Shanghai From Our Balcony

We have a pretty good 120-degree view of Shanghai from the balcony of our apartment.  Thought I'd show you our view, point out a few landmarks, and show what's around our building.

Stepping outside onto our balcony which is on the 28th floor, but
really the 25th floor.  There is not a floor 4, 14, or 24.  4's are bad here.

Our balcony.  Note the green tiles.  Has
an uglier green ever been produced?

The exterior of one of our buildings.  There are
four of them in the complex making us fairly well
represented in the top 5 ugliest buildings in
Shanghai.  The other side of the building displays
more of the hideous green in all it's glory.

The next three pictures show our 120-degree view.  Interestingly, the
Iranian consulate and US consulate are virtually neighbors with one to
the left and one to the right of those two buildings which appear to have
green rings at the top in the center right of the picture.

Our building is on the north side of the Former French Concession and
this picture looks to the south.  The Former French Concession is largely
void of massive skyscrapers and contains foliage.  There's a very different
feel to the streets of the Former French Concession than the rest of Shanghai.

Way off to the east of us, on a low "mist" day, we can see the three
large towers of the Pudong side of the river.  The tallest complete building
which is affectionately referred to as "The Bottle Opener" is the Shanghai
World Financial Center (1,614ft).  The Jin Mao Tower (1,380ft) is shorter
and just to the left.  And the Shanghai Tower (2,073ft) is under construction
just to the right of it.  At it's completion, it will be the 2nd tallest building
in the world and the tallest in China.  However, I read somewhere that it
will relatively quickly fall to somewhere around 16th in the world with
completion of buildings already under construction. 

This large concrete structure which includes both white pyramid peaks and
everything in between is the Shanghai Library.  It is the 2nd largest in China.
I think it's safe to assume it's one of the largest in the world.  Thing is huge!

So I thought that road where the headlights are in the crevice of
buildings was the Lupu Bridge.  After consulting a map, it's just
the end of an elevated road.  But on the plus side, that oddly shaped
glass and concrete building is one of my favorite in Shanghai.

I call these the lipstick buildings.  I don't know what they are,
but they are a good point of reference when navigating the city.

To what's around our building.  There's a
school immediately to the northeast of us.  The
schoolyard with the courts and track is pretty
common.  Also common, the track being
chopped off by nearby development.

That non-descript apartment complex houses the Propaganda Museum.
It's the most interesting museum we've visited to-date.  Stay tuned
for a future post on it ... unless the government catches wind of it.

This is basically our backyard.  We assume it's housing for government
officials, either Chinese or from the area consulates.  There are people
on their knees with buckets doing something to that lawn all of the
time.  Not at the instant I snapped this picture, but nearly all of the time.

I also know nothing about this house, but that looks
like a pool that has sharks swimming in it to me.
It is possible I have seen too many Bond movies.

This is the three court tennis facility that neighbors us.  I
think what Yao Ming did for basketball in this country, Li Na
is doing for tennis.  There are 30-40 kids taking tennis lessons
here every day after school and some of these twerps can rip'em.

Here's your WTH (heck ... gotta keep it PG) moment
of the 10 minutes I was out there taking pictures.
That's an ambulance behind the white car with
siren and flashers blaring.  Nobody moves for
ambulances here, including that white car.

Unagi

The character Ross from Friends incorrectly defined unagi as "a state of total awareness", however, this definition of unagi is what one must master to walk the streets of Shanghai.  With a couple of exploratory trips and a month and a half of residency without employment, I have logged some serious kilometers walking around this city.  It is not a venture to be undertaken for the feint of heart.  It should be noted that I iterate this with the caveat that I have, remarkably, only been witness to two very minor incidents.  There has to be some rules of the "road", but they have proven to be indiscernible.

As referenced previously, buses, cars, scooters, and bicycles navigate the streets of Shanghai in a symphony of organized chaos and all are higher on the food chain than pedestrians.  If you are standing outdoors in Shanghai, you are potentially in the path of one of these modes of transportation and need to be aware of it.  Sidewalks are not a place of refuge as they are often used by bicyclists and scooters, and it's not uncommon to see a vehicle on them.  Particularly dangerous on the sidewalk is the electric scooter, a.k.a. the silent assassin.  While the smell of the gas or the sound of a vehicle/gas scooter/bicycle (99% appear to be from 1943 and are thus very squeaky) can be forewarning on a rear approach, the electric scooter offers none of these luxuries.  Without constant 360-degree surveillance, that thing will be at your heels with the only notice being a heart-stopping horn from a meter away to remind you to get out of the way ... on the sidewalk.

