Rainy Shanghai

It started raining mid-day. It’s a hot muggy rain like the east coast. None of the boys were sad to bust out their umbrellas…

Now that we have conquered the subway- all of Shanghai is available to us! Which means FINALLY we were able to find a store that sold chess boards!! Perfect timing with the rainy day. The Superbrand Mall in Pudong has a massive Toys R Us. We snagged a monopoly game, UNO, Quirkle and a rubick’s cube while we were at it.



Shopping malls here are insane. They all seem to be at least 7 stories and labrynths of shops you could be lost in for weeks. Here is a shot Mike took of the inside of the ‘iapm’ (a huge mall) in the French Concession.


Today, the metro stop was below the ‘ifc’ (another monstrous luxury mall in Pudong) so we had to go through some of that massive mall in order to get over to another massive mall that housed Toys R Us. I think shopping is a sport in Shanghai. I’d be a winner if I did not have 5 boys slowing me down… 😉

Zaijian!

Subway


Yesterday was the first time I have ever ridden a subway, it was suprisingly clean and actually fun. I enjoyed not wearing anything for protection. We used the subway to get to a new area we have not been to called Tiànzǐfàng. I got a really cool fidget spinner and a good lunch, or lunches… 🔺illuminate confirmed.


I have forgotten to tell about soccer. It is pretty fun, all laughs chortles and giggles. Until it turns vile when someone fouls or some just generally disagrees on something stupid. When you fall down it may hurt, but if you stay on the ground it is like sucking in all the smog from the past 10 years. I love to play soccer and surprisingly we have not kicked any balls over the vile fence.

Walking along The Bund


Friday night:

We want to a restaurant that was 56 stories high. And then we saw the Shanghai Tower that is the third tallest building in the world.

Friday

We were walking down on the street and we saw a sick PINK Lamborghini so want that.

We were walking along the Bund it was so pretty. Also the views were amazing. (Sunday)

YAO FAN 

We met a really nice guy in the note book store, and I wanted to get a pen and mom said NO. Later on we where writing in a notebook to talk to each other and he was so nice he wrote I will get you the pen. He was talking about the one I wanted. And he bought it for me, well not really me for the family. Then a few minutes later he wrote u this. 

Yu Yaun Gardens

WOW. With all sorts of new types of building and style comes a change in your life.  When I first saw the new structures it was beautiful, the art combined with the beautiful colored and ideas formed a place of sanctuary. Things we consider to be a delicacy would be normal here, take this sculpture for an example; would you have that in front of your house or store etc.?

 

At first we had problems finding the actual sanctuary. It was so weird that it was not positioned behind all of the bizarre and shops.

On the way there through, we had to go across a old bridge it was awesome. The bridge itself was not exactly exiting, but I did enjoy the old style of buildings all around.

 

We also loved the cute turtles in the pond lake thing, and at one point we found a mother and a baby. other wild animals appeared like geese, duck and koi.

The rest of the trip was mostly the same, but each one still had it’s own awesomeness. My favorite things were the rock formations, my little brothers also loved it. They were supposedly made of hollowed jade.  I loved how peaceful it was no matter how many people had been through it,  I thought about how quiet it was. Not to mention that it was so nice and pretty. If we had visited it right after it was made it would have looked the same (maybe not as much litter). So, I would definitely recommend visiting this.

 

A “normal” day

We needed a break from the tourist circuit today.  We are so lucky that there is a turf outdoor tennis court on the 7th floor – it is PERFECT for soccer. One of the first things we did was get a soccer ball. The boys spent an hour and a half playing soccer on the court this morning. Third day in a row actually.


We had lunch and hit the park for a bit. The boys were literally mauled by some old Chinese men. More photos, more touching. The boys know they can politely decline, but I think they don’t mind the photos. The touching though – that creeps them out!! I have to say, we see lots of little kids (5 or under) around,  but we have not yet seen any older kids or teenagers. Literally not one. Where are they hiding them?

Had groceries delivered and am attempting my second dinner made here in this tiny little kitchen. It’s tiny, but I love it!! 

 

The first did not go so well.  Fingers crossed this is better.

Here are a few more shots from the YuYuen Gardens yesterday…




Zaijian!

Yu Yuan Gardens

We went to a really old fashioned garden and it was so cool.

When we were done at the garden, everyone started to crowed around me and they all took selfies with me (because I’m blond). Also, these people wanted me to take pics with their kids because it was “cool”. Once one person started to take a photo of me, it was like a license for everyone else to do it.

Day 4


The boys after a 3 mile trek up and down HuaiHui Lu – the street our building is on and a major destination/shopping street here in Shanghai.

An American we met yesterday told us after living here for 3 years they categorize their days as Shanghai days or Shanglow days. I already get what she means, although I am not going to go as far as saying we have had a Shanglow day yet…

We have learned that nothing is easy to find here. Nothing. Google maps and the internet may say its there….but it is not always actually there. In addition, a particular address might be a 30 story building – good luck finding the one store you want in all of that.  Shops and restaurants could be on any floor and are often not on the street level. Even if you know the shop or restaurant you want is in a specific building like Hong Kong Plaza, you get there to realize HKP covers two entire city blocks. Not that we could read them, but it seems like they don’t have directories. It was a hunt and seek kind of day, that turned up zilch.

Mike had to work today so the boys and I decided to attempt to find a toy store to buy a chess board. We identified a store, had an address, and decided to trek the 1.5 miles, knowing full well it was a shot in the dark. No toy store, 1.5 miles back empty handed. On the upside, we saw another new area of Shanghai and thrilled another street full of people with the spectacle that is the one white woman with 4 white boys.  We get  exclamations of “si ge nanhai” (4 boys) and  “si ge erzi” (4 sons) everywhere we go.  “Shi de, si ge nanhai” (yes, 4 boys) is my response and I ALWAYS get two thumbs up like I did a great job or something. It is funny, but the boys just don’t get what the big deal is.

Despite the long walk, which the boys are getting used to, and the unsuccessful mission – we were still smiling.


Zaijian