Ill be back in Shanghai after New Zealand for 4 days, then I head to the US for the month of March Fei chang feng kuang- means very crazy.
By the way, we likely won't have any contact with anyone February 8th-24th since I anticipate our travel in NZ to be very remote.
Ok, on another note- I haven't been posting much because I run a super busy schedule and can't find the time. Here is the catch up on the SH scene:
Found out that the "water towns" outside of SH are ok to go to once, but not really going back to. They pitch them as towns built around canals and rivers....feel like Venice.....blah blah. They're kind of donkey, and not that cool.
Speaking of donkey, we went to dinner at a place that serves donkey dumplings. The folks that took us call it the "donkey dumpling restaurant".....it's my new favorite, but I can't bring myself to eat donkey. Sorry. Check it out though- dinner for 4 is about $20 with drinks- and that was more food than we could eat!
As long as we are talking food, in some places here you can order cow head. No brains (sorry Jen the food won't make you smarter here), but the rest of the head....eyes, tendons, skull, teeth, whatever. They take the cow head, throw it in an oven, plate it....and there you go. David's wife text him a picture of one she ordered last night- he just sent it to me....ill include. This one looks a little different than just a straight up head, but you'll get it....
Had lunch with a dude yesterday who was the Oregon duck mascot for 3 years. He eats deep fried chicken feet and says they're way good.
Enough on food.
We have had some time to check out other parts of the city as well. The leather market is pretty cool, as well as the bird market. If anyone wants and entire cow hide tanned and treated- $90! I'm talking full grain, good italian looking stuff. I'm going to get one. I also saw at least two zebra hides.....I can't seem to get on board with that one though. Seems wrong. I guess at the end of the day- what's the difference? But it just seems wrong to me to sport a zebra hide in your house....especially if your decor is more brownish.
Anyway, at the bird market you can buy these giant bugs, maybe 3-4 inches long and 2 inches tall. Chinese people buy them to listen to the sounds they make ( as a way to relax). They sound like crickets kind of.
I have some pictures I'll throw in- but can't label them since I'm posting from my phone. Some are from the water town, some from just around SH. One cool one to note is the boat with black birds on it- they're cormorants- and the dude in the photo uses them to fish. He ties string to their feet, they dive under water to catch fish.....and he quickly pulls them up and takes the fish from them. Animal cruelty in China is everywhere.
Ok last thing- seriously. We were at Old Town....and it was pretty busy with tourists and vendors and on and on. Well we were in this Japanese store, kinda like a toy store.....anyway- I hate to say it, but I got in a fight. This dude bumped into me and wouldn't apologize. He had a gun in his hand but that didn't scare me. Sarah got a picture of it just before the scene really blew up. You can see it below....
