A Little Tourism

The last week has been very busy, but a different kind of busy than my first week. I have started teaching and teaching and planning lessons have taken up a lot of my time. I work all day Saturday and Sunday and then teach a couple of evenings during the week. It is definitely a challenge, but very enjoyable as the students are highly motivated to improve their English and really seem to like attending classes.

In my free time, I have started exploring Shanghai - bit by bit getting more familiar with it's neighborhoods and attractions. On Monday I went to explore Yu Garden which is an example of classic architecture in Shanghai. My idea of a garden has been expanded by the visit because there were no bedding plants or orderly collections of flowers. Instead, it was a walled garden with various buildings on different hills and a collection of lakes and paths that went up and down over the terrain. After I went there I walked through a couple of the huge markets and just looked at different merchandise. I still do not feel prepared to bargain, although I'm sure that will happen soon.

On Tuesday I headed south to Huai Hai Road which is the ritzy shopping street - the Michigan Ave of Shanghai. I wandered through the boutiques trying to find a park labeled on my map. When I finally found it, it wasn't that impressive, but on my way back to the apartment I stumbled upon a beautiful park that was very near one of the elevated roads. It was calm and peaceful, with a waterfall and grassy bank where people were eating lunch and enjoying themselves.

Another day I spent exploring an area of People's Square in downtown Shanghai. I walked through the park and then approached the Shanghai museum. Instead of trying to absorb the entire museum I focused on three of the collections - the history of chinese money, ancient seals that were used by powerful individuals through the dynasties and the calligraphy gallery. I think the money exhibit was the most interesting, but there are many other galleries to see. Since we live within walking distance, I will most likely return.

Thursday was a great day. Chris had the morning off and the two of us explored another area of People's Square park and then went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. The museum was one of the best museums I have ever been to. They had a huge display of the entire city that you could approach from a catwalk overhead. It was truly massive. There were also exhibits on how Shanghai has changed in the last twenty years. I think someone who knew the city in the 1980s would most likely not recognize it now. The amount of change is almost inconceivable. Then, they have an exhibit on the planned changes to Shanghai over the next 10 years. The Expo in Shanghai in 2010 is serving as the catalyst for much of the change. For instance, they plan to add 6 metro lines in the next two years. I will be interested to see how the city changes over my stay.

They also had a special exhibit called "Nuestras Ciudades" which was an exhibit from Spain on women's voices in shaping urban planning in Spain. It was phenomenal - there were 100 booths, each about the size of a door and you walked up to each with special headphones and could hear the spanish. English and Chinese translations flashed across the bottom of the screen. I could have spent all day there, but had to teach in the evening, but probably listened to about a quarter of the voices. There were architects, gallery owners, shopkeepers, children, students, interior designers - everyone talking about the space in a city, how it is used, why it is important. There were women from Bilbao, from Sevilla, from Barcelona, from Madrid - the entire country. As I wandered through that exhibit I forgot (for a while) that I was in China. If the exhibit is coming to a city near you, I would highly recommend it.

The Apartment in Puxi

Exploring Shanghai

I have attempted to include a link to my google pictures so you can see our apartment, some shots of Yu Garden, some shots of the People's Park and some that Chris took in the Urban planning museum. Hopefully the post works and you can see the links. If not, please let me know and I will attempt to load the pictures in another way.

Q4 - I was highly impressed by the Urban Planning Museum. What has been your favorite museum or favorite museum exhibit? Where was it? Why? Share your thoughts!

Your comments are great, please keep them coming. Also, if you want my mailing address, shoot me an email and I will send it to you.

Cheers!