Archive for the ‘Shanghai’ Category

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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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What We Did on Our Christmas Vacation

January 8, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

tower lit in multiple colors at night

So, now that it is over, what did we do with our two week stay-cation? Prior to Christmas day, it consisted of going to Christmas markets around the city, drinking mulled wine or cider and eating cakes and cookies.

escalator surrounded by ocean theme painting

We took the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel (also known as the Huangpu River Pedestrian Tunnel). The picture above is the escalator down to the ticket area and pretty much the most exciting part of the tunnel sightseeing attraction. The Tunnel is kitchy and corny. We will probably inflict it on anyone who comes to visit us. (One caveat, we were there on a very low crowd day. I would not stand in line for this or put up with being crammed into the tram with too many people.) To experience a video of the tunnel experience, click here. 

bowls of rice noodles with toppings, bowls of broth, and bowls of black gelatin

We ate interesting food, of course. These are freshly made rice noodles topped with peanuts, green onions, and a few other unexplained but delicious things. There are bowls of broth and bowls of black gelatin. The menu was simple – two entrees and two “drinks.” The gelatin was in the drink category. There was no English on the menu and the clerk pointed to the Chinese writing to ask what we wanted. This is how we ended up with gelatin instead of glasses of liquid. It was refreshing, so it all worked out in the end.

miniature of Shanghai city

We went to a few museums, including the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall which houses the miniature of Shanghai seen above. It isn’t exactly accurate. It contains a few flashy buildings that don’t actually exist. Perhaps they were in the “to be built” stage when this was created, but haven’t materialized. (To see all the pictures, click here.)

bronze vessel with eight yaks on top

The Shanghai Museum in People’s Square has a very interesting collection of bronze and pottery items. We need to go back earlier in the day because we were less than half-way through at closing time. (To see all the pictures, click here.)

dragon like ceramic statue

Our last vacation day was spent in Qibao Water City, which is an old city that was swallowed up by Shanghai.

crowded pedestrianized lane

It was a mildly crowded day. Not bad.

canal between old style Chinese houses

The weather was lovely. Strangely warm for January. Once we got past the entrance to the city (the crowded picture above), it was pleasant and not crowded. (To see more pictures, click here.)

extremely tiny sculptures in a display case

Here we found the Zhou Miniature Museum which contains the sculptures of a father and daughter. Entrance cost 10 yuan ($1.80 USD or 6 AED). Totally worth it (and more). Many of the items that we had seen at the Shanghai Museum (bronze vessels, bronze axe heads, porcelain sculptures) were recreated here in miniature. One should definitely go to these museums in this order. (More pictures here.)

fat golden Buddha statue

Next, we stopped in at the Qibao Buddhist temple. While sitting on a bench to give my feet a little break, a funeral procession went by – monks followed by family members carrying paper offerings to burn for the dead. Off to the right, out of sight, we could hear the monks singing and then the procession went back by returning to the temple. (To see all the pictures, click here.)

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Merry Christmas Everyone

December 25, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not rebog.

red and white Christmas tree

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Shikumen Open House Museum

December 23, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

narrow lane between brick buildings

Shikumen neighborhoods are disappearing all over Shanghai. Thankfully, some are being restored and repurposed, like those in the Xintiandi area which now house restaurants and shops. One house in the Xintandi area has been set up as a museum to show how the houses were used in the heydays of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

desk with abacus, papers, other items as museum display

The home would have comfortably housed a middle class, multi-generation family. Later, during the 1950’s and 1960’s, the houses were divided and shared by as many as 3 or 4 families.

canopied bed

dresser

room with small desk and trunks

The room over the kitchen was often rented out to writers or foreigners.

kitchen

To see all the pictures, click here.

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All About the Eats

December 7, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

It has been a long time since I posted. I looked back through my pictures to see what have we done that I can post. Not much. We have not been to any touristy sights lately. There is always food, however. We, like you, eat multiple times a day and have been exploring the marvelous foods of Shanghai. So, here are a few highlights.

dinner plate with meat and potatoes

So, let us begin with the beef tongue served at Flamenhot, a brew pub with “eclectic” decor. This was amazingly delicious.

plates of sliced raw meat

On another evening, we wandered into a Korean BBQ restaurant. The round slices are beef tongue (again).

coals and grill

This could have been a delicious meal, but the waitress decided that we were not capable of cooking our own meal and stood there the whole time cooking it for us, one ingredient at a time. She saved the onion until last. Next, time we will say “NO thank you” when a waitress butts in to show us foreigners how it is done. It was anything but relaxing.

meatloaf, potatoes, spinach

DaddyBird has a favorite brew pub, Boxing Cat. So, he tells me that Monday is cheap beer night, then when we get there he orders the seasonal beer, which is not at happy hour price. I see how this works! Despite that, I had a lovely meatloaf with great spinach …

onion rings

… and onion rings.

