Z is for Zig Zag

It seems like I should wrap up the A-Z blog challenge with some great thought but I feel like I've used up all my words in writing about Shanghai-Taipei-Hong Kong.

Well not all my words. Just all the words associated with my recent trip. I managed to stretch out two weeks of travel into a month's worth of blogging, and while I didn't post all of my 1000+ photos I did squeeze more than 250 into this challenge.

Z is for Zig Zag

'a course that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions'

Zig Zag Bridge, Shanghai China

Well that sounds pretty much like my blog everyday so how about a list of ten random zig zag thoughts to wrap up the A-Z?

1. I fretted a lot about the super long haul flights prior to my trip. I tried to commit them to prayer but more often than not it was fretting. We had two 15 hour flights plus two flights in country with checked luggage and pre-arranged airport pick ups. People spoke Mandarin, not English. Every single bit of this went off without a hitch. Why do I fret about stuff that may never happen?

2. The other side of the world feels like the other side of the world. There is a whole lot going on over there and we're a little bit oblivious to it from our side of the pond.

3. Travel is like opening a window just a crack. I want to push it open all the way. I want to see more.

4. The more you travel the more you realize how much of the world you will never see. There are not enough days in a year and years in a life to see all that I would love to see.

5. When it comes to traveling my hubs is a rock star.

6. I love the discipline of writing every day that the A-Z challenge presents. I might never have captured this trip with the level of detail I did had it not been for the A-Z.

7. There is something for everyone out there in the blogosphere. And I do mean everyone.

8. Writing two posts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays was a lot for me.

9. I enjoy having a theme for my A-Z posts. I'll bind these posts into their own little book and have a nice keepsake from our trip.

10. Hubs!! Where are we going next March? I'll be needing a theme for the 2013 A-Z blog challenge, ya know!

Just a Jumble

If you're looking for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge you'll find the post here.

J is for Jumble

Jumble as opposed to a hodgepodge, random, miscellany, or insert synonym here. Jumble works for me today because we're up to the letter J in our A-Z challenge and also because I have an assortment of thoughts and photos to post as a way of (almost) wrapping up my week in Shanghai.

This may be a little bit long (ha!). I had more loose ends than I realized so I'm thinking I'll make a list and it will hopefully feel less jumbly. We'll have to see how that goes-

1. There are some tall buildings in Shanghai.

Actually the word tall isn't quite sufficient here as an adjective.

The building on the right is sometimes called The Bottle Opener. Can you guess why? It's actually The Shanghai World Financial Center and is currently the third tallest building in the world. I say currently because it seems that countries are always trying to figure out how to go just a little bit higher so they too can make the list of world's tallest buildings. By 2015 we'll have a brand new list.

The Bottle Opener contains offices, an observation deck and of course, shopping malls. It's also home to the second highest hotel room in the world. Guess where the highest room sits? That would be the Jin Mao Building also located in Shanghai. The Jin Mao Building is home to the Shanghai Grand Hyatt and is the 1oth highest building in the world. In our travels we also saw building #2 located in Taipei and #4 in Hong Kong.

Shanghai has some amazing views from up high...

We were on the 54th floor of our hotel, which I guess is small potatoes when it comes to tall buildings, but it felt plenty high to me.

2. The Bottle Opener is best seen from The Bund which is a waterfront area in central Shanghai. Besides the skyscrapers you'll see many historical buildings there too. The past definitely collides with the present in this city. Here I am in front of the China Merchant Bank eating my words.

We used to tease my mother in law because she's been known to have three pair of glasses on her head at the same time. I get it now since my sunglasses are not prescription and all of a sudden I can't read anything smaller than a 16 font without a little help. Hey kids-never say never!

3. I haven't talked too much yet about the food on this trip but I will.

For now let me just say the presentation of this cherry blossom smoked salmon was truly impressive.

Tea served in our hotel lobby was none too shabby either-

4. A snapshot of Nanjing Road, the famous pedestrian shopping street in Shanghai. Every time I try to describe all the shopping in this part of the world I feel very overwhelmed. Just know shopping is on steroids here.

Nanjing Road is the main shopping street in Shanghai and one of the busiest shopping streets in the world. Here's a shark tank for your viewing pleasure-

Yes, it's on the street. Why not?

5. There is a slight obsession here with KFC. That would be-Kentucky Fried Chicken. Personally I haven't set foot in one in the US in years but they're all over Asia. This is a painting we saw in a small shop-

Starbucks stock must also be soaring here. We don't have a Starbucks in our little NJ suburb but if you need a latte in Shanghai, Taipei, or Hong Kong no problem.

6. Hubs and I spent some time walking thru The People's Park which was close to our hotel. We saw lots of Tai Chi and hubs will tell you he's something of an expert now. Ha-don't believe him. He learned one move in a meeting and showed anyone who asked and possibly a few who didn't.

