Learning

So there hasn't been much action going on, which means there isn't much to write about.  The weather is getting nicer which means more trips to starbucks (YAY)... Other then that I've been spending my time learning more about photography and photoshop... so why not share one of my latest creations!

Shanghai noon and night

Friday night we tried to get organized for our big trip to the city.  We sat down for at least an hour going through our travel book finding places that we wanted to see, and walking tours that would fill out our day.  We scheduled when we'd be leaving and worked it all out to make it to a concert later that night.

We were woken up a lot earlier then planned - even though it was supposed to be Vincent's weekend off - they were still buzzing at the door for him to go in, but they said he could have the day off, what a relief.  After some Golden (french) toast for breakfast, we packed up our bags and set off.  We went to what we thought was the bus terminal - and the language barrier was an instant struggle. So we left the building hoping to find the real terminal.  We did, just around the corner and paid the 9 RMB and went off to find the correct gate.  Finding it difficult yet again to ask for help to direct us to the right bus in a line of about 30 buses a man, who spoke very poor english finally directed us to the correct one.  Hoping that was the hardest part, we settled in our seats and waited to depart.  

As the bus rolled into the city, we weren't exactly sure where to get off so we waited for the majority of the people to vacate and we would simply follow along, and thats what we did.  This didn't seem to help much, since we didn't know which part of the giant city we were in.  We found a Starbucks and thought it would be best to regroup with our map there.  Being across from the Four Season's Hotel helped, we found where we were on the map, and decided it would be a good time to call our friend's uncle to meet with him.  It turns out the mall he was at was only a short taxi ride away.  The 12 story mall was larger then anything I had seen before.  But we made our way to the very top floor to the restaurant and met David and his family for a meal.  They were great people with a lot of energy, which was somewhat unexpected for him being 84.  After our meal they walked us to the main floor and pointed us in the direction to the "pedestrian walk way".  He said it would take us directly to the "bund", our first designated "walking tour".  As we were walking we noticed a lot of people surrounding a building looking up.  As we got closer we realized the police had roped off the base of the building because there was a man sitting on the ledge throwing paper over the top.  This building was close to 25 stories high.

Its a little hard to see both his feet and the papers on the ledge because the photo is so small (click on it to enlarge)

Bystanders watching the man on top of the roof. We are still uncertain what his motives were.

The amount of people on the walk way was crazy, yet a good indicator of how many people actually live in this city.  At times I would have to hold on to Vincent's backpack so we wouldn't get separated.

Fire and rescue heading towards the man on the building.

Sometimes I'm uncertain of what I was taking photos of.  I was a little trigger happy, and excited to be out of JiaDing - so I photographed everything I could.

The architecture here is amazing.  None of the buildings looked similar.

This would be beautiful at night with all the lights flashing.

There were lots of people selling silly toys on the sidewalks, trying to get us to buy them.

The Oriental Pearl Tower, one of Shanghai's many tourist attractions.

Us being tourists.  While we were admiring the view, some strangers asked if they could have their pictures taken with us.  Odd, yet entertaining.

More interesting architecture.. I think the one that (Vincent thought looked like a giant bottle opener) is the World tower, but I'm not 100% sure.

All of these attractions were on "the Bund", and probably have a lot of historical significance.  However, we didn't really stop to read about any of it.  

Again with just being excited to take photos.  Planting trees along the ledge at the bund

Kind of looks like some sort of city hall.

Yet another wedding, I couldn't help myself.

This little guy is everywhere.  He is the mascot for the 2010 Shanghai exposition. 

As we left the bund on our way to old town, the path we took had many shops, but they were all closed.

I enjoy taking photographs of random elderly people - their faces seem to have a lot of character and tell a story.

I'm not sure what they roast on these - but they smell very delicious. 

The sun was setting while we were still lost in old town, it brought out a lot more life to the buildings already historical shapes.

After finding our way back to a park, we sat down to regroup our game plan and eat some food.  We hadn't seen half as much as we had intended for a variety of reasons.  Mostly being the fact that road signs are hard to find, and the language barrier when asking for directions.  So we decided we would make our way to the other end of town close to the concert hall and get some food.  We made it safely to the proper subway stop, but blindly led each other around town looking for a restaurant to eat some dinner.  We finally located a Mcdonald's and relaxed for a short time.  It was getting close to 9pm and the venue doors would be opening soon, so we made our way back in attempts to have some live entertainment.  Vincent wrote all the information down, which should have made it easy to find right? Not so much, the address that the website gave brought us to a gate, which was closed.  Not what you would expect when going to a concert.  So we walked around the street a little bit more hoping to find someone who looked like they could help us, but it was not successful.  Finally we found a cab and headed home after a very, very long day on our feet.

Photos from last weekend

A quick photo update from last weekend when Vincent and I went to the Confucious Temple and Museum and the park beside it.  Photos aren't in any real order because they upload funny...

I found it difficult to follow a lot of the historical writing about Chinese Dynasties and the tests they write.  A lot of this culture is brand new to us.

The stone scriptures were neat - looked like it would be difficult to scribe pinyin so well in the stone. 

