Maps - Urban Trek Survival Tool - Shanghai Edition

As most of my nearest and dearest will note, I'm not the type to Netflix and dine when the work day is over.  Checking the weather and sunset time, I took a cab 5 miles out with the intention of walking it back (if I can spend $6 dollars to increase my entertainment distance, I will).  I hadn't really been prudent about investigating potentially sketchy neighborhoods, but I hadn't seen one yet, so off I went.  I packed water, shades, passport, city map and a healthy attitude for adventure.  

My original intent, to see a Shanghai version of a Harley Davidson dealership was a no-go.  As the cab driver questioned why I would want to be delivered to an empty store front, I paid my RMB and headed out with confidence.  This was the point at which I realized my Google Maps were off from a GPS standpoint.  Not only off, but inconsistently off.  Enter map nerd moment - I turned on the satellite imagery and it was correctly aligned with my location.  IMAGERY DOESN'T LIE!  So I made a battle plan to head northwest, a low in the sky sun helped tremendously, and thanked the baby Jesus for signs being in both Chinese characters and English.  

Notes on packing a map:

1) Know how to figure out which way North is without a compass.

2) Know where home/basecamp/your clean underpants reside, etc.  

3) Get a game plan - maintain the game plan until it is no longer safe to do so.

4) Don't look like a vulnerable tourist.  Memorize the major turns.  Don't stand on the corner with your epic street map billowing around you.  

5) Find some awesome landmarks and use them as handrails to guide you along.

The details of the walk home will be noted below, but it felt like a dreadfully long adventure.  There were amazing gardens, crowds of families, a super industrial small business zone full of dead ends and finally the blessed hotel.  Seeing your hotel after an ambitious walk is akin to seeing you car after a multi-day float trip.  It's not that you didn't expect it to be there, you are just so happy that it is.  

You do only live once, but that doesn't mean you are invincible.  Make good choices.  Pack a map.  

Load management win.  

Right at this moment a kid wizzed by and said hello, in English.  It caught me completely off guard.  He vanished on his bicycle as quickly and he went by.  All ages were enjoying the kite flying. 

My shortcut through greenspace turned into the core of the adventure.  This is Min Hang Sports Park.  It was definitely an attraction for families.  The best part is the Qian Mi (Thousand Meters) Flower Path.  It does not disappoint!  Honestly it reminded me of Central Park with a much more developed garden aspect.   The diversity of plant life, including trees, is wonderful.

The tree intially caught my eye, but then I saw the man in his suit lying under the tree.  It was living art.  We all get so caught up in the race of life we forget that we are just simple beings that need to be connected to the earth we live on.  I'm not saying this guy is communing with nature, but it appeared that he just needed to get his overcoat off and take a nap among the birds and whispers of the wind.  

I wish this was clearer, but this young man and his grandmother were having quite the time chasing bubbles.  The complete purity of their joy was unmistakable.  Their smiles welcomed me to the game, but it seemed to sacred to step in.  

This is a point at which I could not figure out how to get out of the park.  For anyone that has been in Central Park, you know, there are a limited number of exits for the park...

This is welding central.  Who has two thumbs and is out of place?  This girl.

I had a moment of weakness.  I saw the Pizza Hut.  Debated. Succumbed.  The universe laughed as I looked at the menu that had been drastically adjusted to the local market.  I quietly slipped away and the sketchy level only became greater on the remaining 1 KM home.  I was happy to be walking it at dusk rather than night.

30 minutes later I arrived at the glorious hotel and was enveloped in the smell of cherry blossoms and a buffet.  I'd say the walk was way better than treadmill time.