bowl of udon noodles, beef, and broth

Just down the street from my school is a little noodle shop that is always busy. I walk by there every afternoon on my way home and there are always customers enjoying their themselves. So, one evening between work and an evening music recital, we decided to have our dinner at this noodle shop. Luckily, another customer was bilingual and offered to help us order, because there was no English on the menu and no pictures to point at. We got beef with noodles and mushroom with noodles. VERY GOOD. This is why the shop is always busy. Now, we just need to learn how to order beef noodles for ourselves.

salad made of apples, grapes, walnuts

Then came Thanksgiving. We had dinner at Peter’s Texmex Grill which was offering a set menu special meal. It began with Waldorf salad.

bowls of pumpkin soup and mugs of apple juice

Then came pumpkin soup and (lukewarm) apple “cider” (really just apple juice).

plate of turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing

This was the main entree. It was all delicious, but small portions with no seconds. I get more mash potatoes from the school lunch lady than that.

slice of pumpkin pie

Finished with pumpkin pie and a tiny bit of whip cream. The filling was good, but the crust left a lot to be desired. On the whole, the dinner was good, but nowhere near a Thanksgiving celebration of home cooked turkey with all the fixin’s with second and third helpings.

purple milk shake

On a Saturday, we arrived at Bastiaan’s too late for breakfast, so no omelette or bacon. I ordered the berry milkshake. They know how to make milkshakes in this country – thick and rich, not thin and runny.

thin crust pizza

I tried their thin crust pizza and it is definitely the thinnest crust I have ever had. The toppings are prosciutto, spinach, and goat cheese.

a coconut with a straw sticking out

A new Thai restaurant has opened up across from Peter’s TexMex, so we decided to try it out. I ordered coconut juice, expecting a glass of juice that possibly came from a bottle or can, but was pleasantly surprised to be served a coconut. This was fun because after I drained the juice, I pried it open and scooped out the coconut meat. Yummy.

three dishes of meat entrees

On the left is chicken, middle is shrimp and cashews, and on the right is pork neck (which along with ox tail and beef tongue is one of my favorites – amazing how delicious the meats that Westerners throw away or grind up for dog meat are.)

beef in a lettuce leaf

The beef was marvelous. If memory serves, this was sirloin cubes.

plate of cooked spinach topped with scrambled egg

This brings us up to yesterday when we ate at Coco Curry House – a Japanese comfort food restaurant. We ordered spinach with scrambled eggs.

breaded pork cutlet with rice and gravy

Pork cutlet, rice and gravy – the gravy is called “curry,” but it is just brown gravy. The menu has a spicy graph so you can point to the level of spiciness you desire.  I love this because I got the mild which has zero chilies. It is not very pretty, but it is comfort food.

glass of purple drink

I also got a very pretty blueberry shake. Not as thick as Bastiaan’s, but still good.

bowl of yogurt with strawberry syrup and strawberries on top

On our way to the Metro station we passed a yogurt stand. I noticed that it was Yak Yogurt, so we decided we had to give it a try. It was very good yogurt, although next time I will skip the strawberry. The menu listed “flavored yogurt” which DaddyBird ordered. This turned out to be plain yogurt served with a pitcher of honey on the side, so flavored is really plain yogurt. I expected my strawberry to be mixed in, but it was plain yogurt with an overwhelmingly sweet strawberry syrup on top. Not too bad when I mixed it in, but will go with just plain next time.

So, there you have it, the variety of foods we’ve been eating. To see all November photos, click here.

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Changfeng Park and Aquarium

November 15, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

One Saturday in October, our school hosted a staff day trip to Changfeng Park and Aquarium. It was an interesting experience.

green pond surrounded by trees

It is a beautiful park with lakes, ponds, trees, and lots of peaceful spots.

paddle boats on a lake

After everyone gathered for a group picture, we took a long walk around the park to the seal and beluga whale show.

two whales and two men swimming in a water arena

After that show, we walked all the way back to where we started to enter the aquarium which is literally under the lake.

aquarium tank with anemone and sea horse

The aquarium displays seemed to be very good, but the crushing crowd made it impossible to really enjoy the experience.

glass tunnel filled with people

It was the worst crowd experience we have had so far. It was especially fun to have the children pushing me from behind. If we go again, it will have to be on an off day like a rainy or extremely cold day, when other people don’t think to go to the park.

Click here to see the rest of the pictures.

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Life is a Cabaret

October 19, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

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Saturday evening we attended a production of Cabaret at a charming little theatre called The Pearl by the East West Theatre company.

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It was way past my bedtime, but I enjoyed it anyway.

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Sunday, under amazing blue sky, we went to breakfast at our favorite American style breakfast restaurant, Bastiaan’s.

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Then we traveled downtown to find a board games store. We were successful and bought a couple of games, because you can never have too many board games. (Asmodee at the Hongkong Metropolis No. 489 South Henan Road)

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Lovely blue skies today. Some days it is smoggy, some days it is not. It all depends on the wind.

