a day in Shanghai
well this was a fairly quiet day in the life of these vagabonds, and I thought it might interest a few of you to get my perspective on it.
Day starts about 7.30 – 8.00am, with sleepy bodies assembling in the largest room for breakfast. Often this is bread (no toasters where we stay!) with a variety of spreads such as vegemite (what will we do when our supplies run out?), lemon curd, honey, or peanut butter. This morning we had a change, with porridge and coconut yoghurt – very tasty.
After breakfast Rob leads the family in a morning devotional time. They have a folder full of memory verses, hymns and choruses. This morning the kids went through about 10 memory verses, sang afew hymns (Veta would have been so pl;eased!) and a few choruses, after which Rob reviewed the story of the Jews wanderings in the desert
Then a rough plan for the day is set out: today needs to be easy going because the younger ones are in need of a battery recharge. We had thought of going to the museum because Shanghai is reputed to have beauty, but we have done 2 museum-type things in the last few days, so reluctantly that idea is dropped and we settle for a walk down to the ‘Bund’ – the river-bank walk which apparently is not to be missed. We only have one full day here, so this will be IT for Shanghai.
Getting out of the guest house is delayed, because the clerks all want to stop us and admire the fair-haired kids. Picture of clerk with kids. Picture of clerk’s assistant with kids, then just as we are escaping, another gentleman turns up and decides he doesn’t want to miss out, so picture of HIM with the kids! To their credit, the kids have learned to accept this carry-on quite philosophically – even Ella-Rose. So out of the door at last. On the other side of the road a vendor is selling bamboo shoots: he has them neatly spread out on a sheet of newspaper on the edge of the road. He peels off the outer husks and gives them to a waiting customer
So we set out for the Bund- reputed ly about 1 1/2 km to get there and 1 1/2km long – a mere stroll for this lot. But a hazardous stroll. The traffic in this city is suicidal. There are pedestrian crossings and traffic lights just as you would expect to find in any well developed city. The difference here is that everybody ignores them, and every body is in one heck of a hurry
(note the green cross now light!)
We admire the flower planters ingeniously incorporated into the bicycle racks, and observe the washing drying in the trees on the roadside (this is in the middle of the city, remember)
Yesterday we walked past a series of very impressive music shops and we were serenaded by a jazz tenor sax player, then someone on a flute, an impressive recital by someone playing a sort of horizontal harp, and of course some piano. All in different shops.Finally up the steps
and onto the Bund itself: the wide river on one side, with an impressive display of futuristic buildings on the far bank, and on this side an equally impressive assortment of buildings both ancient and modern:
It was not long before (as usual) someone found our group more interesting than the scenery, and the inevitable crowd gathers and the photo shoot takes place:
The river here is of course right at the sea and so large cruse liners are moored a bit further down the Bund. A floating restaurant cruises by reminding jus that we are hungry, and it’s time for lunch.
So we head back towards our hostel and a little shop that sells delicious dumplings. We go in and order umpteen steamer-trays of them, find they vanish quickly and order another round, But dumplings are not enough, so now we head for an even smaller stall where we have discovered delicious steamed buns. We buy about 20 – 10 with pork and 10 with mixed veggies inside.
We head off to a nearby park and demolish the buns. Some of the boys end up in animated conversation with some nearby ladies, then most of us (not me) try out the exercise equipment provided for ADULT use. (a fairly common sight in these parts)
So having eaten, all finish the walk to ‘home’, the littlies for a rest and me for a Tutorial from Rach on blogging etc. So a restful time until we head out for dinner tonight. Plates of fried rice and more plates of fried veggies. Very tasty!
ps you may have noticed the hazy look to the pics. This is smog which just hangs around permanently, it seems. Time to head for the open road!
Tags: Family, Food, Observations, Tag Index
kiwijoe
April 16th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Gr8 blog! Ill definitely be coming back