Neat statue - I have no idea what it is for, or who it is.

I think this is Confucious


Pieces of cheat sheets used to write tests

Bumper cars in the park.  One day we'll go have some fun in them I'm sure.
Vincent thought, since we are visitors we should read the rules designated for us.  If you click on the photo it'll get bigger - it was quite funny.

Even when I'm not being paid to photograph a wedding, I still can't help but take photos when I see them

New friends? We got some strange looks taking our photos with these guys.

We went to Shanghai city yesterday - I'll get the photos up sooner then last time! promies.

Laughing at another's expense

First things first. Vincent and I went to a museum and park on Sunday - I'm still working on getting those photos editing so I can post a few for you guys. It was a great day out thats for sure!

Now... I went grocery shopping today, and I was feeling a little ambitious to cook us a really good meal, so I bought a pre-packaged chicken, thinking I could boil it, that way we could have some pretty good soup broth, and then cook up the chicken in a stir fry... So, maybe I was REALLY ambitious.  As soon as I opened the frozen package, I realized the head was still attached to this thing.  Now for those of you that know me... are probably seeing the problem here... (and Steph, I'm sure you're having some Ugandian flash backs of the chicken slaughter we had our last night there... and.. you, along with everyone else are probably laughing right now). I panicked, but thought to myself "if I just close my eyes... I can cut the head off and it will be no problem at all".  I thought too soon - once the chicken started to defrost in the water - I realized it still had EVERYTHING inside of it.  So I immediately got ahold of Vincent to tell him my surprise gone terribly wrong... and well, like most of you he thought it was pretty funny... so, we're going to deal with it when he gets home...

now some visual aid... enjoy!

Those eyes are going to haunt my dreams tonight

taking advantage of the sun

The weather was nice enough that I couldn't resist but get out and enjoy it for a few hours.  I think I found my favorite place to walk here, yet it seems to be the heart of tourist attractions as well.  It is still a place away from the rush of people walking, biking or driving, so it's nice.

A photo of Huilongtan Pool Park, the park that Vincent and I found on our last adventure.  Because its mid day, on a weekday there wasn't many people either on the path nor in the water which was nice.

A monument as you enter one of the paths to the park.  My best assumption is that it is a Confucious monument, with my lack of ability to read pinyin... its my best guess.

One of the path ways around Huilongtan pool, some locals enjoying a walk in the background.

These are some photos of "fu dogs" or Chinese guardian lions.  I bit a little bit of research about them because a friend back home asked me to find one to bring back, so I was interested.  Plus they are in front of many buildings here... anyways, my research:

Wikipedia link to Chinese guardian lions

Have a great weekend!

weekend walks.

The weekend was great.  Vincent had both day's off work which was really nice (since he works every second Saturday).  After making a healthy grocery list, we set out for Tesco on Saturday, but first we decided to get lost in the mall attached to it.  We weren't sure if it was because of the signs being most in Chinese, or if it is just a confusing mall, but we definitely lost our way a few times looking at shops and such.  We finally made our way to the food section to get everything on the list.  We decided to get a little more then usual to hopefully tie us over for a few weeks before having to go back.  The bill was definitely the most expensive so far - 340RMB, which in Canadian currency is about $30.  I think it was so expensive because we bought some imported spaghetti sauce and noodles, which was a great idea, when our meals have been mainly local dishes.  After getting the groceries put away we had a quick lunch and set out again for a walk.  This time exploring a new street.  We found a giant market full of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Greeted by those smells at the door was quite welcoming.  However the more we walked into the market, the smell changed as we entered the fresh fish and meat department.  We quickly left (to save my stomach from turning) and continued on our journey.  Not much else was interesting on the walk and we made it home by 5 to start making dinner, and a quiet night with some movies.

Sunday the weather seemed the same as usual.  Waking up to some grey clouds and a brisk wind, we still decided to go walking.  Although Sunday's seems to be the day when most of the town enjoys getting out and shopping.  On a regular day it is hard to make it through the sidewalks and roads, but Sunday brought a more challenging crowd, slowing our pace quite a bit.  After about 20 minutes of walking down the main street we decided to detour and maybe get a little lost, but instead we ended up a block away from the hotel we stayed at... So we tried once more to get lost taking a small side street.  This took us to a park, a nice looking one (except for the water that was an odd mixture of green and brown color with a bit of a fowl smell) but, it was still a nice park with some traditional Chinese architecture and ornaments around.  We crossed a little bridge to enter the actual park, to our disappointment it costs money to enter (we found out once we got home that it is only 5RMB... which is pocket change in our money), walking back over the bridge there was another building with a plaque with some english writing on it.  Turns out we found the Confucious temple we were thinking of visiting at some point (only the internet made it seem outside of town... meanwhile it was right downtown).  Again costing money , which we weren't carrying at the time, we've decided to go back next Sunday (weather permitting) and see what its like.

The wall out side the temple museum

After dinner we were debating whether to watch a movie, or go out again.  While deciding there was some random fireworks that didn't seem too far away, however, every time we decided to go find them, they would stop for a while... we settled on a movie.