But this guy?

This guy did seem to be something of an expert.

Yes, he does indeed have a sword in the park. Hey, this ain't New York.

7. Here's something else I saw in the park....

A group of women preparing for a drum event. Listening to them play was entertaining but so was watching them try to organize themselves. Women are women the world over.

8. Americans tend to complain about laundry a lot. It does seem to be one of those never ending chores but if you have a washer and dryer or a clothesline siting in the crisp clean air of suburbia then feel grateful.

I saw lots of laundry dangling from lines high above the busy streets where soot and pollution are rampant. Made me think I really have nothing to complain about when it comes to doing laundry.

9. Here are some random strangers who wanted their picture taken with me so we obliged.

Everywhere I walked I was approached and looked over and told I was tall and thin-for an American-they always added that! Oh and lots of people said I looked Italian. I am none of those things but it did make me smile. I also got lots of comments on my blue eyes which are not seen very often in these parts. Students anxious to practice their English approached me too. They would always start out by telling me they spoke 'Shinglish' or Shanghai English. I assured them that their English was far better than my Mandarin so no worries!

10. I loved Shanghai. It felt so foreign and different from any city I've ever visited. The language is a huge deal. Fortunately the subway signs were in English and Mandarin, but in other aspects of day to day life communicating was a real challenge. That's part of the fun of travel though, figuring it all out.

I hadn't traveled much outside the US before moving to England. Lots of trips to the Caribbean and Mexico but that was mostly resort stuff and not exactly stressful. Foreign travel builds your confidence in a way that few things can. At one time in my life it would have made me supremely anxious to look around and realize I was the only Westerner in a packed subway, to have people come up to me and touch my hair and ask somewhat personal questions. I likely would have been clinging tightly to my purse, certain this was a ruse in order to snatch my wallet. I suppose I still cling to my purse because that's just smart, but I don't feel afraid in a strange city. I feel energized and curious and very, very lucky.

Incense and Innocence

If you're looking for the questions to this week's Hodgepodge you'll find them here.

Back to Asia and yes, it is day 10 of the A-Z challenge (day 8 in letters) and I'm still talking about Shanghai. We'll move on to another country shortly, but I did a lot in this amazing city and I gotta put my words and pictures somewhere.

I is for Incense

The kind that sort of knocks you down as you walk thru a Buddhist temple or ten while on a trip to Asia.

Growing up I'm sure I imagined everybody had a family much like mine. Life as seen thru the rose colored glasses of my childhood meant mostly everyone had similar traditions, habits and beliefs. I suppose in my whitebread suburban neighborhood just a hop, skip, and jump from the City of Brotherly Love that assumption was somewhat true. Of course people had problems and were searching for answers to life's biggest and most important questions, but it was the 1970's. The doors to our homes and heads had not yet been thrown wide open for complete strangers to dissect, discuss, and judge like they are in the age of the internet. We didn't really know so much about what went on behind closed doors in 1971 but I do know for a fact that none of my friends were Buddhist. My friends were Catholic and Jewish, Baptist and Methodist. Some were no religion at all, but I can say for certain I didn't know any Buddhists.

Back in 1971 Buddhism was a 'religion' for people who lived a world away. A world I would never see or know up close and personal. A world full of people who were nothing like me and whose paths would never cross mine and who for sure would not be sitting next to me in PTA meetings in a country called England. Not people I would learn to call friend...people with whom I would share the joys and trials of parenting teenagers in a foreign country. Not people who, while very different from me in terms of spiritual beliefs, were not so different in other ways.

Dear young naive self-

Just you wait for the future. Oh the things you don't know that you don't know.

Signed-

Older wiser self

Flash forward to 2012 and a life that's been lived more globally amongst people who practice everything from Atheism to Hinduism and I find myself wanting to understand it all just a little bit better. Not to practice, but to know and understand where my friends are coming from in matters of the heart.

I have to say that it felt a little bit strange to take pictures in this setting. Not so strange that I didn't do it but strange nonetheless. I compare it to how I'd feel sitting in church while tourists file by in a steady stream mid-prayer to photograph the altar and stained glass. Everyone was taking pictures though, including the people who were actually there to practice their religion, so when in Rome...

I visited two temples in Shanghai, The Jade Buddha Temple and the Jing'an Temple. I also saw Buddhist temples in Taipei and Hong Kong, no two the same but each one beautiful and detailed and, I have to add-bustling. Are our churches this crowded? Am I so determined to worship that I spend my lunch break in church? That I bring an offering? Methinks not.

Don't misunderstand...I am not a Buddhist and in fact, I only felt more confused after seeing all the many different Buddhas. I'm secure in my own belief in one God and his son Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary and whose death and Resurrection give meaning and hope to a broken world. But there are many all around the globe and in my own backyard who don't share my beliefs. I saw a statistic that said low estimates of the number of practicing Buddhists in the world stands somewhere between 300-500 million people. That's not a small number.

