7am
I woke up and opened my curtains to see this across from me….
15 storeys up, this guy has courage and stupidity.
It’s raining today, very heavily. I guess Yuyuan Garden will
have to wait for another day (again).
However today I’ll be meeting my good chum Kexiong who I haven’t
seen since our Sichuan Adventure, and has since got an internship here in
Shanghai! I don’t know what we can do today with this weather though.
9am – Weird…
It’s not very relevant, but I have to share some weird
things I saw on the metro this morning. The first incident was with a woman and
her toddler. I was waiting at the platform which is inside and packed with
people. This woman right to the side of me with her toddler decided to pull her
toddlers pants down and suspend the child in the air to take a wee….Splashing
everywhere. Inside. Lots of people unknowingly walked through the puddle
afterwards. What the f**k just happened?! It’s quite common in China that
mothers make their children go in public, but usually with some common decency
and making them go in some plants or something – but this woman? She’s taking
the piss. Stay classy, Shanghai.
The other thing isn’t so big, but so odd – a child was
wearing a shirt with his face on it… huh? Why? …how? Whenever the kid smiled
his face would mimic his shirt, I don’t know, I just found it insanely weird is
all…again, why?
This has been a pretty bazaar morning thus far - Speaking of
which…
12pm – Yuyuan bazaar + Rain
I’ve now met up with Kexiong and we’re walking around an
area called Yuyuan Bazaar. I don’t really know how it got its name, but it’s a
really neat area just outside of Yuyuan Garden.
The streets are very narrow which made an ideal shelter from
the rain. Most of the buildings originate from 1559, but have clearly been
renovated since as their condition is exquisite. There are lots of lovely
little tea houses and shops selling traditional (and some tacky) goods - I was
quite tempted to buy a Chinese flute, maybe another day at a cheaper price…
It’s a charming area which still shines through all the rain, but it’s a shame Yuyuan Garden is off limits today as the two together would have been smashing – but I’ll trust the weather report of ‘sun and slight cloud’ for tomorrow.
3pm – the Bug Market
We unknowingly made a turn into a very peculiar place, luring us in with the sound of what appeared to be crickets…
The market was vast and full of bazaar (the word for today) things. It seems some Chinese folk collect rare live insects for a hobby, and these things were huge.
They also had other animals, but the quality of their living conditions was questionable – I’ve never seen snakes in a plate before (apart from the time at a restaurant in Guangzhou where I ate a bit of one…).
8pm – Getting lost + rain
Kexiong left for his apartment leaving me to wander around the city for a bit. I got lost, but that was somewhat deliberate. I couldn’t think of how to spend my night so I thought I’d indulge in some of the parts of the city off the beaten track.
I found a huge instrument shop with a beautiful grand piano, the first time I’ve been able to play in 6 months!...I need practice. It was also a chance to finally sample playing a Guzheng, my favourite Chinese instrument which I would totally buy if they weren’t 5 foot long and made of wood…
Eventually I found myself in familiar territory, the Bund. Although not much was clear due to the rain I found the colours cast on the water looked fantastic, along with reflections on the wet pavement from the old European style architecture.
10pm
I arrived back at my hotel to see 20 (yes, 20) ads for ‘massages’ posted under my door…
Not to mention the dozen invitations I had on my walk back to the hotel – what’s with this obsession? Why when it’s a massage (something to be had by both sexes) do they only confront men? Why is it a ‘massage’ but advertised using the term ‘beautiful lady time’? Why am I not confronted by these ‘beautiful ladies’ but instead met by the creepiest men Shanghai has to offer?
I think I’ll stick to watching no-context Chinese TV and eating chocolate in bed, cheers.
Zai’jian!
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