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<\/a>\nWe took the subway, which I learned is the largest system in the world. Aaron is checking his tablet for the best route.<\/p>\n
Saturday 10\/15 I was treated to some excellent Chinese hospitality today. Aaron and Panzhu gave me an all-day walking tour. On the way to meet them, a splash of resident color. We took the subway, which I learned is the … Continue reading <\/a>
\nOne of the streets outside the City God Temple<\/a>, a historical re-creation shopping area with an active Taoist temple in the center.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nIt was like Disneyland at rush hour. Wall to wall people. Bigger image if you click.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nInside the temple, people were burning incense sticks and praying to a selection of gods… the god of wealth, a general-god who died in the Opium Wars, and more.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nOld Chinese women were tying red prayer ribbons onto wooden bars below these sculptures.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nA sculpture on the temple roof.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nA traditional arch “paifang” at the entrance to the temple.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nJust outside the temple district, monumental apartment complexes.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nNext we took a taxi across town to get some lunch in the Taikang Lu<\/a> arts district. A cute warren of shops, galleries, and cafes populated with Western tourists and young Chinese on dates. <\/p>\n<\/a>
\nWe picked a Japanese barbecue restaurant called Tai Guo. Thinly-sliced meats, long thin mushrooms, and shrimp for the tabletop grill. Fresh fruit on the side.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nNext we took the subway out to the Bund for a walk along the historic waterfront. Crowded! But the view of the Pudong skyscrapers was simply unreal, like a gleaming model railroad set.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nA bride, in front of a passing cargo ship, in front of the tallest building in China.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nBottle-opener building. Not a camera lens artifact… reflected sunlight was casting godrays through the smog. <\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAaron’s friend Yiyabo met us at the Qibao<\/a> subway station. He was born and raised in this area, so he offered to feed us the best from each shop.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nHe took us to a hole-in-the-wall dumpling restaurant with a little seating gallery upstairs. You pre-pay then walk through the kitchen to get to the tiny near-vertical stairwell in the back.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nHe left us there, to fetch goodies from other vendors. This is the “stinky tofu” people told me about. Tasty, but also very earthy, evoking a bit of farm yard. <\/p>\n<\/a>
\nYiyabo and Panzhu. There’s a white Chinese sign posted a couple times on the wall; I asked what it meant. It says “No outside food!” but Yiyabo waved it away with a smile.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nIt was a bustling marketplace with every kind of store. These mannequin heads made an interesting pattern.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThere was a public square at the South end. A large group of women were gathering for their nightly after-dinner dance. It was mesmerizing to watch them perform a coordinated tai-chi-like dance to music on a Chinese boombox. No men do this dance, only the women. <\/p>\n<\/a>
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