Yao Ming and Other Sights

Last Sunday afternoon, Kristi and I wanted to get out of the house for a few hours so we rode the subway over to Puxi. We really didn't do anything too exciting - just walked around People's Square for a while.
The subway was a little crowded. Actually this is about normal for a Sunday. Weekday afternoons are the worst. The ride to Puxi cost 4 yuan (about 55 cents) each.






Yao was in town - signing autographs, posing for pictures, visiting the little people. This is wax figure on display and Madame Tussaud's in Shanghai. This was on display back in August 2006 when I made my first trip here and people would line up to pose for a picture with it. Now, almost a year and a half later, they're still lining up. Unless you've been here, you can't understand how big of a deal this is. The Chinese people don't line up in an orderly fashion for just anything. Usually it's just a mass of people pushing and shoving - survival of the fittest, in a way. So it's pretty amazing to see them wait their turn for a picture. They really love Yao and consider him to be a national treasure. Kristi and I jumped in line with them just to mess with them a little as they get very curious when Westerners do Chinese things.

A couple of other pictures from that day. This is a statue in People's Square. I have no idea what it commemorates but thought it looks kind of cool. I'm guessing that, like every other statue here, it has something to do with communism or revolution or fighting the Japanese.

Here's another shot of the JW Marriott hotel, which you may have seen previously here. The restaurant on the 40th floor offers a pretty good view of the city. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures as it's a pretty swanky joint and we didn't want to look like a couple of tourists.