at the start of the year had opened up the world’s first dedicated concourse for the A380. With our plane pulling into its parking spot we were flanked both sides by fellow A380 Emirates aircraft.
'Shattered’ didn’t cover it. At least we had shop after shop to keep us entertained with everything from duty-free perfume and cigarettes to liquor, gadgets and the latest Arabic hit CDs. Three hours later and we were cueing up for our final leg to London’s Heathrow airport. Thankfully this stretch of flying was a complete opposite and the plane smoothly coasted along at 40,000ft over a bed of fluffy cotton-like clouds below.
Approaching London the entire city was blanketed in grey and drizzle. It was a shame as we didn’t get to see much of the landscape until the last four minutes before the wheels landed with a thud on one of Heathrow’s runways. |
Half way through our journey and we stop in Dubai. Shhh...don't tell Dan or Tiwa we are coming to London!
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Our first glimpse of London, covered in cloud.
| We did, however, use the front on-board camera to watch the panoramic approach. 24 hours after we left our home in downtown Shanghai and now we were taxing our way to Terminal 3!
Customs and baggage reclaim were a breeze and on the other side of arrivals, we had a car waiting to pick us up. Driving through the streets of west London towards Battersea, I could hardly believe that we were in England. Lezil was transfixed on how small the roads and houses were. This was her first time ever in the UK. The other thing which stood out was how quiet the roads were. Everything was so orderly and no one was honking their horns.
Michael, our driver, informed us that the hotel Rafayel that we were staying in was one of the top boutique hotels in London and voted in the Top 25 most trendiest hotels in the whole of the UK. | | The location did not disappoint with a prime riverside location overlooking the expensive yachts across the River Thames and right next door to the London Heliport. Our room was an impressive suite with modern design, all mod-cons including a flat screen TV by the bathtub. Talk about arriving in style.
We grabbed a quick late lunch in the hotel’s trendy restaurant Banyan on the Thames. In order to fight the jet lag we went for a walk around the surrounding neighbourhood and to my excitement found a pub which had two huge Jamaican drum barbeques with sizzling jerk chicken cooking away. |
Having our first lunch in London!
| That’ll be on our to-eat list over the next few days! We wandered up and down the aisles of a Tesco Express. The locals must have thought which planet we must have just landed from as every few paces, you’d hear us saying “Wow, I can’t remember that last time I had ….”. Or “Look at this! We have to buy this before we go back to China!” I hadn’t eaten a Kit Kat in I don’t know how long, so that was my little indulgence for the day.
It was evening time and Vidal with his wife Chantelle and one-and-a-half year old son Eden dropped by our hotel to welcome us and brief us on the execution of operation Dan & Tiwa’s London Surprise. The next day was to be the grand reveal at their joyous Nigerian wedding. Exhaustion took over excitement as our heads hit the pillows at 9pm. We made it to London and we kept awake for over 32 hours. It feels amazing to be back!
Hurrah! Lezil's UK Visa final comes through!
Pudong Airport Shanghai and lining up to check in for our Emirates flight to London.
The main purpose for our visit was to surprise Dan and Tiwa for their wedding!
The beautiful Airbus A380.
Nine hours later and we arrive in Dubai for a 2 hour stopover.
We relax on a couple of lounge chairs at Dubai airport.
Time to board our flight to London Heathrow!
The spacious interior of the Airbus A380.
After 6 hours and 45 minutes flying, we finally land at London Heathrow! Lezil using the airplane's front camera to view the landing.
Welcome to London!!!
We check in to our lovely suite at the Hotel Rafayel in Battersea.
There's a TV by the bathtub!
Enjoying chunky chips and a proper British beef burger for lunch!
Right by the hotel is the London Heliport.
Taking a wander to the nearby Tesco Express and I find my Kit Kats!!
The pub close by does Jerk Chicken!!
With my friend and brother Vidal (left) and his wife Chantelle and their cute son Eden.
The world's fastest commericially operated train - the Maglev.
| The final few days of the ‘Chantonia in Shanghai experience’ went faster than the city’s magnetic Maglev train (which does a top speed of 431 km/h!). More shopping, a day spent in water village, a lazy day on a lake and rounding off their stay with a mini party made sure we sent them back to London well and truly Shanghai-fied!
