Thursday, February 15th,

Hey all - Probably a somewhat short entry today, not because I didn't get up to much today, but rather because it's quite late, and I've got another big day tomorrow.

So, today I'd pencilled in Xujiahui, Jing'an and Nanjing rd, and I got around to all of them today, plus quite a bit more.

Taking the trusty light rail to Shanghai stadium in the city's south, I walked North to Xujiahui, a business district whose origins lie in the jesuit settlement there in the mid 19th century. I got around to a few of the sights, including the church down there, as well asthe library. I also happened to stumble across a little park with an interesting story to it. So I walked into a park in the area, and noticed a bunch of statues, and an artficial grassy set of mounds at one end - I thought it was interesting, and took a few pictures, then continued on - it wasn't until I was leaving the park that I read that these mounds are in fact the last resting place of a Ming dynasty patriotic scholar, dead for almost 375 years.... so, um, I was snapping away at the poor dude's grave.

Moving on, I was struck by the apartment buildings in Xujiahui - they all seem to want to do something to distinguish themselves, I saw one with what looked suspiciously like a telescope observatory (you know, those giant domes) on top, and another otherwise normal looking apartment block under construction, which had what appeared to be an ancient buddhist temple on top.... it's all a little bit wierd for my tastes.

Leaving Xujiahui, I took the metro to Jing'an, then walked north through the suburbs to the Jade Buddah temple - this temple/tourist attraction (complete with coke vending machines) is also an impressive place of worship, and while I didn't take a look at the eponymous Buddah statue, I wandered for a while through the impressive halls and courtyards of the temple. Next I headed even further North, to where - my guidebook informed me - I could find a colledction of art galleries etc by the Suzhou river - I began to worry when the road seemed distinctly industrial, but the place I was looking for was there, so I poked around a couple of nice galleries, then headed back south.

After a bit of exploring in Jing'an, I pushed Eastward, toward Shanghai's shopping district, which also happens to be home to some of its most impressive architecture. Back behind the Bund, there's a wealth of beautiful old buildings, mostly erected in the 1930s, Shanghai's colonial heyday, and the helpful 'heritage architecture' plaques give some nice facts and figures on many of the important sites throughout the city.

Next, I headed onto Nanjing Road proper, the Neon-lit, department store lined, people-choked pedestrian mall that is, I'm told, the biggest shopping street in all of China. Alot of the stuff there was of little interest to me, but I did wander through various stores and shopping malls.

I also had an encounter with the rather... 'unique' laws of the land when I went to use an internet cafe just off Nanjing Rd proper. Apparently, any foreigners wishing to use the internet in China (or at least, use it at an internet cafe) must have their passport scanned in order to prevent unlawful internet activity by foreign visitors..... Of course, I didn't have my passport on me, it's not the sort of thing I like to just carry around in my pocket (and even if I did, I'm not sure I'd want to have it scanned into some random computer system), and despite my offering up my driver's license as an alternative... no dice, I was turned away Internet-less (which is why this update is so late, I had to wait for a computer to be free here at the hostel).

After that strange encounter, I was just about to head back to the hostel when I dropped into a food market near Renmin square, and had my first encounter with local food. I saw a sign for fried dumplings, and going over to investigate, discovered a small stall inside the marketplace, packed with about 8 employees at once, making and selling fried dumplings on the spot. Luckily, there wasn't exactly much choice on the menu (dumplings, dumplings or dumplings), so I was able to just kinda join the queue, lay down my money (Y3.50 for 4 good sized dumplings!), grab the food and go. And man are these things good - real simple stuff, just dough, filled with a pork mince mixture, folded up, scattered with sesame seeds and fried on a massive flat metal dish with about 100 other dumplings. A recipe for an amazing taste - I'm in the area tomorrow, so I reckon I'll be back for more.

Well, that was the summary version of my rather eventful day, hope y'all enjoyed! tune in tomorrow for tales of my adventures in the Old City.

'til next time,

Jono