To Qingxi (青溪古镇) and back again today. Watermelon on the way and scorched rice (锅巴) on arrival.
Watermelon on the way, and scorched rice on arrival
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China
The end is at the Bund
My sister’s China visit has come to an end. We went to Beijing, Suzhou, and Shanghai. In Shanghai we only had two days without pouring rain, but we saw went through a range from old markets with live animals, rich shopping malls (IAMP), as well as the 119th floor of the Shanghai Tower. According to […]
Live animals and cheap haircuts
Lady laughing: “You take a photo? What is interesting about this place?” A market in Chuansha (川沙十八铺农产品批发市场). 10 RMB haircut on the bridge. “High or not?” And yeah it’s the highest baozi-tower I’ve ever seen.
Mia’s Forbidden City
We’re in the Forbidden City, and everything means something. Nails on the door in rows of nine by nine, two lions at the gate, water wells, a phoenix and a dragon, marble slabs, numbers, hierarchy, symmetry, symbolism. Getting in wasn’t easy. Each day only 40.000 tickets sell. We tried for Saturday, and the ticket sales […]
China’s Great Wall
I must have seen the Great Wall a thousand times. In school books, Mulan, Age of Empires, Discovery Channel, murals, and cheap reproduction paintings. But now that I’m actually here (Jinshanling 金山岭), I can barely believe this has actually been built. The wall, despite being so massive, feels like a part of nature as well, […]
Getting to know Beijing
I visited Beijing before, but never got to know it. In 2019, I hastily went to the Forbidden City, a hutong, and the 798 Art Zone, and it reinforced my idea of Beijing as a historic city, housing the government and tons of museums and landmarks. It’s to Shanghai what Washington is to New York, […]
Street food in tiny alleys
Just some random pictures from a sunny Saturday and Sunday in Zhangjiang (张江) and Chuansha (川沙), and why I love this area so much more than downtown Shanghai. A 15-minute wait for the crispiest scallion pancake (葱油饼) I’ve ever had. More hole-in-the-wall food. (I trust my stomach is strong enough for the food from these […]
Street food
We can finally call it a spring and as such these street vendors’ clientele has also improved. Kinda basic but it’s on the edge of Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park (张江高科技园区). Cycling to work I come across several of these. (When people say Shanghai has no more street food, they just mean the city center.)
Neighbors
This is a Sunday night, and I’m now back in Chuansha, after driving 800 km this weekend (Gaoyou and Xinghua). It’s a long time on the road, but it beats staying in Shanghai. Work is in the city, but to me, most fun is found where not everything has been optimized by big corporations. Although, […]
Visiting Gaoyou, some 750 years after Marco Polo
The road and canal from Beijing to Nanjing used to have 46 post stations, and the 14th-century Yucheng station (盂城驿) in Gaoyou (高邮) is the best preserved one. This was for passing on letters as much as for letting the riders, boatmen, and horses rest. The station with its halls gives a great look back […]