It also gave Lezil more time to dig into my oh-so-geeky past (some would argue that I’m still a geek now) as Antonia and Chantal gladly divulged many a cringe moment from our younger days. There was one story in particular that I had buried deep in my subconscious which was a literal life or death situation. So, there we all were standing in a crowded metro train with countless pairs of eyes beaming in our direction as we recounted the mayhem we went through on a British motorway (or ‘freeway’ for the rest of you!).
| | Actually, it only directly involved Chantal and I. This was a good nine years ago and it was a time when we had set up our Gospel music organisation, United by ONE. We had been invited to attend the annual GEM (Gospel Entertainment Music) Awards in Birmingham (UK). That day, I had offered to drive in my car. Picking Chantal up from her south London home, we were soon zipping along the motorway northbound. The day was clear with the usual amount of Saturday afternoon commuter traffic on the roads.
We made a quick pit stop for some snacks and before long we continued our drive towards our Midlands destination. Now, I will put my hands up here and take the entire blame for what happened next. These were the days before GPS navigation systems were widely used. Chantal had a huge A3 sized road map opened on her lap and because me luv off fi chek everyting (my Jamaican side coming out there!) I decided to take a glance at the map – whilst driving at a high speed. That was all it took, a split second to trigger off the next sequence of gut-wrenching moments.
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More than 10 years ago, our United by ONE salsa dancers. Chantal and I top row far left (in case you don't recognise our young faces!! LOL.)
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A typical UK motorway.
| I was in the fast lane and there was some gravel that had spilt onto the road from the central barrier area. With my eyes off the road for a nano-second, I felt the car wheels slide on the unnoticed gravel which startled me. The car ever-so-slightly veered towards the central steel barrier dividing the opposite lanes. I panicked with a knee jerk reaction of jolting the steering wheel a couple of centimetres away from the barrier. Of course, at that velocity (around 80mph…tut tut, I know above the speed limit), what would have been a tiny manoeuvre (at a lesser speed) was actually magnified tenfold and in that instant, my car spun out of control.
We did a full high-speed 360 degree turn ending up facing the oncoming traffic. A huge heavy-duty truck was flying right in our direction, on course for a head-on collision. We literally saw our lives flash before us and that uncontrollable feeling of helplessness was lodged firmly in our throats, choking the very essence of life out of us. I pulled hard on the steering wheel again, which this time sent us spinning in the other way wildly drifting across all three lanes of the motorway.
| Vehicles were sent scattering all over the place in an attempt to avoid crashing into us. You could hardly see what was happening outside with the amount of turns were doing. It was like being stuck in a washing machine looking out. A few seconds later and we came to a violent stop. I was breathing heavily like had I just ran a marathon and all I kept muttering was “Don’t say anything, don’t say anything….”. With my peripheral vision, I could see Chantal rooted in the passenger seat, completely motionless with only her bewildered eyes and over dilated pupils giving any hint of the shock we were experiencing.
Two minutes must have past and suddenly I heard a light knock on the window next to me. A young Indian guy was standing there. It was only at the point that I had registered that we had, in fact, ended up on a small grass verge alongside the motorway. Had we landed a few metres behind or in front of us, we would have been sent crashing into trees, the barrier or gone over a steep ridge. Meanwhile, the animated young Indian guy started shouting through the window.
| | “I can’t f***king believe it! Sh*t! Yous lot was just like dem James Bond movies! Cars flyin here and dere! Man, someone was watching over you! Dunno how you got out of that one…,” he rambled on. He grabbed the door handle open and I feebly stepped out. Chantal was still strapped into the passenger seat completely oblivious to our new friend. “Here bruv, I think you need this,” he said handing me an already lit joint. I stared at the spliff in my hand and for a fleeting moment considering a quick hit to calm my nerves, but I kindly declined.
| “You know what bro, God was watching over us,” I eventually replied. The guy went over to see Chantal who then stepped out by my motionless car. I stared at the three lanes and the cars zooming past us. As far as they were concerned, we were probably just taking a toilet break on the roadside. The only hint of what just went down was the freshly-made swirly skid marks on the tarmac. “That was us right there” I thought following the topsy-turvy design my car wheels had made.
Seeing that we were physically unharmed, our weed-smoking Asian buddy bid us farewell. Chantal and I deliberated whether to turn back and go home. But like Chantal said, it was about getting back in the saddle and not allowing what just happened to deter us from where we were going to (can I get an ‘Amen’?). God was (and still is) truly looking out for us. And in a strange kind of way when you go through such life-defining occurrences it deepens that fact that certain friends are family.
So it was with tinged sadness that Lezil and I had to say goodbye to Antonia and Chantal – our sisters. It had been such a beautiful experience having them spend those precious 10 days here in Shanghai. I can only now think when next we will see each other (I hope it won’t be for another three years!). But at least we have a new set of China memories to add to our friendships' life-stories.
