David and I dropped Sarah off at work this morning at 7:45am and headed for the coast. The drive took about 45 minutes without much traffic....that includes a stop to pick up David's friend Mao.
There were two other friends of David's and Mao's waiting for us when we got there....Leoyee and Yeting- none of which spoke a lick of english.
I knew right away that the fly fishing scene was not going to produce, and luckily I brought along a spinning rod. There was one spot where everyone was fishing- and that seemed to be the productive area. It was shoulder to shoulder at the area where there was a pump station which fresh (non-salt) water was being pumped out of a reservoir- and all the fish, and people were stacked up. I would have taken some photos- but the water and shoreline were loaded with garbage....not worth seeing in my mind. It was pretty bad- but on the other side of the road was the reservoir and that was way worse!
We eeked out a few fish between the 5 of us, the biggest being about 4lbs. We fished from about 8:45-12:00 then packed up and went to find some lunch. I was sick of fishing after about an hour....shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of guys who smoke isn't my idea of fun fishing....and I was glad when everyone else got sick of it too. David said it was especially busy because the fish are beginning to stage to get into the fresh water. I don't know if that is true or not- but judging by all the trash around, I'd have to guess that the area is heavily used and normally busy.
The drive from Sarah's work to the fishing spot, which was essentially the ocean, is all city. It goes from downtown to suburbs to factories to ocean. At the ocean it is still Shanghai- but these guys kept calling it "small town"....and it did have that feeling. The streets were quiet, and there was very little traffic. The people were mellow and slow paced. There were a bunch of really big apartment complexes that were completely vacant. I've heard of this before about China, these kind of "ghost towns" that were built in anticipation of an influx of people....never to actualize. Well, now I've seen it. It is sort of eery- big, wide streets with no cars or people, blocks of stores that have shut down (or maybe never opened), and blocks and blocks of houses with no people. It makes you wonder- how did they miss on their expectation so greatly?
We found a restaurant in the "small town" that I could tell right away was going to make me sick. I did my best to eat some so as to not offend anyone....but kept it to a minimum. I paid for lunch- as a way to say thanks for taking me fishing. All told lunch was just under $20 for the 5 of us- including beer.
I've recently discovered this thing called instagram- you probably haven't heard of it....I'm way ahead of the curve....but here are some photos I took today- and instagram has made them a little better than my usual garbage photos.
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| David, Mao, and Leoyee fishing |
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| Sea Bass!! |
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| Lunch- Mushroom noodles, Bone-in duck, tofu, and the sea bass we caught |
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| Clockwise- Yeting, David, Mao, Leoyee |
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| The restaurant let Mao take the fish we caught and cut it up to eat....note that no one cooked it- just ate it raw. |
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| The leftovers from the fish were made into a soup. It had tofu in it too.....lots of tofu in China. |
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| A dog in the restaurant was the lest of my worries from a sanitary standpoint. |
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| This was hanging in front of the restaurant. Whole chicken, some pork, chicken feet, and lots of flies. |
I don't think I could have eaten. If I ever come don't make me go to those places. So the beach is not that far? Are there any nice beaches?
ReplyDeleteI'll eat it. Those mushroom noodles look good! I'm not afraid.
ReplyDelete