Shanghtastic!

I am over my culture shock now and really enjoying learning and exploring life here. The only thing though is the past week has been the hottest. Even during a 5 minute walk you literally have sweat pouring down your face and back no and you hear the constant very loud and persistant clickety hum of cicadas most places you go. Also last Sunday there was a epic thunderstorm complete with crashing lightning and thunder and pounding rain which I got caught in while walking through People’s Park and got totally drenched! It was like a flash flood with rivers of water pouring down the sidewalk. This is because apparently there is a typhoon called Muifa which is coming towards a neighbouring province and there are supposed to be more similar style thunder storms occurring in the evenings this week.

I am getting into the local arts scene and last week attended a drinks and canape reception on The Bund (main tourist area) for a performance art charity event which was very interesting and thought provoking. You can take really pretty pictures of the city skyline across the river from The Bund at night but the area is rammed with tourists. Think the type of numbers you see somewhere like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Times Square or Leicester Square and double it - I have never seen so many people trying to take pictures in one tourist location anywhere I have been!  I also went to the old French Concession and had the best coffee and banana smoothie, cheese and bacon omelette ad toast for brunch in the courtyard at a place called Kommune which is located in an alley in Taikang Lu Art street, a nice little place with a series of lanes filled with many boutiques and galleries.

I have continued my adventures with local food and went back to the dumpling place and tried the drink I mentioned in my last post and it turns out kind of not to be a drink as such. You do drink it through a straw, but is actually black rice gruel, which I know does not sound appealing (gruel is something I associate with the Middles Ages or what the crew eats on pirate ships) which made me think I would not be crazy about it but I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted syrupy, almost like the syrup you get in canned fruit or chinese desserts and had boiled rice grains inside the syrup so a bit like a syrupy bubble tea/rice pudding combo.

I have also tried a local place for what I assume is Shanghainese style food where at I ate a eggplant and mincemeat hot pot type dish, a fried pork and vegetables type dish and fried curry noodles type dish (the menu was not in English at all so I am not sure what these dishes are called or the region of cuisine) which was okay. And I had some really delicious and filling stir-fried guangdong choi sum, spicy sichuan pork and banana and red bean cake from a place called Heng Shan Xiao Guan.

my 'hood

I love the sense of community they have here. Outside on any given evening you can see older people sitting and talking, babies being pushed around in strollers and the little kids are so cute riding their tricycles and playing games in the park areas with their mums and dads and grandads and grandmas watching on; it is a buzzing hub of activity. Looking out from the balcony, the skyscrappers and apartment blocks look like something out of a comic book or graphic novel, and I can also see a view of older more traditional houses; grey smaller buildings with brown slate and corregated roofs.

It’s what I like about the city - old mixed with new. It seems it is ever evolving which is an exciting time to be here.

xoxo