Here are some pics from their last few days....(click to enlarge). We hit one of the more accessible water village areas in Shanghai, Qibao. We met our friend Winter who recently moved to the area.
At the one of the main entrances for Qibao old town.
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The small pagoda in the old town.
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Antonia and Lezil down a small street in Qibao with fans in hands for cooling down!
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Buying sour plum juice.
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About to board a small Chinese gondola.
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A peaceful ride down the canal.
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With our buddy Winter.
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The boat is powered solely by this little old lady!
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With our impressive boat driver.
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The gang on top of the main bridge at Qibao.
| On the second to last evening, it was over to our mate Deji's place for a night of British 'Bad Boy Bangers' (as he calls them!). Delicious homemade sausages in all sorts of flavours. That night we had Lincolnshire, Apple & Cider and Jerk Duck.
Dining outdoors, with our friend Deji - creator of Bad Boy Bangers.
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Antonia and Chantal with friend James (Australia).
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Lezil with friend (and fellow South African), Adele.
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The ladies with the masterchef himself!
| The last day, we spent the morning at Changfeng Park with its big lake and gardens (which are very quiet during the week!). Weekends - it's a different story.
Hiring a boat for an hour for just RMB 60.
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Our electric boat gets pulled in.
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All aboard, ready to starting boating!
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The expanse of open lake practically all to ourselves.
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Da crew!
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They take pictures of us, we take pictures of them!
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Skillfully changing seats whilst drifting on water!
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Antonia hesitant to swap seats with me!
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Whose foot is this?!
| | Jamaican sprinter Bolt is fronting a big advertising campaign for the Samsung NX300 camera.
Chantal pitches herself against the world-record holder!
Wednesday night...the final night. Bitter sweet times. It was back at the Crowne Plaza to enjoy the sounds of Filipino band Voicexpander.
A few friends come out to say bye.
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With Nick (left) and Clifton (right) - both UK/Caribbean.
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Everyone singing Michael Jackson's "Heal the World"!
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Attempting the electric side to Duffy's "Mercy!" LOL.
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Chantal is in her element when the soca music comes out (albeit the touristy "Feeling Hot Hot Hot...").
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With our bredrin, Camille.
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The ladies with the Voicexpander Band.
Lezil 'towers' above Antonia and Chantal.
Gonna miss these two incredible friends and family!!!
The date had been circled in bright red on our The Simpsons calendar hanging in our kitchen by our fridge. I was busy making my breakfast at 6am hardly believing that two of some of my closest friends from London were actually arriving in less than two hours’ time in Shanghai. Antonia and Chantal, or ‘Chantonia’ is I had at first mistakenly called them once, have been in my life for over 20 years. Chantal I met when I moved to the UK to study my secondary education whilst my path crossed with Antonia during our first year at college.
I sat there in the quietness of the dawning day with my mind jumping from any number of memories that an entire TV series would have been necessary to dedicate just for the ‘Previously on…’ bits of our past episodes. I wouldn’t have described it as nerves, but there was a certain element of the unknown when I thought about our soon-to-happen reunion. After all, it had been more than three years since we last saw each other and admittedly, in the last 18 months our actual communication has been a bit sparse. It would also be the first time for them to meet Lezil – my wife.
 Waiting for our first glimpse of Antonia and Chantal in arrivals. | The clock was counting down minutes to the grand moment as we sped eastward on Shanghai’s ever-so-efficient metro system. We pulled into the terminal station at Pudong International Airport. The time 9:30am. The direct Virgin flight from London Heathrow was scheduled to arrive at 9:35am. Once we got to the main concourse where the big screen with flight information was, we realised the flight had arrived early. We bolted our way to the arrivals gate. I wanted it to be movie-perfect like catching a glimpse from beyond the security railings to the emotional-rich embrace of being reunited after a long hiatus.
Lezil and I stood anxiously leaning against the steel bars watching passengers drift by. I started to spot a few Brits come through which Lezil couldn’t understand how I could tell they were from the UK. And as if to prove my point, a couple of lads in their mid twenties paused right in front of us with the one saying to the other “Do you fink it’s alright to ‘ave a fag ‘ere?”. I just turned to Lezil with that 'you-see' look on my face.
| | Twenty minutes later and I spotted the familiar silhouettes of Antonia and Chantal walking through the frosted glass exit of arrivals. As they both walked around the exit path, Antonia belted a very foreign-sounding "Ni Hao!" much to the amusement of the two taxi drivers standing next to us. Lezil and I scurried to the other end where the passengers come out with Chantal being the first to receive my deadly bear hug. Antonia looked on in a moment of emotion and reactive laughter before I launched myself towards her for much of the same treatment. I felt ecstatic standing with them both in Shanghai and even more so, to be able to finally introduce them to Lezil.
