Living in India Page 4
Dinner 4/29/05 - I cooked Mexican food!
Mike's cousin Judy, her husband Surinder and their son Jaipal pay us a visit
May 7 was 70s party at the Marine House - I like the black and white grainy pictures, looks like every party I went to in high school
Shanghai May 14 - May 22 2005
We spent the first couple of days in the company of our friend from Houston, Jessica. We had a fantastic brunch at the Westin and walked around the bund and side streets, then went to Xiantiandi
our
hotel
Shanghai
is extremely clean
ready
for Cloud Nine the day we arrived
fantastic
Dale Chihuly Glass Sculpture in the Westin
also
the Westin, hanging cloth/light sculptures
Shanghai
acrobats perform at Westin Brunch along with
ballroom
dancers
a
cover band
Jessica
appears harmless but then busts a move in Xiantiandi
these fantastic women were promoting a cell service and beautifully! They were playing live strings to a trance track
more sights courtesy of Jessica including the view from the Captain Hostel (sounds like a scary superhero)
Jessica
in the shiny thing
a lovely Dutchwoman takes me in hand along with another Fluor wife, shows us shops and teaches us the ways of shopping Shanghai including getting your hair washed and dried on the spur of the moment and also takes me for a foot massage which was fantastic
Karen
in the foreground and Kerry next, Kerry was from Australia and a great person to
experience Shanghai with!
Karen's
cat...Kitty
pearl
shops
Kerry
picks out a high quality string
it
is knotted and a clasp added with amazing dexterity and speed
The Tea Market - This was an amazing and new thing for me. This is a culture that knows and respects their tea. We went to a market that took two floors of a building and was full of small tea shops. Every merchant wanted you to come in and taste, see and smell their teas. The preparation is important, the heat of the water is important in fact every aspect of the tea preparation and drinking is important. We sat with several merchants and tried and bought their wares. I bought green teas fresh from different areas of China, jasmine balls which open and flower as they steep in the hot water, cranberry and flower teas AND a tea set AND a teapot. The tea set was fairly generic but the teapot was a famous purple clay and I bought it from the artisan himself which made it special to me.
the
hot water is poured over these little sculptures and if it's the right
temperature each one reacts, I got the frog as I love frogs, his eyes blink if
the water is hot enough
I
loved this man's face
this
man made my purple clay tea pot
Shanghai Acrobats with Matthew and Kerry - what a show!!!!
we
weren't supposed to take pictures during the show but I couldn't resist the last
one (no flash), that is what it looks like when SEVEN people are riding
motorcycles inside of a steel wire ball at top speeds.
dinner on the final night of Fluor meetings with Henry Hsieh, a wonderful host indeed
this
guy wasn't too happy, he hated me for not intervening...I could tell
then
he got really mad
then
a few of us headed out to hear the Old Jazz Band at the Peace Hotel
they
really were quite old bless them!
Mike and I visited the Shanghai Museum - these were my
favorite pieces
this
one made me cry, the most serene face ever - I will treasure the image
we
walked into this scenario in the museum lobby, I asked no questions but in my
mind someone's wife was complaining about her shoes and her husband offered to
switch, we arrived as they were making the switch, then their tour guide ran up
and painted his toenails in a jiffy. That's Shanghai for you.
People's
Park and its famous white doves
The Jade Buddha Temple (also had a great vegetarian restaurant)
We endured the Pearl Tower, two hours of mind numbing
waiting for this crappy view
JUST so we could visit the cultural museum in the basement!
Dioramas and lots of them!
Scenes of Shanghai and the Bund (riverwalk)
yes,
a Paulaner Biergarten on the bund
this
building looks like Anubis to me
a
wedding we drove by
a
wedding at our hotel
a
nightclub we went to, nice older house music
we made the mistake of going The Mummy Returns attraction at a park, it was silly enough for Universal to be embarrassed
Taco Bell in Shanghai, not very Taco Bell-ish I'm afraid, it was news to me that braised ox tail was a traditional Mexican favorite the guacamole tasted almost but not quite exactly like school paste
It has been so very hot and dusty here. Temperatures have been around 110 and the streets are hard baked. This afternoon the sky broke open and the winds flew out and blew the dust and the birds and then the rain fell. Not the 8-15 drops that have fallen in the past few weeks when it has rained but a proper rain in blowing sheets and the rooks were clinging to the high branches and swinging and bathing and enjoying it immensely. There was enough rain to form proper little rivers on either side of the street and all the greens of spring that had been painted over into a uniform color of dust bled out into the landscape and glowed with the Neem blossoms in front of the dark sky....lovely.
a
happy and well groomed rook
Neem
blossoms and green leaves glow against the clouds
