Last Day in Shanghai

We were sad to be leaving Shanghai and head back to Korea. We love our students, but, Shanghai was great. The weather was warmer and it was cheaper. It felt nice to be out of the weekday routine for a little bit at least. I had a good time, but wished I could have seen more things. We did a lot. We wanted to relax a bit before heading back. So, our last day, we kept it simple. We went to this area called Qibao. This area of Shanghai has many canals. It was nice because lots of Chinese people go there but not tourists. This ancient canal town dates to AD 960-1127. It was beautiful. We went on a boat ride through the canals. The buildings were beautiful, very traditional and old.




The neighborhood before the the main Qiabo area wasn't too captivating. At first we were wondering where we had taken ourselves. This wasn't like the photos in the travel books.






We found some fish drying.







At last! QIABO! We foind the area of boats, red buildings, and teashops.

Judy in Qiabo.


And then we found the great canal area. I was pleased.



We got tickets to ride a boat up and down the canals. It was so relaxing, floating on the water like that.

I was happy to have a strong woman in control of our boat.




These are some of the nice, historic buildings along the canal. It was a great city.









There was laundry everywhere in Shanghai. Even along the canals...

Judy and I really enjoyed the canal tour. It was such a peaceful trip. A wonderful way to end our trip.


This is similar to the boat we rode in.


Before leaving Qiabo we went about found some dumplings and sticky rice cakes. Rice cakes in China wrapped in a banana leaf, or other green leaves. They are usually filled with a shredded BBQ pork. They are very tastey.


The different colors are the different dumplings. We ordered shrimp and those took forever to cook. I think their color was black.





When were looking for a taxi back to the city we found a park that full of these anniversary statues and flowers.

60 years!



60 years of communism. We were reminded of this everywhere. We saw the festivities in Beijing for the anniversary. It looked insane. There were so many fireworks, lights, and choreography.




We found our taxi. Goodbye Shanghai!

Street Scences

Shanghai has a very interesting street scene. You can get what ever you want on the street. People have catalogs of all the fake goods they have for sale. You can get Monte Blancs, Rolex, North Face, and anything else that is a name brand. You also see the most interesting things. The dumpling cooks and the insect racers were my favorites. These are just photos of some interesting street scenes, usually found in old town. Enjoy!








Notice the shoes drying on the roof. It seemed like every bit of space was utilized.


Shanghai rates their restaurants using this system. It seems like a good idea, but why is the OKAY face so down. I mean, are restaurants really that terrible?



Awesome bike. Shanghai really had a lot of plants everywhere.


I thought matching couples only existed in Korea. I was wrong.



Notice all the laundry.







Our hostel street was beautiful. I think it was decorated for the Harvest Moon Festival.










This nail salon was on the same street as our hostel. I would NEVER get anything done here.

Bug Market

Our first day we discovered something called the Insect and Bird Market. I was very excited about seeing this place the first time I read it on the map. We weren't really sure what to expect. I can you that afterwards, disappointed did not even cross my mind. It was Fantastic! and a bit creepy! There were bugs of all shapes and sizes. Mostly it seemed like people kept the bugs in empty sugar canes and jars. When they are let out the people poke them, causing the bugs to hop or make loud noises. I think there is some sort of illegal race....



Tables were filled with insects of all kinds.



Some of the bugs were kept in tiny jars.Some were kept in tiny boxes. It looked kind of neat, how they were all laid out.



Close up of the bus in jars. These ones were especially noisy.



Inspecting the insects. No, I am not going to purchase any.



There were also birds. The birds were much less creepy than the insects.



I loved the cages.




These birds didn't have as nice of cages.



This woman was selling insects that were kept in sugar canes.



Crowded.