|  The emotional reunion! |  Trying to squeeze in the suitcases into the back of a Shanghai taxi. | Being a national holiday week, we decided to catch the bus back into town as the traffic would be much lighter than usual. Plus it would give them the chance to see Shanghai from the outskirts, in. Throughout the 40 minutes journey we just talked and talked and talked. We pulled into Jing'an Temple bus terminal where we had to transfer for a short 10 minutes taxi ride to their hotel. Waving down a taxi, the game of suitcase tetris began. I was adamant on us all getting into one taxi (remember their luggage too!). The taxi's boot (or trunk) wasn't the most spacious and after 2 minutes of trying different angles it was obvious it wasn't going to shut.
| By this time the taxi driver came out to see what the holdup was. He motioned Chantal to simply overlap the suitcases. He then nonchalantly lowered the boot which wouldn't close because of the bulging mass within. He then got back in the driver's seat. Antonia and Chantal turned to me and I responded: "Welcome to Shanghai!". "But..." Antonia started. I cut her off saying: "Don't bother about the boot, this isn't London darling, this is how things work here. Now let's go."
And it was on that note that their 10 day adventure is Shanghai began.
Below is a selection of photos from the first six days. Call it Part One of when 'Chantonia Hit Shanghai'!
(Click to enlarge photos)
On Day One. After a 12 hour flight, Antonia and Chantal arrive blurry-eyed into Shanhai's Pudong International Airport.
 Meeting Lezil for the first time. |  We arrive at Jing'an Temple to grab a taxi. |  The taxi driver comes out to give us a hand fitting in the suitcases. |  Suitcases squeezed in and the boot semi-closed, we are off! | |  We arrive at their hotel for the 10 day Shanghai visit. | | Day One and Day Two. Dumping the suitcases at the hotel, we get stuck right in. On the agenda The Bund, Pudong and some live music.
 A hazy day at The Bund with Shanghai's fast-growing skyline in the background. |  We hit the fabric market where the ladies get measured up for tailored made jackets at rock-bottom prices. | |  Chantal eating her chips Shanghai-style, with chopsticks! | |  The ladies by the famed skyscrapers in Shanghai's Pudong area. |  Shanghai's Pearl TV Tower. |  Evening time and we meet up with some friends to eat Turkish food. |  After dinner, it was back to their hotel (Crowne Plaza) to catch the Filipino band in action called 'Voicexpander'. |  And soon, we are all up and dancing. |  The group enjoying some of the Pop sounds from the band. | |  Antonia with our friend Camille. | |  Soon enough, Lezil is called on stage to cover Adele's 'Someone Like You'. |  Even Camille gets in on the singing action dropping a reggae number. | Day Three and Four. Daytime was all about shopping and massages. In the evening, it was off to sample more of Shanghai's nightlife.
 Having a quick Italian meal before partying. |  We hit the Kee which is an exclusive private members club in downtown Shanghai. |  We are on our friend's DJ Cherokee's guest list. She spins the full spectrum of house music (soulful, funky, disco, tribal, etc...). |  Enjoying our expensive drinks in rather plush surroundings. |  With my beautiful wifey... :) |  Antonia soon catches the eye of a very rich (and very drunk!) Chinese businessman who tries to impress her with his moves!! | |  Our mate Deji also joins us. Group photo with DJ Cherokee in the centre. | | Day Five. It was all about the old town - Yu Yuan Garden.
 By the entrace to Yu Yuan. |  Random locals all line up to have photos taken with us! |  One of the back streets specialising in traditional kites. |  The main clothes street market of Yu Yuan. |  By the grand entrance for City God Temple in Yu Yuan. |  The main square at Yu Yuan. |  City God Temple. |  We grab a delicious dinner at one of our favourite Chinese Muslim restaurants - Yeli Xia Li. | Day Six. By far the most random afternoon! It was a hot and sticky day, so we opted for the leafy canopy over at Jing'an City park. It's quaint and a nice place to chill. At the weekends, (especially on Sundays) the creative lot (as I call them) are always out in force and that day was no exception.
First off, Lezil was coaxed into bellydancing with the locals. Then we got approached by a local drama student who interviewed us on camera about our thoughts on 'Cats' and 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Lastly, a local professor walked past, saw that we were foreigners and started chatting in English. Out came his violin and we soon had a crowd of people around us recording with their cell phones as we did renditions of 'Hey Jude', 'You Raise Me Up' and 'Jingle Bells' (in the middle of a sweltering summer heat!).
