Shanghai with kids

We arrived here in November 2014, we were so worried about the weather and the pollution and if Eleanora is going to be ok with it, we made our search and saved the contacts of the international hospital there (just in case we needed it, thank God we didn't ). Surprisingly we found that it wasn't that bad, may be we were lucky, the pollution percentage changes often and it could go very high for several days so you better check before traveling.

Shanghai was a great experience for us, I am so happy we were able to go and see this part of the world. If you are planning to go with a baby or a toddler you should take this into consideration:-

Best place to buy anything for babies (Food, diapers,lotion,cream,shampoo.....):-

• City Super

you can find it in IFC mall or Shanghai times square

P.S.  Although you can find everything here (American,European and Japanese brands) it will be more than double its price back home....

This place was our favorite as you can find all the international products here.

•  Children Market

10am-7pm

English address: 10 Puan Lu, near Jinling Lu, Xuhui district

Chinese address: 徐汇区普安路10号, 近金陵路

This place is a hidden gem, it is very suitable if you want to buy clothes, toys, accessories ... name it and you will find it.

This is like a wholesale market, no price tags and don't expect people there to speak any english, you will have to find your way there (and it is tough but worth it)

I loved this place and was able to come out with some good deals, specially children underwear and PJs.

Try to go for local products, if you want knock offs, you will have to look very hard for good quality but once you find them; they are really a good catch.

Sellers there are not so friendly and like in so many markets in China if you tell them a price they don't like they will turn away and leave you, they don't mind losing the deal, some of them even hang a sign saying "no bargaining" on their doors, just try and if you find they are so stubborn you can leave and return at the end of your tour there.

• Science and Technology museum 

This is the best place for fake products, there are a lot of stores selling kids products but you have to look for good quality.
TIP: go for kids shoes, gloves, icecaps and scarves, here they are of good quality and very cheap.
Also if you have a baby girl or child, you can get her some nice accessories here, they are cheap as well.
Here, whatever price they tell you go for as low as 20% of it and start going up bit by bit, you will end up paying maximum 30% of the original price they told you.
If you have a nice sunny day out, you can take your kids there to get some steam out, it has a nice outdoor area they can play in.

• TIP: Practice cautious and don't buy kids milk (or formula) at any local place, you either order it online or buy it at city super, they will also take away any milk powder they find with you at the airport.

You can also go to different places for sightseeing and some family fun, here I will list some that we really enjoyed together..

The Bund

Pudong seen from the Bund

My favorite view of Shanghai, you can get to see modern Pudong from one side and the other side you will see amazing old classic architecture. Also, you can take your kids for a walk and some time in the sun and open air when the weather is good.

East Nanjing Road

A pedestrian street, this is the main shopping street in Shanghai and the busiest street. You have to visit this street at least once and you should know that it is completely different at night than at day; my recommendation is to see it first at night, you will enjoy the view of the signs and lights. But if you want to go for shopping I would recommend you to go by day. This is a must visit place for sure.Also there is this  tram that you can take to see the area (very touristic but nice).

My favorite stop there was M&M's store, it is a big store and they have this "Great wall of chocolates" that you can't resist :)

M&M's store in Nanjing road

Nanjing road at night

I hope you find this brief information about Shanghai with Kids helpful, and I hope you will enjoy your stay there, it is really a city worth visiting.
You can message me for any specific inquiries about Shanghai with kids and I will respond as soon as I can.

Summer in San jose, Costa Rica

Today I decided to get back to writing again, may be because I finally started to have some free time I can use to document the beautiful journey we are enjoying as a family.

Eleanora started to have a schedule for her naps and a quite early bed time that makes me feel MUCH better actually :)

This is our 2nd week here in San jose, Costa Rica for our 2 months audit with my husband. Though we don't have many options here to enjoy the day but we kind of managed to keep ourselves busy so far.

Here are some notes if you are traveling to san jose with a baby:-

1-Baby food:-
Here they have a Walmart store where you can find a large variety of baby food, specialy the smoothies; here you have the gerber, Heinz and some other local brands. The only negative thing is they only have them in fruits, no veggies.

You can also get the baby snacks here in a lot of varieties; in any supermarket.

2-Baby products:-

In terms of toys or any baby necessity, you can easily find them in the Multiplaza shopping center, the ground floor has a lot of baby stores as well as the third floor in SIMAN department store.

3-Activities:-

If you are planning to stay in San jose itself for a while, you can go crazy with a baby, after all they need a place to get all their energy out (what can we say; they are just babies :) )

Luckily you have several options here:-

• Multiplaza shopping centre " www.multiplaza.com"

In the Multiplaza you have about 3 main play areas, the biggest is located inside SIMAN department store in the third floor (they also have a small cafe if you would like a quick snack while ur baby is playing)

In the ground floor they have 2 smaller play areas at each end of the mall.

• Avenida Escazu "www.avenidaescazu.com"

 At this place they have some activities for kids; they have cooking classes, art classes and more. Basically these activities change monthly so you will have to check their website for updated schedule.  

Also in Avenida Escazu they have an open air play area with a lot of options for toddlers as well as older kids.

4- Baby clothes:-

They have a lot options as well, you can find Carter's, Justice  and all your favorite brands at SIMAN department store.

 I hope these notes will be helpful :)