ShangHolidays

CAUTION: The following is--and has been--in a state of constant editing. Please, watch your step and be cautious of fragments, redundancies, dangling participles, and run-on sentences.

The Bund at night!

Fresh off the plane! On the Maglev,
travelling 300km/h into the city!

Jing'An Temple

Well…. December 9th, I crossed the 100 day mark, and the 4 month mark. I’ve spent the last month and a half “sick”. Or rather, 3 weeks sick and the rest just… coughing up neon-green pollution induced mucous. Yummy. It’s been quite the ride with many trials and tribulations. Celebrating the holidays was… difficult. It never quite felt like Christmas. It just came and went like any other day. But what did make it special was sharing the holidays with my Cousin, K who flew up from Jakarta for the occasion. It really did make it feel special, even if neither of us felt very festive and were terribly homesick. We spent the days before and after running all over town, trying to fit in as much as we could. We hit up the markets, the Bund, Nanjing Lu, Pudong, Qibao, the archery range, many a Starbucks, had lots of delicious food at restaurants, home-cooked, or ordered in (Sherpa is AH-MAZING!! They deliver food and even ALCOHOLIC drinks to your front door, the website is in English, and it’s just WAY too easy, and relatively affordable in moderation! Holla!).

That couch...

Smelly Cat....

On Christmas Eve I had the day off, so we hit up Central Perk for some lunch, delicious coffee, and a few laughs with Ross, Phoebe, et al. . 

Central Perk!

We then wandered our way towards the Jade Buddah Temple. It’s possibly one of my favorite places, as it’s just so peaceful, warm, and welcoming. That is until one of the attendant’s cell phones goes off whilst your standing there having a deep, philosophical, nonverbal conversation with the Jaded fella. Yet they won’t let me take pictures… ah well. ‘Tis China…

The cousin at Jade Temple

A monk!

Monks at work at the Jade Buddah Temple.

We ended Christmas Eve at the Medieval Bavarian Christmas Market. We sipped on Mulled Wine and Hot Cider, trampled through the mud (as is the medieval thing to do), and enjoyed the festive lights and all the trinkets, baubles, and foods for sale.

 

On Christmas Day, we visited Qibao and its respective Temple and Pagoda.

K at Qibao Old Water Town

We began with a stroll through the Qibao market. Narrow stone streets jammed with souvenirs and foods both familiar and bizarre. You'll see the local favorite movie theatre snack (only half kidding) "bird-on-a-stick"! You can also find snake eggs, ox tale, and pig snout. All delicacies for those who aren't faint of heart or wobbly of stomach. We crossed many a bridge for some rather picturesque views, the sun hazy behind the layers of villainous smog.

Snake Eggs...

Those are birds... on a stick.

Ox tail and pig snout.

Elephant and a pagoda!

We continued down the little river towards a pagoda and temple rooftop that towered in the distance. Upon arrival we paid a whopping 5kuai (Like...75 cents) and entered the temple grounds. We adventured around, marveling at the local craftsmanship and guessed at what each of the various deities represented. We adventured throughout the grounds, taking in the quiet and calm atmosphere. We then headed towards the pagoda which loomed overhead, a giant yellow tower asking to be climed. And climb it we did! After slipping on shoe covers, we scaled the narrow, winding staircase; each floor a new deity striking a pose of surely some significance. The 6th and top floor gave us a pretty great view of the smog covered city and the outlying suburbs. Afterwards we made our way to Yonkong Lu for a Happy Hour drink before diving into the end of the day madness that is the metro.

Pagodaaaaa!

As you might have gathered, our Christmas was entirely unorthodox. I didn't love it, nor did I hate it. It was just... different. Would I prefer to be with family? A million times, yes! Would I change it had I a time machine? I don't think so. I think it did me good to spend a Christmas away from home. It helps to emphasize the true meaning of these here holidays.

Being boss, like we do.

We raised some eyebrows at the archery range. We were definitely the only laowai in the joint, and we were kinda kickin’ some arse. It was so great to shoot again and let off some steam. We both also got a good chuckle out of the fact that they gave my busty self a breast plate to help uhh... protect the ladies. I've never had a problem with that before but.... hey, their rules! Besides, it did help with the whole feeling like a bad ass thing...

