Day 12: Good morning (again) Shanghai! (A post by Trish)

We started our Monday with a trip to People’s Park/Square which used to be a giant race track, until it was converted in 1953 . 

This park was sadly lacking in dancing or badminton, but did have a man playing “Jingle bells” on a stringed instrument. Interestingly, this was not the first time we heard someone playing Christmas music at the park: a situation that Jen is always pleased about and one that I am always annoyed at. I’m not sure if the playing of these songs is because they are easy to learn, or because they actually have Chinese origins that we are oblivious to. There was also a “dove area” with a small child and grown man feeding swarms of what we can only assume are albino pigeons. We also happened upon the Shanghai museum which is shaped like a Chinese cooking pot,

but wasn’t open on Mondays so we couldn’t check it out.  There was a nice bamboo path and a few other pretty areas, including a coi fish pond where Jen insisted that we name all the fish, and took a strong liking to the one called “Vengeance”. 

 

 

On our wander back to the apartment for a little refresh we realised where all the people in the neighbourhood were: a very busy pedestrian shopping strip (East Nanjing Rd). Along here we stopped in an M&M shop that Jen was very excited about, a giant Lego store with beautiful Shanghai building recreations, and did a little mall browsing for interesting finds (photos attached: street view, Jen + M&Ms, Lego creation, creepy/fun shopping mall art). 

 (In case you can't read the caption, it says: "Don't be fooled easily by lovely appearance, it will bring unexpected calamities" A truly accurate descriptor).

We popped into a local shopping area for lunch of delicious dumplings and a cat-shaped fried sticky rice treat.

 Jen has been very good at restraining my frivolous purchasing of items, insisting that it makes good sense to wait until we were settled back in Shanghai and not need to lug stuff onto trains …fine, Jen, fine. Since we’re now on the final lag of the trip and not moving AirBnBs again, we headed back to the tian zi fang market to spend some money. This involved taking three different subway lines, making us more or less Shanghai subway masters. First stop was to pick up a pair of the local Shanghai “Feiyue” shoes – after our last adventure to the market I became obsessed and decided I needed a pair. Plus, our friends at the dumpling making event had bought matching pairs and highly recommended them, so obviously, I had to go all in. You only live once, am I right? We spent more time being lost in the market than our last venture, and also became expert hagglers (aka, we learned that when we said we didn’t want something/needed to think about it the shop person would continuously drop the price until we agreed to buy the item). This worked well and we acquired many a souvenier (both personal and for others). Once shopped out we stopped for some more marketplace cuisine: super long fries with “cheese and milk” sauce and shanghai noodles. Jen also bought juice in a creepy blood bag (photo attached), which she was alarmingly excited about. 

More subways later, Jen and I made a bet about which side the subway doors would open on. I lost (obviously), I’m Captain Direction, not Captain Attention. So, if anyone wants some .10 yuan coin, hit me up, I’ve got LOADS.

Arriving back at our AirBnB we discovered a strangely shaped package hanging from the door. A package that looked strangely like a watermelon. This is significant because our last apartment in Hangzhou was very near to a watermelon stand/truck which Jen DAILY refused to let me purchase from. Upon seeing the package I tried to convince her that the kind people of Hangzhou had been sad for me and (somehow) got our new location and shipped us one. Jen laughed, and took the package inside, pretty convinced that it was not meant for us. Once reconnected to our apartment wifi, Jen received the following message from our host:

“Dear Jen, I couriered a watermelon to you.”

Of course she did. Shanghai is the greatest. (Watermelon photos attached)

Cat sightings: 3 – one at People’s Square which was surrounded by a group of middle aged men who were about as excited as I was, one VERY floofy baby at the market, and the same cat in carrier we saw last time at the market (plus some cats at a cat café that we didn’t go into and a giant statue of one in a noodle bowl)

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