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Dongtai Lu Antique Market

October 12, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

display of various items for sale

We made a second visit to the Dongtai Lu Antique Market. The buildings will soon be demolished to make way for new buildings. The stalls have a mixture of trinkets, reproductions, and old stuff. There may be some treasures in there somewhere, but hard to know what is of value.

a variety of toys cars

Here’s a variety of toy cars and even Cinderella’s carriage.

tricycle cart with a variety of dried fruit

You have to be careful not to be run over by the scooters or dried fruit carts.

variety of things for sale

Some stalls are like an out of control yard sale.

old sewing machines, statues, suitcases

Having recently moved, thereby packing everything up and letting go of much more stuff, helps us pass by most of this. There is often a beautiful teapot or dish, a set of stacking turtles, jade bracelet, or mechanical bird clock.

 

 

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Serenity in the City

October 1, 2014

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

table full of breakfast plates

Every good day starts with a good breakfast. It is difficult to find a truly good American style breakfast while living abroad. Some UAE restaurants would list “American breakfast” on their menus and when it came, it included baked beans and a grilled tomato. NOT American.

Not having any eggs in the house, we got up and walked to “foreigner street” where there was supposed to be a restaurant with a good breakfast. The first good sign was that the menu was on the placemat. It is a weird, tacky thing we Americans do. The second good sign was that the menu indicated I could get refillable coffee. That’s big on my restaurant critique scale. DaddyBird ordered steak and eggs with blue berry pancakes and I ordered the breakfast combo (two eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, toast, and fruit). The blue berries were IN the pancakes instead of just poured on top. My coffee was actually refilled twice and the hashbrowns were so good that I ordered another helping. The service was as good as the food. The review DaddyBird had read that led us here indicated that the crispy bacon would actually be crispy. This was very true. Five stars to Bastiaan’s. We will definitely be return customers.

What to do next? Since this is a holiday week for me, I thought we should do something touristy. I chose Yuyuan Garden. To be honest, I thought “it will be crowded and I’ll be on my feet too much and that will be painful, but I’ll be able to say we did some exploring.”

We hopped on a bus which took us to the metro train which took us to the neighborhood of the garden. It is a bit of a walk from the train to the garden. Along the way were a few beggars. DaddyBird usually drops a few coins or small bills in their cups. This brought him to the attention of a young Chinese man walking the same direction we were. He struck up a conversation with us, one that I began to fear wasn’t going to end. It became clear that he wasn’t just being sociable, but had a shop that he wanted to take us to, not just one shop, but several. We went and it was worth it. The first shop was silk products, but the hook is that they have a “museum” which is actually just an educational display on how silk is made. It was very educational. Silk is rather amazing. After the “museum” came the shop with bedding, scarves, and clothing – all silk. DaddyBird tried on a shirt, but their largest size was just a bit too small. The same with me. I tried on a really lovely jacket, but needed a bit more room. So, they had to settle for selling me scarves which have no size constraints. THEN he wanted to take us to his family’s tea shop. We thanked him, but made our excuses and moved on.

busy pedestrianized street

The area around the Yuyuan Garden is a busy maze of consumerism. There are many shops full of marvelous things, as well as dumpling shops, etc.

We finally reached what appeared to the be garden.

pond and bridge

This is what often appears on the advertisements. We both thought, if this is IT, what a disappointment.

This was not IT. We found the ticket office and the main entrance. The entrance fee is 40 yuan per person ($6.52 / 24 AED). [A bit of advice here, eat before you go in. The garden is large and will take some time to see. We left early, about 2/3 through, because we needed to eat.]

pond and traditional Chinese building

There were plenty of other people in the garden area, but it was still a pleasant and relaxing experience. There were places to sit and enjoy the fish, turtles, birds, and nature. It is an amazing little bit of serenity in the middle of a highly urban and populated city.

The garden is a large area with many buildings, gardens, and winding paths connecting them all. One building housed a few tea shops. If you know DaddyBird and his tea addiction, you know that we went in, sat down, sampled 4 or 5 teas, and bought two boxes of the best teas. Expensive, but worth the experience. Another building housed artworks for sale. They were quite amazing, but we refrained.

As I mentioned earlier, we had to exit in order to find something to eat, so it was back out to the tourist mart area, hustling and bustling.

doll in traditional Chinese robes

We are used to tourist areas where the merchandise is cheap stuff (made in China) and the wares of each store are almost identical to the wares of their neighbors. This is not true of the Yuyuan Tourist Mart. The wares vary from store to store and there are quality items that you might actually want to buy. I suspect we will have little trouble finding Christmas gifts this year.

plush toy dragons

These dragons are pretty spectacular as plush toys go.

entrance to Fangbang street which is full of food vendors

We walked a short way to Fangbang Lu (street) which is known for it’s food vendors. We walked down the length looking at what was available and then came back through to actually make our purchases. I had decided that I wanted to try stinky tofu, so we began with that with the idea that if it was terrible, we could cleanse our pallets with something else afterward.

a plate of stinky tofu

Stinky tofu, we can attest, smells like poo. For DaddyBird’s tastebuds, it also tasted like poo. Mine, however, reacted differently and I found it pleasant and almost pedestrian. Therefore, I ate the bulk of the stinky tofu. We followed this up with noodles and bok choy and discovered we were full. There were many other enticing tidbits on offer, so we will have to go back without having a big breakfast first.

I took many, many photos, so click here if you want to see them.