Riverside Promenade

We had some decent weather in early September but then it warmed up again and got really, really humid. Temperatures had been around 90 and it was so hazy that you couldn't see the upper floors of some of the buildings downtown. You wouldn't think that it could be any more humid than the Ohio Valley but it sure has been. Then we had a cold front and some rain come thru Friday and this weekend has been great. Temperatures in the mid-70s, low humidity, and blue skies - great fall weather. To get out and enjoy the day, Kristi and I went down to the Riverside Promenade. The Promenade is in the middle of the city on the Huang Pu (hwong poo)River, right in front of Pearl Tower and Superbrand Mall. It goes on for several blocks with a lot of restaurants and cafes where you can sit and people watch and and check out the traffic on the river. I managed to get a few pictures before my camera battery died. You can find them here.

If you look at the pictures, you'll see there were a couple of wedding parties on the riverfront today. There are no church weddings here like we are accustomed to in the US. Instead, the actual marriage is done at some government office. From what I understand, it's similar to renewing your driver's license. Take a number, take a seat, wait your turn, sign here, OK, now you're married. Then later they will have a ceremony, usually at a restaurant or hotel, where they dress up, take tons of pictures, hire a car to driver them around, and have a big party. So the ones you see in these photos were probably married sometime in the last couple of weeks.

Interesting Web Site

Here is a link to a site I ran across this weekend. Lots of interesting (weird?) stuff. Check out these old ads. Red meat, cigarettes, and sedatives. Makes you yearn for the good old days.

Construction Progress, or Lack Thereof

Still not much progress. But the wall is looking good. I'll try to get some better pictures this week.














Shen Bo cleaning the van, a ritual he performs everday.

Weekend Update

I have a few odds and ends to write about so I'm going to just throw them all into one big rambling post.

First, here's this week's construction update. There has been quite a bit of activity this week with lots of work on the site's infrastructure. A third piling rig showed up but they haven't done anything with them yet. And of course, work continues on the wall.

Second, last week at work was pretty crappy. Not the worst week ever but definitely in the top ten. My spirits were lifted, however, when on the way to the office Saturday morning, I passed this Chinese woman on a bicycle wearing a t-shirt that said, "Don't call me a cowgirl until you've seen me ride." I'm sure she didn't have any idea what it said but I thought it was good for a chuckle. Anyway, it put me in a better mood.

Item 3 - Bright Lights, Big City

Just like John Mellencamp, we too live on the outskirts of town. Only this town's a whole lot bigger than his. We're on the east side of town so the entire city of Shanghai lies to the west of here. There's really nothing to the east except an industrial park and a GM factory, before it runs into the sea. There's not a whole lot to see out here but we still enjoy the view, especially after spending the last year on the ground floor where we couldn't see anything. I was out on the balconies one evening this week just after sundown trying out the low light setting on my camera. Here are a couple of pictures.

Lastly, we rode over to the far side of town today to check out the textile market. Kristi had heard of this place where you could just about anything made and she wanted to see about some slip covers and a couple of rugs. This place is unbelievable with stall after stall of shops where you can get custom made curtains and bedding and rugs. It's overwhelming, to say the least. And I think this is the only place I have ever been in China where I did not see another white person. We were truly in "Indian country" as they used to say in less politically correct times.

This is just one of the dozens of aisles of vendors. And this went on for three floors in two buildings.

We went over to Section 2 but couldn't find the Clintons anywhere.

You know, every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man. This picture was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon so I don't know if he was still in his pajamas from the night before or if he was aiming on turning in early tonight. Actually, I've been told that wearing your pajamas all day is a status thing here. It shows that you're wealthy enough that you don't have to worry about getting dressed and going to work.

Remember that mini-bike you had when you were a kid? Yeah, it's still running.

Long Weekend

This Mid-Autumn Festival is being celebrated this weekend here in China so we have a three day weekend. We didn't really have any plans. We're just looking forward to taking it easy, sleeping in, reading, dinner with friends, etc. This was a good plan since it started raining Saturday afternoon and didn't stop until Sunday night. However, by Sunday afternoon we were getting a little antsy and wanted to get out but it was still raining. So, where's a good place to go walk around when it's raining? The mall, of course. We went downtown to Super Brand Mall.

The malls here - like everything else - go up instead of out. What I mean is that you won't find a big sprawling complex spread over a hundred acres like we're accustomed to in the States. There just isn't enough land here for that. Well, I guess there's enough land - there are just too many people. Anyway, this place is pretty big. Ten floors above ground, three more underground (13 is not an unlucky number here). I never really seen the whole mall because I get turned around and end up lost every time I go there.

Unfortunately, we weren't the only people looking to get out of the house. About a million or so other people had the same idea. These pictures will give you some sense of how crowded it was but really don't do it justice. Actually, this was pretty much an average crowd for a Sunday afternoon.

Construction Update

Not much progress this week but then yesterday this piling rig showed up. The two blue trailers to the right were also brought in. Notice that they have air conditioning and a satellite dish. These guys live better than Kate does at college.

Construction Zone

If you looked at the pictures I posted of our new apartment, you saw the empty lot across the street. Remember I mentioned that it looked like they were getting ready to build something. Well, construction is ramping up. I'm not sure what they're going to build but they're certainly getting busy. Here's what it looked like last weekend:

Of course, the first step of any Chinese construction project is to build a wall around the job site. The Chinese love their walls, you know? I hear they have a really big one up north of here. In this case, the wall was already there. They're just making it a foot or so taller and grouting the entire surface.

And here's what it looks like this week:

Not much progress but a lot of activity. The building in the lower left will be housing for the construction workers. It is customary in China for the workers to live at the job site. Most of these guys migrate from the countryside, leaving their families behind and following the jobs to the cities.

The dump trucks started lining up this morning, hauling in some fill material to build the roads inside the job site. One thing that is good here is that as soon as the trucks pull out on the street, a crew of workers with shovels and brooms runs out and cleans up any mud they dropped on the street. It's the Chinese solution to every problem - throw more people at it.

Chinese Mad Dog

You gotta love a country that's not afraid to put wine in a can.

Back Home Again in...Shanghai?

We finally returned from our home leave in the States. It was great to be home and to catch up with all our family and friends. We truly are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. It was really hectic and seemed like we were always on the run. The highlight of the summer was getting Kate off to college. We took her up to Muncie on August 25th and expected for it to be one of those terribly sad life events. However, by the time we hauled all her stuff up there, waited hours for the elevator, unpacked, picked up books, applied for a parking permit, and finally paid her tuition...well, we didn't have the energy for any tearful goodbyes. Kate's classes started last Monday and it sounds like everything is going well for her.

Here in Shanghai, we've been busy betting back in the groove. Emily went back to school this week. They had a really late start due to the Olympics, which doesn't make sense because Beijing is something like 600 miles from here. Work didn't slow down at all while I was away and now I'm running around trying to catch up with everytnhing. And Kristi has started some distance ed classes thru Franklin University. We're also getting settled into our new apartment. Sally came in and unpacked while we were gone. Now we just need to figure out where she put everything. And it's not just the things we moved from our other apartment that are lost - I can't find some shirts I brought back from the States. Maybe I should check the refrigerator since that's where she likes to put everything else. Maybe my shirts are behind the peanut butter and pancake syrup.