SheShan Park gate.

The afternoon of New Years Eve we went to Xie SheShan (Line 9: SheShan Station, get a cab to Xie SheShan. Cost: ~20RMB) SheShan is basically the only bit of earth in Shanghai that rises above sea level. A little hill way out in the “suburbs” of Shanghai with some lux "hiking". So the taxi will need-for-speed you down a few scenic streets, cruising well above the speed limit, and running red lights at every opportunity and will see you to your destination in minutes. You grab a free ticket from the incredibly amused and definitely not bored lady playing candy crush and wechatting behind the ticket booth, and proceed through the gate up a few grand flights of stairs. Here, your first photo opportunity being the SheShan Pagoda. It’s nothing too grand, but it is a great bit of old Chinese architecture, and a nice reminder that you are in fact, in China. Something that is too easily forgotten most days…

SheShan Pagoda!!

A map... so we don't get lost.

More SheShan Park.

A magical view of Shanghai.... it's just there...
behind the pollution...

There are a few trails that lead up the mountain. For those of us coming from Oregon with our rough and rugged, not-really-a-trail trails… these are like the Hilton and Marriots of trails. They are either timbered or paved with cobblestones. We saw many local tourists “hiking” in heels, so we’re obviously amongst some serious outdoor enthusiasts... So we la-dee-dah-ed our way up the hill and found a great view—that could have been BRILLIANT, had it not been for the smog—of Shanghai. 

I want.

We paid a whopping 12RMB for tickets to the Observatory Museum and stepped into the first building.  When we walked in, both of our jaws dropped. We had not expected to find what was now in front of us. We were amongst some of the most brilliantly colored, impressionist oil paintings of the earth and sky I had ever seen. While the shape hinted at classic Chinese art, the color, line, and movement felt very Van Gogh. I have not yet learned the artist’s name, but I will be asking my tutor to help translate some of the name plates in hopes of finding out. 

After standing in awe over each piece, we continued to the old observatory. It contained lots of cool artifacts dating from the Observatories hay-day (1920-1930’s) and lots of cool photographs taken of the universe and night sky. The museum narration was written in Mandarin, English and French. Which was neat! Gave me a chance to work on my French!

The coolest part of the observatory was that there was very little “off-limits”. At one point we were ascending a creaky old staircase. Not seeing any signs about “no access” “don’t go” “no” “bu” or whatever… we kept going. And we found an old creaky door… still no signs to speak of, we shrug, “Hey, it’s China. Ya go until someone tells ya no.” So I gave the door a little shove. Nothing. Another shove. Nothing. One more shove, just a LITTLE harder… and it opened! We both let out a breath of laughter and excitement as we stepped out into the sun and on to the rooftop. Oh. Man. If this were an Assassin’s Creed game… there would be no stopping me from running and jumping from this roof to the next! But… since I don’t have the luxury of being in an animus or respawning… I won’t. Blast. Maybe some other time…

So, naturally, we spent lots of time dancing around the roof celebrating our devious act of rebellion (even though we were allowed to be up here, we felt we weren’t… because in America… you never get to do things like walk out onto the roof of an observatory museum.) With all the nooks and crannies of the observatory observed, we made our way over to Ye Olde Catholic Church. Can we just take a moment to recognize the poetic antithesis of a Church next door to an Observatory? ………………yeah………awesome. Ok, moving on!

The most impressive part of the church is the outside. It’s beautiful, grand, elegant, a little bit haunting, and very much lost. Looking at this building you would expect yourself to be galavanting somewhere around the border of France and Spain. Alas, it isn’t so. Lest you forget, the cute and random Unicorn of signage will remind you that you are indeed in China. Je suis tres desole, mes cheres. Prochaine fois, peut-etre.

Stained glass.

Interior.

The Majestic Unicorn of Signage. Pretty sure it translates to: "Do not eat Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest." (Lookin' at you Voldemort...) Either that or it's lyrics to the My Little Pony theme song...