Archive for February, 2015

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Thames Town, P.R.C.

February 28, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

neighborhood sign

We hopped on the bus, the train, and the bus to get to Thames Town. What is Thames Town, you might ask. It is one of the nine towns of the One City, Nine Towns project. It is a housing project finished in 2006 designed to draw people out to the suburbs. The entire community is patterned after classic British market town styles. It has been referred to as a “ghost town,” but we saw plenty of people and many parked cars, so not so ghosty after all.

buildings of different styles

The experience turned out to be more interesting than we expected. The town is actually very well designed and built. It does not look like a cheap knock off. They did a good job of mixing the architectural styles, much like the real London.

nineteenth century style English church

They even included this church modeled after Christ Church in Bristol. Unfortunately, it was locked up tight, so we could not see inside. We are very curious to see what is inside.

statue of James Bond as portrayed by Pierce Brosnan

There are statues all over town. Some easily recognizable, like James Bond, Winston Churchill, and Princess Diana, but others are harder to pin down. Mostly writers of different eras.

British red phone booth

There were red phone booths, but no blue police boxes.

It is a really lovely place. Too bad it is about 19 miles away from where I work. To see all the pictures, click here.

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Guyi Garden

February 26, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

oriental garden and lake

We spent the afternoon in Guyi Garden. It was a long taxi ride (76 yuan – $12 USD – 45 AED). The admission is 12 yuan per person ($2 USD – 7 AED), so getting there is the expensive part. There is a metro station, but it is a bit of a walk. We took the metro home, but it was easier to find the place by taking a taxi.

The garden dates to the Ming Dynasty, as does Yuyuan Garden. It has been renovated multiple times since then.

mosaic of lotus blossoms

There is art everywhere – in the stone walkways, in the ceilings of every structure, and in the stone structures. The beauty of nature is not overwhelmed by the human art. They really knew how to balance and co-exist with nature.

rock sculpture

Spring is beginning. Trees are beginning to bloom.

white and dark pink flowering trees

To see all the pictures – click here.

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Disappearing Shanghai

February 25, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

You might remember Dontai Lu, the antiques market. It has been under the process of demolition for months. This picture below is from September 2014.

partially demolished buildings still being used

The picture below was taken this week. Same street.

Dontai Lu area Feb 2015

Now you see it, now you don’t.

We took another stroll through the area this week. About half of the shops were closed, although this may be due to the Chinese New Year holiday. The ones that were boarded or bricked up are definitely closed forever. In a way it is sad, because some of these buildings were very beautiful “in their day,” but their day has passed.

To see all the pictures, click here.

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Exploring Shanghai History

February 19, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

First, you may have noticed that I have not posted in quite some time. Well over a month, in fact. I, too, noticed this and pondered it for a while, because I just have not felt like posting. It is not because we have not done interesting things. It seems to be because I am so happy here. While we were in the U.A.E. I was posting to prove there were good aspects. Things to be appreciated. I needed that to offset the parts that were miserable. Now that we are in China and the job is going very well and we are finding it very easy to live in China, I am not as motivated to post to the blog. So, my apologies for the long hiatus. I will endeavor to do better in sharing our happy adventures.

We have not been idle in the last month. We took a walking tour of the Jingjiang lilong neighborhood. (CityWeekend article about the tour – here. If you look closely at the first color picture in this article, you can see DaddyBird’s bald head on the right under the lamp.) For the photos I took – click here.

brick four story building

Most of these neighborhoods are being torn down, but this one might escape that fate as there were some important historical figures who lived here and when it was originally built, it was high quality architecture and craftsmanship, so is much more durable than some of the other neighborhoods.

art deco style door in old Shanghai municipality building

On another weekend, we took a tour of the municipality buildings constructed under Chiang Kai Shek. For more info – click here. To see my pictures, click here. The library building has been abandoned for quite some time, but is now under reconstruction and will be used as a library again. I look forward to seeing it restored to it’s former glory and purpose.

Today is the Chinese New Year. I am told that the celebrations will take several days. We will be getting out and about to do some touristy things.

What we have learned so far:

1. Chinese fireworks are LOUD and not heavily regulated. Airborne fireworks are available to the average Joe. Some are the sparkly starbursts we are all familiar with and some are just designed for noise making. They make a loud bang when ignited on the ground, then fly up into the air and make another loud bang. The timing of setting them off is up to the individual, apparently. Therefore, it sounded like a war zone in our neighborhood from about 7 pm to 12:30 am. I heard more fireworks at 6:30 am the next day.

2. If one was born in the year of the Goat (Sheep or Ram), one should wear red underwear to ward off bad luck. All year. That’s a lot of red underwear.

We wish you all Happiness, Prosperity, Longevity! (fu lu shou)

 

 

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