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Qi Pu Lu, Shanghai Out of the two weeks I spent in Shanghai, I think I visited Qi Pu Lu at least once every 2 days. During my stay I also found out that the place was named Qi Pu Lu because it sounds like Cheapo Road. This place gets incredibly crowded on weekends so if you can, go in the mornings of weekdays and watch out for pick pocketers. Oh you may also want to empty our your bladder and have a full meal before entering the doors. Do not fear, there are plenty of food stands outside on the streets for you to eat! Toilets on the other hand, are a lot harder to find. qi pu lu:  qi pu xing wang (七浦兴旺服饰市场):  In this area, there are many large four storey buildings like in the picture above. In these buildings are rows and rows and storeys and storeys of tiny stores selling cheap street wear and accessories. scarves:  accessories:  tops:  empty aisle:  aisle of clothes, bags, accessories:  other side of the foot bridge:  How to get there: View Larger Map Bargaining Tips:
Labels: china, qi pu lu, travel  0 comment(s)
Posted on Monday 21 January 2013 |
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Myeongdong, Seoul Myeongdong is located in Seoul. It is a paradise for shopaholics for both tourists and young Koreans. There are so many stores here so there are plenty of varieties of styles to suit everyone's tastes. They have nearly every brand you could ever wish for - H & M, Forever 21, Zara, Migiliore etc. Although it's night time, you can see just how busy the place gets since everyone are off work or school. walking road between the stores:  racks of clothes:  cute store:   potato swirls:  line of cosmetic stores:  How to get there: View Larger Map Labels: korea, myeong-dong, travel 0 comment(s)
Posted on Friday 18 January 2013 |
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ShinChon Ladies Street, Seoul During my final day in Korea our tour group was given free time at Shinchon Ladies Street.This shopping haven is near Ewha Woman's University. The place is pretty much dedicated to women. There are some department stores but the streets are mostly lined with independent clothing, shoes, accessories and bag stores. There are a plenty of nail and hair salons. They have such cute and dainty stores with such pretty clothes. I wish Australia had more of these stores! We visited the area in the late afternoon which is when people start getting off from work and school to meet up with friends. giant shoe:  If you see this giant pink shoe in the middle of a street, you've arrived at the right place. If you think you're going to get hungry while shopping, you won't because the streets of Korea are filled with food vendors selling street foods such as buns, spicy rice cakes, fish cakes and fried goodies. If those aren't for you, there are chain restaurants like Dunkin' Donuts or Lotteria. I'm told that Korean girls like to hang around cafes so you could try that out too. Oh, and I was told that male, Korean university students come here occasionally to find cute girls for blind dates. independent clothes stores:  There are lots of pale pastel chiffon-like material in Korean fashion which just shouts cute and elegant. The colours and style of the clothes on mannequins and hooks are just so dainty. For more casual looks, you'll see many young adults simply wearing cute oversized jumpers or coats with tights or jeans underneath. Of course when it comes to dressing up, you can't forget accessories. There are a handful of shops which sell accessories for young women. Earrings can be as cheap as 1000 won (roughly $1AUD) and get to about 5000 won (roughly $5AUD). Rings, bracelets, headpieces, anklets, phone cases - you name it, it's all here.
If you're wondering why Korean phone accessory stores only seem to contain phone cases for brands like Samsung or LG and nothing else, it's because those are what people use there. You may be surprised but Apple is nothing compared to Samsung here. Koreans love their country so much that they mostly buy things from Korean brands - not that it's a bad thing. Other examples of this would be household appliances and machines, vehicles and food. In an ordinary household in Korea, expect to find Samsung or LG branded things. With vehicles, many only buy from Korean names such as Kia and Hyundai. You don't see many Toyota or Honda branded cars there - actually I didn't see any at all! And it's the same when it comes to food. As a global fast food chain, I imagined McDonalds to be just as popular as it is in Australia but even more people eat from the Korean fast food chain Lotteria.
shoes: 
Since the Place is situated near a university for women, that can only mean two things. The prices are cheaper and more affordable for the students and they are mainly for women. Most racks are filled with the 5000-20000 won price range (about $5.00 - $20.00). Sometimes some stores will have a sign that say everything in store is for 20 000 won but it's just be aware that sometimes they only mean for the items displayed outside the store.
cap vendor on the road: 
Due to the short amount of time we were given here, I could only browse through one street. I wish I could just spend a whole week here looking through everything without having two whining guys following you around. Oh and I don't think you can bargain here since there are marked prices on everything. And if you have the time for more shopping, visit Dongdaemun markets and Myeongdong - both shopping havens in Korea.
View Larger Map Labels: korea, shinchon ladies street, travel 0 comment(s)
Posted on Saturday 5 January 2013 |
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DIY Singlet  
From plain, white singlet to a singlet which screams fun, fab and girly! DIY singlets are exciting to wear and also make great, personal gifts -- I gifted mine to my younger sister for Christmas! Basically, this singlet was created using the left over material from the previous DIY projects! A few things you will need to get started:
Firstly, chop off the boring, old straps of the original singlet. In order to create my own straps, I prepared 2 pieces of rectangular material, identical in size (~3x15cm). To prevent fraying, I folded the edges in and sewed them together. The next step also involves the use of a sewing machine. Simply sew the straps onto the inside of the singlet!
Obviously, it looks a bit ugly now because you can totally see the stitching and such but that's where the flowers come in!!! So get your pencil and start drawing! I drew and cut out multiple flowers using a light pink material. I then sewed them onto the straps 3 at a time using the sewing machine (however, you will have much more control if you sewed the flowers on by hand). For the back of the singlet, I added 2 cute bows to cover up the stitching.
The last few steps are pretty simple. Be creative and draw whatever you'd like onto the backside of any piece of material, cut it out and sew it on (you might want to glue on your designs before you sew but be careful! Don't use too much and let it dry before you sew -- you don't want to damage the needle of your sewing machine! EEK!!). Personalise it however you wish! Then, finally, IRON IT and then you're ready to show it off!
xoxo, Shannen 0 comment(s)
Posted on Friday 4 January 2013 |
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DIY Bunting Flags 
Hi guys! While I was at a fair, I managed to pick up a large sheet of patterned material for just $2! Yes, that's cheaper than the material you buy from Cabramatta! I really need to chill with the exclamation marks... Anyways, with this large sheet of material, I decided to set myself a challenge and use as much of the material as possible to make my own items. My first project was to create 2 sets of bunting flags.
Honestly, these add fun to any room and are really simple to make! What you will need to do is draw and cut out a number of identical triangles, line them along a thick ribbon and you have two options from there. Oh, also make sure you leave enough ribbon hanging off the two ends so you can hang the flags.
The first option is to glue them on and you can leave it there if you wish, but to ensure the flags don't fall off too easily, you may want to go with the second option which is to sew the flags on. From experience*, it probably isn't the best option to glue the flags on and then sew them on, as the glue tends to accumulate on the sewing needle... and ruin it. dundundun... So, yeah! Either glue them or sew them... or do both if you really wish... but I did warn you!
Yeah, well that's about it! Hopefully you've found this helpful and send in some pics if you decide to have a go! Also, send your feedback to nouveaugalorey@gmail.com (e.g. if I need more pics to accompany my tutorials to make it less confusing or anything like that!) hehe
xoxo,
Shannen
*experience was with hot-glue gun... maybe it's different with other glue... but just be wary of the fact that glue can ruin the needle!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: bunting flags, diy 0 comment(s)
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