Our Trip to Qibao (Shanghai)

A few weeks ago, Allison, Kate and I jumped in a cab and headed just twenty minutes away to Qibao - a town which, although still very much in Shanghai, still feels like a whole other city.  In Qibao you can get a slice of Chinese life as it once was.  It was packed to the gills with Chinese tourists, but proved to be a charming, fun little getaway for each one of us.  We walked the markets, saw some historic bells, went to the local Buddhist temple, and tried, without much luck, to find some vegetarian food.  Here are some pics...

Kate and Allison at the entrance gate to Qibao, and about to get hit by a car

Get your tatoo in Qibao

Kate in the classic pose 

Coconut drinks for sale

Qibao is lined with some cool shops, including this one selling replica Chinese film posters

For 5 kuai you can explore the old textile building

The roof line is quite impressive

Tourists can take a ride up and down the river

Oh captain, my captain - she has rowing skills

Just a cool sign

These are bamboo shoots that they stuff with sweet rice and raisins

More bamboo sticks

The little roadways are crowded

Lots of non-vegetarian options

Bird on a stick. 

The man behind the famed silhouette show

Here are the story characters

This is what the crowd sees - the beginning of the story was slow and our understanding was minimal since our 30 words of chinese didn't help us

More action - eventually the guy on the left fights a tiger and it's uber cool 

The Qibao temple - here is a fat Buddha guy

Each floor of the pagoda was lined with the featured god or goddess

They covered two entire walls - row upon row

Another

A view of the wall

Some worshipers lighting the largest incense sticks in existence 

Praying before the temple with incense

My next halloween costume? 

Not sure which one of these would be my worst nightmare

He looks pretty tough. 

A massive bell in the courtyard with thousands of Chinese characters up and down its sides

A Glimpse Into Our Shanghai Apartment

Welcome to the Shanghai Racquet Club, our new home for the next ?  years.

Welcome to the Shanghai Racquet and Tennis Club - This is our compound. 

Dragons are everywhere - these dragons adorn our balcony railings. 

Our living room, which will undergo a major redecoration once we find some hip, old Chinese furniture. 

A view from the other side, with the large window and balcony (to the right) 

The view from our balcony.

Our master bedroom. 

Our second bedroom - with the wall open. 

The view from our bedroom balcony. 

Kate's closet (still not big enough)

My closet (and Kate tries to usurp some of my space)

My bathroom with lots of Ikea color coordination happening

Kate's bathroom, with some really ugly green towels

A river runs through it - I'm lobbying to turn this into a lazy river so we can float around the complex.

It's like Club Med - you can have drinks brought to you poolside; the far end features real sand in the shallow end.  No joke. 

Here's center court - this is where I destroy Kate in tennis. 

This is the smaller pool next to our complex.  No drinks allowed...ha! 

Stay tuned for more photo updates. 

B and McK

Welcome to Shanghai!

Our first weekend downtown afforded us this clear view of Pudong.  This is shot from the Bund, and the typhoon did a nice job of making it the perfect iphone shot.  

One of the best parts of my weekend - those Chinese who want to take pictures with the blond haired ladies.  It happens at least twice a weekend (as well as being followed by old men and young kids in the supermarket)  

Tsingtao - the national beer for 1 billion people

Celebrating 90 years of the communist party in China

Unfortunately there has been a citywide ban on jazz. 

Looks beautiful, yet I have zero clue what it says.  None.  Never will.  

The wicker chair guy - walking around all over the city. 

Here he has a potential sale 

Drying noodles at the local wet market (Chinese version of the Farmer's Market)

These are mail delivery bikes - just one of a thousand different kinds of bikes seen each and every day in the city

Here is Mercedes Benz Arena in Pudong - probably the coolest stadium I've seen from the outside

Duke vs China - sans brawl (C'mon, it's Duke). 

China - in the bright lights now

Local fruit vendor - these melons are all the rage

Yes indeed...Made in China 

Just in case you thought these lanterns are a Chinese Food invention in America

This is just a start...more to come soon. 

A Chinese Chao (or 4)

  朝    吵    抄    超

As Kate and I prepare for our move to Shanghai, we needed to update the blog.  Previously, all variations of the original italian 'ciao' for each language we were learning/speaking meant either hello, goodbye or both.  In Chinese, however, this is not the case.  So, I had to ask my tutor and research the options:

• Option 1:  朝 chao (2nd tone) - imperial or royal court; government; dynasty; reign of a sovereign or emperor; court or assembly held by a sovereign or emperor; to make a pilgrimage to
  
  
• Option 2: 吵 chao (3rd tone) - to quarrel; to make a noise; noisy; to disturb by making a noise
  
  
• Option 3: 抄 chao (1st tone) - to make a copy; to plagiarize; to search and seize; to raid; to grab; to go off with; to take a shortcut; to make a turning move; to fold one's arms
   
• Option 4: 超 chao (1st tone) - to exceed; to overtake; to surpass; to transcend; to pass; to cross; ultra-; super-

I think both option 1 and option 4 work best, especially the 'pilgrimage' meaning of option 1, and the use of 'chao' to mean 'super-' (We could have 超 Ciao).

Thanks to www.yellowbridge.com for so much help with this.  

Right now the Chinese character representing option 1 is featured in the blog title.  What do you think?