The temples themselves all kind of made my jaw drop. Huge and gorgeous and smoky. The smell of all that incense made me a little loopy and also just a little bit nauseous. Mostly nauseous. I've never particularly liked the smell of incense and each temple had ginormous burners that were putting out smoke like there was no tomorrow.

Also, even monks have laundry.

Just sayin'.

I'm not sure you can really understand someone without knowing something about their belief system too. Where did we come from? What moral code will we live by? What are the customs and rituals that have meaning in our lives? And most importantly, what happens when this life on earth is done?

I walked thru these temples and read what was written and watched people practicing their religion (actually I'm not sure they call Buddhism a religion), and while I can't say I completely understand it I don't feel like I'm living in a vacuum either.

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." ~ Samuel Johnson

Greenspace

I love cities.  I love the energy and the people watching and the food and all there is to see and do in a city.  But I need my greenspace. When I'm in a city I'm always looking for the places you can go to get away from the noise and the crowds.  Hubs and I spent a lovely lazy few hours meandering through one such space in Shanghai.  

G is for Garden

Yuyuan Garden 

Or Yu Garden as it is more commonly known.

The rain stopped and we soaked in the beauty that was all around.  

The roof lines here are their own form of poetry.

The gardens were completed in 1577 by an officer of the Ming Dynasty named Pan Yunduan. Nothing like a trip to China to remind you of all you don't know when it comes to history.

Pan Yunduan built the gardens so his parents would have a beautiful and peaceful space to spend their later years.   

I hope my girls are reading this.   

 

The garden has gone through many changes in the course of its 400+ year history.  It had fallen into a state of ruin and in the early 1700's some wealthy merchants purchased the garden and made improvements so a portion could be opened to the public. 

Lots of detail and intricate carving mark the Chinese rooftops.

During the Opium Wars of the 1800's the garden again fell into disrepair and many of the original structures were destroyed.  They were eventually repaired by the Chinese government in the late 1950's and were opened to the public once again in 1961.  

Head of the Dragon Wall...the rest of him tops the wall that wraps round the garden.  

Yu Garden is divided into six scenic areas and sits on about five acres which feels like much more.  

The serenity and ancient design are in stark contrast to the ultra modern towering skyline of Shanghai sitting just beyond its walls.

Zig Zag Bridge

Jade Rock

A picture perfect day in old Shanghai.

Happy Feet

Today's post is brought to you by the letter F.
F is for foot massage.

But first there was tea.

I'm doing my best to write about the trip in something that resembles chronological order but there may be a day or two out of whack.  Hubs and I spent our first full day in Shanghai roaming around the city together.  The planets were all correctly aligned in the solar system which meant he could take a day of vacation before diving in to his work commitments.

No, his job has nothing to do with outer space.
He just works a lot.

This was not hubs first trip to Shanghai so he helped me get acclimated some before I had to manage the days on my own.  Here's a little secret...I like having someone else read the map,  figure out the exchange rate, and determine which way to travel on a subway.  Just sayin'.

It was drizzling a little when we left the hotel so we started our day trying to find a particular tea shop hubs had visited on a previous trip. This particular shop has tea on one side and pearls on the other. What's not to love?

We were in an area of the city known as Yu Gardens (when the letter G rolls around tomorrow guess what I'll be writing about?) and it was chock a block full of tea shops of every size and variety.  Course we needed to meander around several blocks...

past the McDonalds ...

and no less than 30 dried fish stalls...

and then down a little alley and up a flight of stairs to the one he knew.

I think afternoon tea is one of life's little necessities and I was anxious to sample some of the varieties on offer in the country where it originated.   We were seated at a small table and our hostess gave us a menu describing the taste and benefits of many different teas.  She said we could choose four to sample.

Many of the teas are said to benefit your health in some way....hmmm....do I need to remove heat from my body, aid digestion, or boost energy?  All of the above please.

Correctly brewing, pouring and serving the tea is a real art.

As is making a purchase afterwards.

Wait, what was today's letter?
F.  Foot massage.

I'll get there.  After the tea shop we headed to the gardens and after all that walking hubs declared we needed a foot massage.  Shanghai is known for this and there are places all over the city, but of course hubs knew a place so that's where we headed.

I have to say, this was one of the best things ever.  The salon was so calm and quiet and a little bit dark and there was soft music playing.  They took us into a room with big comfy chairs that you sunk yourself into, after you've put on your pink flowered pajama pants.  I'll spare you a picture of hubs in his.  And of course they served you tea and a plate of fresh fruit because we're in China remember?  The foot massage started at the top of my head and she worked a knot out of my shoulder that I'm pretty sure has been there since 1975.    It was bliss.

So this was Day 2.
And only a part of Day 2.
I sure hope 26 posts will be enough.