I don’t know how I’ve lasted so long in Shanghai without taking a walk down QiPu Lu. It’s full of shops and countless indoor markets selling cheap and fake clothes. The markets are a maze of small stalls specialising in underwear, jeans, children’s clothes, scarves, women’s ‘fashion’ and outdoor clothes. (If an item of clothing has the word ‘fashion’ on it, you can be sure, it’s as far away from fashion as it’s possible to get). I only went into one indoor market, it was a tight squeeze to move around and being a public holiday, it was choked with people, so I kept mostly to the street. 
Of course, there’s the ubiquitious snacks to enjoy too, especially the ‘shit on a stick’ which I have managed to avoid eating since arriving in China but which are very popular with the locals.
Every time I see someone eating them I remember being stabbed in the arm by an empty stick in FuZiMiao in Nanjing some yeyars ago. It went through my coat, shirt and drew blood. I tried not to think about all the germs introduced into my blood stream. As it turned out, I didn’t get any nasty diseases as a result but since that accident, I have always given these people a wide berth.
Walking around QiPu Lu is a bit like walking around fruit and veg markets in the UK with sellers shouting out prices and trying to draw passers by to their shops. In the UK though, they don’t usually roll up their tops to just below their nipples. This is uniquely a Chinese male habit, and if you have a Buddha belly it’s even funnier.
For those on a budget QiPu Lu is a great place to pick up all sorts of cheap clothes. I was almost tempted by three pair of socks for £1 but not only was I unsure of how many wears I would get out of them, but my feet are bigger than the typical Chinese woman (and many men!).
So I wandered up and down the street, taking in the atmosphere of this warm public holiday and managed to avoid buying anything or getting stabbed by a meat skewer. For me, that’s a good day.