Wednesday 10/19

Awoke to sun peeking through the morning clouds. The hotel view:

A moped overloaded with goods. Vehicle ownership is incredibly expensive; a co-worker says cars cost about three times what they do in the U.S., plus Shanghai charges a huge license fee.

Motorcycles also make cheaper taxis. But almost no one wears helmets, which contributes to some horrible accidents.

A mother and child.

A singing bird outside the office.

McDonald’s makes lunch deliveries!

Cheap eats can be had on the sidewalk in front of the office. Co-workers tell me to avoid it though, a recent scandal involved the use of “gutter oil” in cooking.

Lunch today with Steam and Ike, at a nearby Sichuan restaurant.

Delicious dishes. Noodles with roasted peanuts, and whole shrimp in a spicy red sauce.

On the walk home, I saw the most-loaded 3-wheel bike yet. A woman on a bike next to him was steadying the load with one hand, as he labored across the busy intersection.

Thursday 10/20

A man selling eggs.

A woman coaxing a baby to pee.

Friday 10/21

In the morning, a woman selling and gutting fish from the back of her bicycle.

In the evening, waiting for the bus.

On the bus.

Outside the Golden Jaguar Plaza. A fancy event hall with Greek statues in the facade.

The office had a celebratory dinner to celebrate moving into another corporate division.

We had some delicious dishes. A kind of flat fish with very soft flesh, easy with chopsticks.

Duck wings, and head. I only tried the wings 😉

Rice-pudding dessert!

It’s customary for the guys to one-up each other with toasts. Both sides must drain their glasses, or lose face.

Saturday 10/22

Slow day, went for a long walk in the neighborhood. Cute toddler playing on the sidewalk.

Sunday 10/23

The hotel has some really intricate jade sculptures in the lobby. This one’s about 4 feet tall.

Spotted this family on a moped.

I took a taxi downtown to check out the big shopping street Nanjing Lu.

It was a bit over-developed for my taste. I headed North a block to check out one of the smaller side streets. Here’s a tiny connecting alleyway.

Another interesting side street.

A store selling mannequins.

Panorama at an intersection.

I did some sketching in People’s Park.

I bought some tea in a tea shop, green tea and jasmine tea. They showed me how a chrysanthemum tea flower opens up to reveal more flowers inside.

I walked to the Jing’an Sculpture Park, to check out the modern sculptures.

Outside the park, another fascinating side street.

A woman sleeping on a busy street.

Ike took me out to dinner with his wife and her cousin. We met in Pudong, Shanghai’s new financial center, where skyscrapers are being built all the time. We went to a Thai restaurant called Banana Leaf.

A group of servers sang Happy Birthday to the table next to ours, and noticing I was a foreigner, sang some songs for us too. I requested Blue Suede Shoes, or anything from Elvis.

The restaurant is inside the largest shopping mall I’ve ever seen. Ten stories tall inside.

After dinner we took a stroll along the waterfront. Along the other side of the Huangpu river are the banking buildings of The Bund.

Ike and his lovely wife.

Monday 10/24

It was raining this morning. I decided early on I would walk to work each day instead of taking a taxi. It’s only about a mile or so. You get to see so much more on foot.

Classic Chinese archway.

Tuesday 10/25

Toddler on the sidewalk.

Motorcycle taxi guy peeing behind the subway entrance.

Bicycle rider having a smoke.

Drake, the graphics programmer, during a meeting in my office.

Steam took me out to dinner with his wife Sonya in The Bund area. A skyscraper from the taxi window.

One of the dishes was duck tongue. You put the fleshy part in your mouth, with the stringy parts hanging out, and you suck the meat off the tendon. Very tender and tasty with black pepper, but I must admit the concept was a bit distracting.

Wednesday 10/26

Typical storefronts.

Kid with her mom.

Fruit seller.

There are always kids playing under this sculpture.

I had a fruit smoothie for dinner in the smoothie bar that’s in the work complex.

They had a bulletin board with these notes on it.

A street corner on the way back to the hotel.

Thursday 10/27

Sights on the morning walk to work, last one of the trip. Guy selling live crabs on the street, co-worker says they are popular this time of year.

Street vegetable seller.

Fruit market.

Hairdresser next to another fruit seller.

Apartment building parking attendant.

Commuter.

One of the motorcycle taxi guys outside the subway. He’s got such a great face.

A rare homeless kid in the little park near the office.