Shanghi Part II - Seriously, Pack a Map

3/7/2016

I had an entire free day in Shanghai.  Did I sleep in, have breakfast in my pajamas and watch the city rise up through the fog?  No!  I was on the metro by 7:30 heading for a hastily booked bicycle tour.  I highly recommend a bicycle tour for a number of reasons.  You can cover more ground.  You get a bit of a workout.  You learn how traffic works.  I could go on.  

We managed to do the following: Visit a park, have a Kung Fu lesson, visit a Buddhist temple, peddle through a wet market, have breakfast on the street, go through old town, and have a home visit in a tiny house and survived to tell all about it!

French colonial housing turned housing for Communist officials, now housing multiple families. 

Mass musical dance/shaking instruments/group awesomeness.  These folks were out early, moving and shaking, literally. 

Water painted Chinese characters.

One of many tai chi gatherings in the park.  Note: there is tai chi with swords.  It is scary and amazing. 

Birds -- doing bird things.

We ate from this kitchen and had no ill effects!  Winning!

Buddhist Temple


Saying my Sunday morning prayers.  Here's to health, safety and adventure. 

Wet market!  No street meat for me!

We navigated this chaos on bicycles.  It was challenging and a sensory experience.  

This guy is the local knife sharpener.  For an unarmed society, there are certainly plenty of knives around.

This little guy was giving me the full tiger paw attack hands as we went through his home/living complex.  I know a baby tiger when I see one.  

Post tour, I made a loop to cover People's Square, The Bund, Peace Hotel, and Yu Garden.  It was fun and as usual, way better than treadmill time.  

Yu Garden - Dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1500s).  It is wonderfully preserved and covers 2 acres right in the middle of urban chaos.



This amazing baby dragon pretty much exemplifies my face after a lot of walking and some questionable food choices.  I found many of his cousins on the rest of my walk home.




This should be the end of my China adventures for now, but it's been worthwhile to make the most of the gaps in time.  Hopefully those prayers at the temple will keep the safety element going as we dive into the week!

Three cheers for squeezing every drop out of life!

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