That's what I love about Shanghai. Absolutely ANYTHING can happen!
 By the large pond at Jing'an Park. |  A little trivia here. This was where Lezil and I had our first date way back in 2009! :) | |  Lezil joins the local dancers for a spot of belly dancing. | |  People look on as they 'shake their thangs'! |  Antonia being interviewed on her 'indepth' knowledge of the West End theatre scene!! |  Lezil singing with Professor 'Mr P'. |  Jingle Bells in the middle of a Shanghai summer...anything goes! | |  Enjoying an outdoor musical afternoon with Professor 'Mr P'. | |
 Arrving at the Argyle Hotel to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival food! | For the next three days, China basks in a national holiday that is Dragon Boat Festival. A number of folkloric stories surround the festivities with the most popular one being that of the Chinese poet Qu Yuan. It’s said that he was part of the Chu Royal House during the Zhou dynasty when the King at the time changed his allegiance to Qin Royal House and turned against the poet Qu. Consequently, in his desperation the poet decided to drown himself.
Being popular with the people, they all threw wrapped rice packets into the river so that the fish wouldn’t harm the poet but instead eat the floating food instead. So, it was with that setting we joined a few friends at the Argyle International Airport Hotel in Shanghai to try a hand at making these so-called rice packets. Actually, the correct term is zongzi, or rice dumplings. The hotel’s marketing manager Maggie was on hand to settle us in, asking to wash our hands before we delved in with the food-making.
| | A Shanghainese lady who didn’t speak a word of English was on hand to show us the ropes. A large dining table in a private dining suit had been set up with all the raw ingredients laid out in industrial kitchen aluminium trays. Despite the obvious language barrier (well, at least for Lezil and I!) – our teacher soon had our hands full with two strips of large water reeds which we had to fold in half, curving at the same time to then create a small closed funnel in our left hand. By our end of the table, there was rice soaked in soy sauce and Chinese seasoning of which we lined the inside of our hand-held funnel-shaped reeds.
Next step was to place a strip of pork belly (again seasoned and drenched in soy sauce) and top it off with more rice. Then came the fun part – the actual packet making. The long left-over strips of reeds were tightly stretched over the top of the funnel with the sides pushed down, and the firmly wrapped to the sides.
|  Busy learning how to make rice dumplings. |  With our good friend Nicoleen tying up our rice dumplings. | Grabbing a bit of string, you bound the reeds with force to ensure that none of the inside contents would spill out. And voila! One meat rice dumpling complete. After a few rounds at the station, we swapped for the vegetarian version which comprised of white rice and red beans. This time we used bamboo leaves instead as these were smaller triangular versions of the pork ones.
| | Once you got a routine going, it was pretty easy going to churn out a good number of those rice dumplings after which one of the hotel’s chefs took them away for cooking which normally is done by boiling but also steaming. It takes around 1.5 hours to two hours to cook them fully. We had finished our culinary activity and the same dining table was cleaned up, with a table cloth on top and a nice spread of fresh fruit, salads, drinks, and (you guessed it) rice dumplings were all served for us to enjoy.
It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, in keeping with a historical Chinese tradition. Kudos to Maggie from the hotel for organising the event. |  Another fun friend of ours, Christina, eating a cooked rice dumpling. |  Celebrating Burundi culture at Café Connect. | Completely jumping cultures, not to mention an entire continent, the following afternoon it was the bi-monthly Café Connect gathering. As part of Shanghai Community Fellowship’s welcoming committee, the social event takes place after the 4pm Church service where people gather in the small chapel next door to not only socialise but be treated to some delicious eats and drinks. Over the last couple of months, a new running theme had been launched whereby each session now highlights the diversity of people who actually attend the Hengshan Road Church.
This week it was the turn of three African nations: Rwanda, Nigeria and Burundi. West African Gospel music played as people eagerly filtered in after the service. Two opposite rows of tables provided people the chance to sample not only more standard snacks but nibbles from the respective countries including a very flavoursome Nigerian ‘Akara’ or bean cake and the Jollof Rice (a spicy tomato based dish readily associated with West African cooking) which disappeared in no time.
| | I like my African prints and it just so happened that I had some Nigerian traditional clothes in Shanghai that were given to me by a close friend in London as a wedding gift. Yes, I became an honorary Naija with one Nigerian friend commenting that I carried myself like a royal chief. She joked to me, saying that I must fulfil my role as a strong leader by finding myself three additional wives alongside wifey number one, Lezil. Sounded like too much drama if you asked me!
