Crowds
16 August 2005
The last few days have been busy and we're getting pretty excited about heading for Lijiang. Shanghai is relentlessly hot, humid and crowded. Traveling around on public transport is like a sweaty rugby match and a lot of the time Bei is the ball. We call her our little space heater as we shuffle with the crowds, carrying her 30+ pounds on our shoulders. We're headed out of here on Saturday by train to Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan Province. It's MUCH cooler there and it sounds great.
Last weekend we went on some excursions and I'm just pasting in some photos since I've got to run off and get ready for our day. We're still doing the teaching practicum and tied up with class in the afternoon.
On Saturday we went to a place in Shanghai called the Yuyuan Gardens. It's a traditional garden surrounded by shopping. My main impression is of thousands of people jossling around to squeeze through narrow passages in search of the Chinese equivalent of rubber tomahawks. Bei had fun there though--especially checking out the huge, overfed goldfish in the garden ponds.
After we left the gardens we went on a one hour tour along the Huangpu River. A one-hour tour...(where's Gilligan?). It was great--fun to see the boats and a little bit of the life of river people and great to put some water between us and the crowds.
This is Bei's new best friend, Megan. Bei is in love with Megan. Luckily, Megan is going to ride the train with us to Kunming, so Bei will have a friend besides her boring old parents. Then we'll part company as we head to Lijiang and Megan heads further up into the mountains to her teaching town.
After the river cruise we headed to the top of the old Peace Hotel on the waterfront for a drink at the rooftop bar. It was windy up there and almost cool! I had a beer and a piece of apple pie with bread for crust.
On Sunday we went to a traditional water village / tourist hotspot west of Shanghai. The town was interesting--it's built around canals and waterways. It was fun to sit in the shade and people watch.
Here's Bei checking out some cute little food.
A traditional and expert paper cutter made Bei a paper snake since she was born in the year of the snake.
Bei shot this photo of watchful parents.
The last few days have been busy and we're getting pretty excited about heading for Lijiang. Shanghai is relentlessly hot, humid and crowded. Traveling around on public transport is like a sweaty rugby match and a lot of the time Bei is the ball. We call her our little space heater as we shuffle with the crowds, carrying her 30+ pounds on our shoulders. We're headed out of here on Saturday by train to Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan Province. It's MUCH cooler there and it sounds great.
Last weekend we went on some excursions and I'm just pasting in some photos since I've got to run off and get ready for our day. We're still doing the teaching practicum and tied up with class in the afternoon.
On Saturday we went to a place in Shanghai called the Yuyuan Gardens. It's a traditional garden surrounded by shopping. My main impression is of thousands of people jossling around to squeeze through narrow passages in search of the Chinese equivalent of rubber tomahawks. Bei had fun there though--especially checking out the huge, overfed goldfish in the garden ponds.
After we left the gardens we went on a one hour tour along the Huangpu River. A one-hour tour...(where's Gilligan?). It was great--fun to see the boats and a little bit of the life of river people and great to put some water between us and the crowds.
This is Bei's new best friend, Megan. Bei is in love with Megan. Luckily, Megan is going to ride the train with us to Kunming, so Bei will have a friend besides her boring old parents. Then we'll part company as we head to Lijiang and Megan heads further up into the mountains to her teaching town.
After the river cruise we headed to the top of the old Peace Hotel on the waterfront for a drink at the rooftop bar. It was windy up there and almost cool! I had a beer and a piece of apple pie with bread for crust.
On Sunday we went to a traditional water village / tourist hotspot west of Shanghai. The town was interesting--it's built around canals and waterways. It was fun to sit in the shade and people watch.
Here's Bei checking out some cute little food.
A traditional and expert paper cutter made Bei a paper snake since she was born in the year of the snake.
Bei shot this photo of watchful parents.
posted by Ken, Ellen and Bei | 6:30 AM
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