The blue brother-of-Gumby icon on the posters is all over Shanghai promoting the 2010 World Expo. The green logo of three waving figures is made from the Chinese character for "world". Better City, Better Life is the theme of the six-month Expo. It's billed as an international idea exchange for improving modern cities. Thousands of people and several hundred businesses were displaced to create the Expo grounds. Hopefully all of them now have a better life.... On a sweltering day in mid-September Terry attended the Expo as part of his meeting with a group of American businessmen, and he got his fill of crowds and hype. So we didn't even consider going during our weekend in Shanghai.
We skirted People's Square on our way to visit the Shanghai Museum, but they weren't allowing any more people into the building by the time we got there. So we took off on a winding narrow street nearby, where we saw all sorts of goldfish, turtles, birds, bunnies, and crickets for sale. On our China-bound plane in August I told Leah that I thought we probably should go to the market and find a little cricket in a cage for our apartment. These are the first crickets I've seen for sale, and I've now changed my mind. I pictured a modest-sized Minnesota cricket that would chirp companionably this fall, not one of these humongous critters.
There were other quaint sights on the critter street, including this man, boy and dog on the scooter. We think of Chinese people having considerable restrictions on their freedom, yet Americans live with far more restrictions when it comes to transportation and child safety.
This was part of the wet market in an alley just around the corner from the apartment we stayed in. It's called a wet market, not because it looks wet (it was raining that morning), but because it's where you buy fresh food, some so fresh that it's still alive. The man is washing a chicken he's just dressed. There were lots of swimming things to eat in the tubs. I found some early season clementines on the other side of the market. I was so excited after actually understanding the vendor when she said "qi kuai", which is 7 RMB or just over $1, that I didn't even think about bargaining and then dropped my shopping tote in the muck as I fumbled to find correct change.
This is an amazing site in Shanghai: no people! It rained all day Sunday, otherwise there would have been lots of people out strolling in this pleasant park in the French Concessions. We hoisted our umbrellas that afternoon and did a walking tour out of a Lonely Planet guidebook. Leah said she much preferred rain to hot, sticky air for touring.
Monday it didn't rain, so the crowds were out again, especially at tourist sites like this one just outside the entrance to Shanghai's famous Yu Gardens. The structure in the middle is the Huxinting Teahouse, built in the late 1700's by cotton merchants. The zigzag bridge was supposed to protect the building, since evil spirits aren't supposed to be able to turn corners. That's a huge swirl of goldfish in the murky water.
Here's Leah inside the Yu Gardens, which were built during the Ming dynasty in the late 1500's, partially destroyed several times, and now are restored. There were six walled areas of winding paths through the gardens and buildings, which made it seem like a maze. Whew, we found our way out in time to catch a taxi to the airport Monday afternoon.
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