With the rhythmic uplifting music playing, I could only marvel at how even in a place as far flung as China, the vibrancy of the African spirit can bring such unity and positivity. We are already preparing for Café Connect’s second African round which happens on Sunday 23rd June focusing on Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Waka Waka nation itself – South Africa! Lezil will be cooking up a storm for that one.
|  Call me a 'Naija'! (left to right) Christina, me, Deji and Nicoleen. | We got home an hour later to the mother of all surprises right on our door step. (‘Mother’ being the operative word here.) Walking up our winding steps to our third floor apartment and just as Lezil hit the final corner she jumped back in shock. Sprawled out by our front door was a cat that was clearly in beginnings of labour. The ginger mother-to-be was heaving heavily and was clearly in a lot of discomfort. I came up to join Lezil on our floor and, rather embarrassingly, the first thing that came out was “Not again!”.
 Help!! This cat is in labour. Meanwhile Winne (right) is more concerned with eating! | You see, we had already semi-adopted our street cat – Winnie – who pretty much appeared in the same way as a weak 2 month old kitten and two years later, he’s still with us , albeit roaming the streets all day and night. We didn’t know what to do. The cat wasn’t moving but just panting away and you could see that her tummy was contracting. The stench was pungent which we amateurishly diagnosed as her waters having been broken.
In a daze, I turned to Lezil and said to her that I was sure this was our next door fruit lady’s cat. With lightning speed I jumped down the stairs, two at a time, and ran the 10 street metres to her store. She was busy slurping her evening noodles and in my gargled Chinese and accompanying frantic sign language, I managed to get her to understand me. She swiftly followed me back up the stairs to the tiny hall by our apartment door.
| She rambled on in Shanghainese to me, of which I don’t understand a word of, so I asked her to switch to Putonghua (Mandarin) and got the gist of her saying “Zhe bu shi wo de mao” (this is not my cat). She then started to say that her cat is longer and has more white markings. How could this be? I was so sure it belonged to her. Apologising for mis-alerting her, she left us with this bulging pregnant non-moving feline helplessly lying at our feet. | Like a mad man, I scrolled through my phone to see who I knew was a ‘cat-person’. Bingo! Our Jamaican friend Liza (who I also happen to work alongside with at the Caribbean Association in China). She dished out the necessary advice which had Lezil running back to the fruit lady store to get a large box. I kept monitoring the cat. We got a soft green IKEA bath rug and lined the box with it. Seeing sense, the cat actually dragged itself onto the rug inside the box.
By this time, we had Lezil’s mum all the way in Australia coaching us on what to expect over the next few hours. Her family are experienced cat owners and had delivered kittens before. Then to add to the action, Winnie, our boy cat, decides to make his grand entrance and became all bewildered with the unfolding scene. He cautiously crept up to the ginger puss in the box then planted himself solidly by our door as if to say, “they are my owners, don’t even think about…”.
|  Winnie closely looking at proceedings. |  Lezil lining the floor with plastic. | His food bowl was empty, so I stacked it up to try and distract him. It worked. So there we were, standing in between a cat in labour and another one busy stuffing its face. I was adamant that I didn’t want the ginger cat dropping her load outside our door. The last thing we needed was a hoard of more cats meowing to be fed. One was enough, thank you very much. (Can you tell that I am not a cat person? Give me a dog any day!)
I went back down to the ground floor and interrupted one of neighbour’s dinner to ask him if we could use a sheltered spot outside in the communal garden to place the cat-in-labour and her box? He wasn’t too pleased with the idea. Unfortunately street cats are like rats here and therefore not a lot of care is shown towards the creatures. Getting one of my Shanghainese buddies on the phone to explain properly the situation to him, he thankfully relented.
| | I was super nervous picking up the box with the cat in it, especially as it had one open side. But she was perfectly well-behaved not moving, almost knowingly trusting our judgement for her well-being. We used one of the outside shed areas, lined it with plastic on the floor (to make it waterproof) and then I gently lowered the box down. There was no rain forecast which meant a dry night and the overnight temperature was a warm 20C. Good conditions.
