[My Weekender] with Connie Kim

Korean-American Connie Kim is the owner of SkinCity 5.5, a new urban spa in Shanghai. In a former life (pre-spa business), she enjoyed weekends in Shanghai and looks forward to discovering them again.

It has been a good week, but a long one, so by the time Friday afternoon rolls around, I'm in the mood for some fairly serious retail therapy. I head over to La Vie, Jenny Ji's newly re-vamped shop, and pick up a few hot pieces from her latest collection. The new purchases call out for some coordinating accessories, so I jump in a cab to Xintiandi and browse in my favorite little accessories shop, Wuyi Workshop. Relief washes over me as I find the perfect and affordable matching earrings; my retail therapy session is almost complete. The final leg of my session ends at 50 Moganshan Lu. After browsing through some of the art galleries, I go to my favorite hidden shop in that area, a vast designer's workshop called Cinemoda. I pick up a couple of very colorful dresses and leave the premises. Retail therapy is complete. I head over to Kee Club to meet a friend for dinner and cocktails and enjoy a leisurely walk home. My notorious and rather spoiled cat, Chairman Meow, is waiting for me when I get there. He's looking a bit plump these days, so I attempt to exercise him by chasing him around the house. He's not amused. I feed him his diet food and SWISS Eau organic water and decide to call it a night.

Saturday morning, I feel like getting away from the city a bit and decide to take a day-trip down to Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club with a friend and try my hand at some polo. After a couple of rounds, I decide to be a voyeur rather than participant, and am happy to bask in the sun at the club while watching the polo team practice on the field. We return back to Shanghai late afternoon and my limbs are sore, so I go back to my spa, SkinCity 5.5, for some much-needed aromatherapy massage and I throw in an oxygen facial too. One of the perks of owning a spa is never having to make a treatment booking... Evening time rolls around, and after making sure everything at the spa is in order, I mosey on over to Constellation 2 for a well-made cocktail and a birthday celebration for a friend. Several mojitos later, I make my way over to Hamilton House for a few nibbles and a nice long catch-up session with some friends I haven't seen in months. After some food, we're feeling cozy and satiated and head over to Club 88 to witness a truly extraordinary club scene, perhaps the coolest in Shanghai at the moment. My friends and I marvel at the crowd. After an hour or so, we're feeling a bit overwhelmed, so we head over to Velvet Lounge nearby for some late-night pizza before calling it a night.

Sunday arrives and I'm at the spa early, checking to make sure the therapists are set for the day. Everything looks in order, so I head over to Jean-Georges for my favorite brunch in Shanghai. I've tried them all, and I always keep coming back to JG. After a leisurely meal, I buy a bottle of wine from Just Grapes and head over to the No. 9 hotel to enjoy my secret little oasis in the middle of the city. The owner David and I share some glasses of wine and catch up and the next few hours pass by like a breeze. The penthouse suite is surprisingly unoccupied today, so I scamper on up there and relax, reading a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald on my beloved Kindle and sipping on a glass of sweet tokaji. No. 9 was the very first place I stayed at when I moved to Shanghai, and I always tell people it's what made me fall in love with Shanghai. I finish my novel and decide I need a pedicure so I head over to Helen's Nail Spa and catch up on my emails and messages while my feet get properly groomed. Afterward, I'm in the mood for some good ol' Korean food so I hop in a taxi and get some bibimbap for take-out from De'All before looping back to Dagu Lu to pick up some DVDs and check on the spa once more. I head home, finally, and enjoy a quiet evening in. I fall asleep, content, with Chairman Meow lying on my belly.