Crossing a street is another adventure, some have turned it into art form.  In Shanghai, the pedestrian light turning green is not an indication that it is safe to cross, it is merely an indication that it might be safer to cross as cars/buses wishing to proceed straight through the intersection are at least entertaining the thought of stopping.  I specify cars/buses because scooters and bicycles rarely stop for anything.  When crossing, one must look in both directions regardless of situation.  It is not uncommon for vehicles to be on the wrong side of the road or driving the wrong way down a one-way road.  Be conscious of anything making a right turn as they don't stop for anything.  And maintain a side-to-side surveillance covering as much peripheral territory as possible throughout the street crossing.  Stuff will come at you from every direction.  If you get stranded and need to cross between cars, a strategy that has worked to date is to identify the most expensive car of the bunch and make your break for it in front of that one.  With cars not manufactured in China costing somewhere between 2x and 4x what they do in the States, that Porsche and Ferrari owner are not going to want people guts on their hood.

There is an older generation of Chinese that have mastered the street crossing and the event is something to behold.  On numerous occasions, I have been witness to an elderly person pass through a crowd at the curb at a pace that would make the tortoise resemble Usain Bolt, and begin their crossing on the pedestrian red light without the appearance of ever looking up.  They make their crossing with gaze affixed to the ground 2 feet in front of them somehow knowing when to stop for a bus to pass within inches at 60kph and somehow knowing when it's safe to proceed.  The fact that they're elderly tells me they are good rather than lucky.  I aspire to attain this level of unagi.

Riding in a vehicle is another hair-raising experience.  Stay tuned for a follow-up when I figure out how to document some of the incredible maneuvers and close calls without offending our driver.  Despite personal space issues, Chinese spatial awareness is second to none.

The red car would be going the right way in this case.

Pedestrian green light and none of those cars crossing
from right to left are stopping for anything.

Sure, back it up down the sidewalk.  These three
pictures were taken within 5 minutes of each other.

For those wondering, unagi is actually the Japanese term for freshwater eels.

Shanghai 101: Week 8

I have a couple of follow-ups from Shanghai 101 from previous weeks, and a few new ones.

1.  Dog in a puffy coat.  I scored a photo, but not a great one.  I'll try harder in the future.  Apparently dogs aren't used to people talking to them, and pay them no attention.

I WILL get a better picture.

2.  Jammers.  On adults in the middle of the day.  Sheer awesomeness.

Wearin' Jammers, biking, and smoking.

Shout-out to our peeps in Oz - she's rocking
her koala jammers.

3.  There are people who go around the city - at all hours of the day and night - on bikes with truck-beds on the back and they ring a hand-held bell constantly.  We used to think that they were signally to the local residents to bring trash/recycling/something out...but we have NEVER seen anyone give the guys on the bikes anything.  So, now we have no idea what they are doing, and why they are ringing that darn bell.

4.  China does a really interesting thing with recycling.  They actually PAY people to bring in recycling.  Every trash bin you pass on the street has a recycle bin right next to it, but not everyone uses it...enter the small business-person.  People literally go around digging in the garbage to pick out the plastic, glass, aluminum, and cardboard.  You see PILES of it...piles and piles of it.  While not very pretty, it makes someone think about one small part of the environment here.


Piles of recyclables around.

Safety First...

Saw these guys repairing the A/C unit on our way home from lunch last weekend.

If it looks like he is sitting on the A/C unit and banging the support
brace with a hammer, you are not seeing things...that is exactly what he
was doing...

Probably not the smartest thing he's ever done...

Jing'an Temple

On Sunday, we went to visit one of the Temples located in the middle of the city - Jing'an Temple.  It is a peaceful retreat in the middle of a huge city.  It is currently home to quite a few monks, making it one of the few monasteries in Shanghai.

I meant it when I said it was smack in the middle of the city.

According to wikipedia.org (because only two signs were in English in the temple), the temple was built in 247AD and was originally located beside the Suzhou Creek, but has been in it's current location since 1216.  During the Cultural Revolution, it was converted into a plastics factory and then back to a temple in 1983.

It is constructed of Myanmar Teak wood, and has multiple gods, including one made of 15 tons of silver and a 3.8m jade buddha.

While there were a lot of people there, praying, meditating, throwing coins, and wandering around, it has a tranquil feel to it, even with the crowds and hustle bustle.

People throw money into this statue.

It's gold, Jerry.

15 tons of silver.  HUGE.

beautiful...

The carving and artistry is unbelievable.

When people come in, they purchase incense sticks, light them, then
pray to the different gods.  They then put the sticks to finish burning
on the pagoda looking fixture on the left.  LOTs of incense.  

People give gifts to the gods and the monks
everywhere - they stick them into crevices on
random rocks, or set coins (standing up)  on
this chair.

One of two signs in English.  Since monks actually live on site,
I think this takes you to them.

Literally put offerings on everything, like the top of this carving.

Moving Day

While Jeff was living it up in Montana, I was back in Melbourne preparing to pack-up and send it all to China.  Technically, I didn't have to pack anything (otherwise, it's not insurable...), but I spent hours separating, piling, and organizing...

Everything that we're taking from our kitchen...

Clothes and stuff...

Lots of stuff...

And our NINE boxes...

There's something liberating about having our lives packed up into 9 boxes, and about 6 suitcases...

Jeffie's trip was definitely more fun than mine was.