The mother cat soon relaxed and closed her eyes. In a way, that was our job done. Just call us the cat midwives! The rest was now in her court. At the time of writing, she was still busy nesting but no sign of new lives yet.
|  Settling the pregnant street cat in her new birthing sheltered spot. | Once we were back in our apartment and I had time to digest all that had just happened and I remembered that this was the other ginger cat that I had frequently seen Winnie playing with by the next door neighbour’s concrete back yard. So, the big unanswered question we have to ask ourselves…is Winnie the father?  With our lao shi (teacher) learning how to make rice dumplings.  Packing in the wraps with rice and meat.  Raw seasoned pork.  Good times with friends doing something culturally Chinese. :)  Some finished rice dumplings we made, ready for cooking.  With the Argyle Hotel's marketing Manager, Maggie.  Nigeria stand proud! At Café Connect with friends (left to right) Philippa and Bettina (daughter and mother - Jamaica/Nigeria).  With another friend, Francis (Ghana/UK).  (left to right) Ibere (Nigeria) with Christina (Germany).  Southern Africans! (left to right) Lezil (SA), Nyasha (Zim) and Thando (SA).  With the Nigerian and Burundi crew!  With some of my local friends who dropped by to sample some African delights!  And yes....this could be a picture of the future (me constantly in Nigerian clothes!). Not sure what you were thinking of... LOL! ;)  Yes! Akara in Shanghai!
So, we were technically a bit late to classify our apartment mass-clear out as a ‘spring clean’. But nonetheless, we spent the whole of Sunday sifting through accumulated stuff from the last two years. Despite the small size of our accommodation, we somehow managed to acquire an impressive array of items that we could quite easily have hosted our own flea market.
 Ta da! Our main room having one big clear out! | Militancy was the order of the way. My motto was, if it hadn’t been used in the last 12 months, chuck it out. We had two old suitcases with broken handles which acted as makeshift dumpsters and in no time they were both filled with clothing, old notebooks, shredded receipts and invoices, magazines, past travel itineraries, worn-down shoes and handbags that had clearly passed their use-by date. One of the great things about clearing things out in China, you don’t have to go far to actually dispose of them. Aside from the two suitcases we also had another six garbage bags full of junk.
| Lezil had gone outside and ‘dumped’ the first two garbage bags while I continued the indoor operation. The dumping was actually just outside our gate which technically you are not supposed to do but everyone does it (yes, a slap on the wrist for me!). Over the next five minutes all our garbage bags had gone out. As the last ones left our door, I broke into a panic. “Where’s that envelope?” I muttered to myself. There was a piece of mail that had arrived from Hong Kong with what felt like a credit card inside for the flat’s previous tenants. We were to be meeting them in an hour’s time to hand over their envelope. I had (stupidly) left the envelope as a reminder to myself on the armchair’s ledge – the same place where we had been tearing up paper and ever-so-systematically packing up the rubbish in bags.
| Great. I just knew that the envelope had mistakenly been caught up in one of those garbage bags outside. Whilst I frantically turned our apartment upside down, Lezil had run outside to fetch the bags back. But wait. With Shanghai’s uber-efficient street-recycling system (read = anyone walking past), I wasn’t surprised when Lezil came back to tell me that out of the six bags we had left outside, only the one remained (all in the space of less than five minutes). Argh!! I absolutely hated losing things and even more when it wasn’t even my own to begin with. Venting off to Lezil, I said my two-cent’s worth on how people love to recycle things way too fast in Shanghai.
Dejectedly I sent a voicemail to the people concerned apologising for the unforeseen mishap. I waited for their response rather uncomfortably. As a half-hearted last-ditched effort (actually I was beyond frustrated), I grabbed the only garbage bag we had in our possession and tipped the whole thing out on our living room floor.
|  Little carts that go around Shanghai picking thrown-out items off the street. (Photo by Simon Dean) | Hundreds of tiny bits of cut up paper were littered everywhere. On my knees, almost as an act of self-punishment, I picked through the unrecognisable cuttings. How could I have been such an idiot? My Sony Tablet flashed up with an incoming message. That must be the ex-tenants responding.
I started scooping the rubbish back in the bag and what did I find? The envelope! It was roughly folded right at the bottom of the heap and thankfully was still intact. Instantaneously my pale expression of worry warmed up to an exhausted sigh of relief. What are the odds? Of all the bags to remain outside, it was the only one with the missing envelope in it. Thank God! The tenants had messaged me back saying not to worry, but I wanted to be the bringer of positive news and restore my good name. “Disaster averted,” I dramatically told them. From then on, we double checked each bag before it went out. We had to be careful as you literally didn’t have a second to spare with the speed that discarded items were picked up off our street.  The Geisha - F.Y.E.S.T.A.'s new venue in Shanghai. | With that excitement over with, we cleaned up and biked down to The Geisha. Our friend Sylvie was holding her fifth instalment of her popular F.Y.E.S.T.A. series. It’s a monthly Sunday late-afternoon gathering of all things fashionable, food, music and entrepreneurial. For F.Y.E.S.T.A., The Geisha was a new venue where previously it had been held in a couple of outlets in the Jiashan Market area of Shanghai. Certainly the more prominent positioning of the venue (on Shaanxi Nan Lu, near Fuxing Lu) was a step up. The entire top third floor of club/restaurant was allocated for the event where by the indoor section you had various vendors. The attractive outdoor rooftop terrace next door was lined with a handful of up-and-coming food and drink enterprises.
| | The weather was perfect and therefore brought people out in their droves. The place was packed, so much so, that trying to get a glimpse of the foodie tables outside was a bit of a mission. Our buddy Helina from Eat Ethio was doing a roaring trade. Her brand has become somewhat synonymous with F.Y.E.S.T.A. as punters devoured her wonderfully seasoned Ethiopian dishes out of her trademark brown boxes. Amongst the hive of activity we bumped into an old friend who we hadn’t seen for nearly three years - Aldrine. Actually, he worked with Lezil during her time as the lead singer at the Hilton Shanghai. He was the hot-shot bar tender there.
|  Waving and smiling, Helina from Eat Ethio at F.Y.E.S.T.A. |  With our friend Aldrine - Operations Manager at The Geisha. | He knew us before we got married, so we were more than happy to update him on our marital status. It turns out that from working at the Hilton, Aldrine landed up a position as the Operations Manager of The Geisha and its associated venue The Flamingo Bar & Playhouse. He’s the same cool guy he was then as he is now. Down-turn-earth and upbeat.
After scanning over the small indoor stalls, we ended up making a couple of purchases by the good people at Vintage Warriors. Run by Pedro D’Aguiar, a Portuguese native, alongside his lovely wife Roberta from Brazil – their aim is to bring together a unique collection of old-school branded fashion/lifestyle items made available across their small chain of global stores. Currently they have outlets here in Shanghai, Lisbon, London and Buenos Aires. They had branded t-shirts, retro leather bags, customised leather vintage watches, really cool bicycle handle bars made from cedar wood and an eye-catching collection of summer shoes.
| | It was the latter that saw Lezil and I sizing up a pair to purchase. Called ‘Chinese Style’ – the light canvas shoes with durable rubber soles are made in Hangzhou and are modelled around the classic martial arts shoes traditional used in many Kung Fu schools in China. At RMB 150 (£15),they were reasonable priced and certainly, they had a good selection of summer colours to choose from. I opted for an emerald green and Lezil went with a bright pink. The fact that Pedro himself was wearing his own product (and they looked pretty worn in) was a further selling point. I didn’t waste any time in rocking my new pair of Chinese Style shoes. Very comfortable indeed.
Entertainment wise, the music policy went from pumping club-esque music to classic Motown. In between there was a short Hip Hop set by MCs Amil and Dana aka Ocean. They were tight but unfortunately the heavy-laden beats coupled with their vocals were too much for the outdoor speakers which became very distorted.
|  Lezil choosing her pair of 'Chinese Style' canvas shoes. |  With house music master DJ Cherokee from Australia. | Their set was cut short after only two tracks. It was left to the DJ to spin some summer vibes. I was hoping to hear DJ Cherokee work the wheels of steel that afternoon.
She dropped an incredible set at last month’s event leaning on more soulful / disco house vibes. She told me (much to my disappointment) that she wasn’t playing that day. But still, it was nice to have a catch up with her where she informed me that she’s in Shanghai for the summer with a move to Germany’s Berlin slated for early autumn. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, DJ Cherokee literally globe-trots appearing wherever her gigs are booked. She also has a syndicated radio show which goes out in Australia, the US and Hong Kong. Aside from being a prominent house DJ, she’s also now turning her attention to producing which I am particularly looking forward to hearing. I’ve always said, a DJ knows what generates a crowd’s response. And with her years and years in the industry, no doubt she will be churning out some killer tunes in the near future. | Another top day out at F.Y.E.S.T.A.! However, with the continually growing turn-out each month, I think Sylvie is going to have to re-think her venue choice sometime soon.
 A packed rooftop terrace at The Geisha for the 5th F.Y.E.S.T.A. event.  Moroccan food for sale.  MC Amil and his Hip Hop set.  Dana dropping some vocals alongside MC Amil.  Holding my newly bought pair of 'Chinese Style' shoes with Vintage Warriors co-founder Pedro D'Aguiar.
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