Happy Birthday Grace!

Look what I brought you; Carrots!

Facial Expressions

Wake up Sleepy I n II

Sitting Ducks

Ducklings for sale, Shanghai Nanqiao, Fengxian District

Awkward stances and positions

Awkward stances and positions. A chinese salon. A man was having his face shaved. Shanghai Nanqiao, Fengxian District. Have you got caught in a position where you have no idea what you should? How do you move forwards? Are you angry at something you don´t understand? Or:

Actually you know the answers to the dilemmas. You know the route out, there was nothing awkward at all about your surroundings and the position you are in. You already know the answers but maybe you are just shutting your eyes wide shut for nothing. And the bystanders or people implemented, they might have no idea what was going on at all. Because they were not the one implementing anything. You were the actual producer of effects and results. The so called implementer was just doing as he was told, or how the society deem it should be so. And the bystander maybe just be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hence, the Awkward stances and positions.

Or Maybe you are the one that should be out of the picture.

Ever Young Smiles

How Many times do we get to see people smiling at you with curiosity, with no animosity, and an open heart? That´s how I felt when I snapped this picture. The Old folks sitting by the bridge at Shanghai Nanqiao were friendly, and they are not angry at all about being taken a shot. They enjoyed the attention, for there was something going on and different from their daily life in Shanghai. They look energetic, and experienced. And most important of all, they are enjoying life now as an elderly, without much worries till they depart from us. They were the backbones of this society.

Shanghai South Bridge area, Fengxian District

During the 3 day break of Dragon Boat Festival, one of the places we visited was the Shanghai South Bridge Area. I got lots of complains from them. It was a small non-commercialised area. A small petite water town that does not boast much, I like it pretty much actually. Just that the to and fro transportation took 4 hours for a small water town that can be walked finished in 15 minutes, no way for them. Hoho. All of them black face and relieved as well after finding something closer to heart called civilisation when they reach Xinzhuang. Anyway, photos of South Bridge area.

At first we, were pretty worried that there will be no water town after taking a 2 hour trip to no where. Later, when we saw it, we were much more relieved, so afraid of a wasted trip we all.

The fake wah this is a very fun and enjoyable place pose.

Unlike most water town we had seen, there was no crowd at all. I believed we were one of those few tourists of the day for the locals. They are very curious and wonder why we headed here. Yet, at the same time, you can see many of the shops are looking for businesses to rent out their shops. My guess is that in a couple of years, many people will start to flock to this small town and its nearby attractions.

Traditional made cotton shoes are not widely seen in Busy Shanghai. Everyone wants big money. You will seldom see someone sit down patiently and made a pair of good cotton shoes any more. These kinds of shoes are usually worn by older folks. Young people do not wear them any more, except for those people who are performing and are in need of such shoes.

The locals here are very curious. Most of them allow their shots to be taken. Most of them are older folks also. You don´t see many young teenagers roaming the street. My suspicion is that they are either grounded at home for the high school examinations or they are somewhere out there playing internet games at a local internet cafe.

Man pushing a load with his tricycle.

The locals call this net tiger net. I am not sure why, the only thing i can linked to it might be because they grow tiger shrimps down here for consumption. But, the probability is pretty small. If they do, there will be restaurants  promoting it.

We are at the number one house or the town and we found a small stool!

Algae bloom is a serious problem during summer. They will tend to kill off plants below the surface. The only way the locals can control is to pull a net across the stream to prevent further growth at places that are more important. Good thing this algae don´t last throughout the year. And this algae don´t look too poisonous to me either. They do look good for a couple of snaps though. Its not something you see everyday anyway.

Little boy is fishing by the river. He and his accomplice caught many tiny fish that I believe they will attempt to feed with bread. If they are lucky these small fish might grow bigger actually.

Around Shanghai, people love to eat the chan-dou, a kind of bean. They will either dry them and eat like nuts, or they are cooked at almost every corner of the city as a staple dish with rice.

The interesting auntie selling vegetables with a Burberrz bag.

We Eat Good! We Eat Good! We Eat Good!

Qibao Old Town before Dragon Boat Festival

I always wanted to go somewhere in Shanghai, but Auntie Liew is always not keen in going there at all because she was there long time ago with her boss during her intern ship. That place is Qibao Old Town. So one day, I just grabbed my camera and headed off to the place the was shunned by Auntie Liew.

Nowadays, when you want to reach places previously hard to access, its so much easier with the metro system. One thing that I am glad Shanghai is improving over the years is her infrastructure for the public. With more metro line opening up every year, you can reach so many more places now, you can travel and commune within Shanghai, and find out what´s interesting without going to Zhejiang or Jiangsu, if you don´t have time and you need to be in Shanghai, that is.

Anyway, Qibao Old Town is accessible by Metro, and once you reach there, you can ask around and people will point the direction to you where the Old Town is. If you planned your trip at the start of the day, you can first go to She Shan in the morning, and then head off to Qibao during the evening for dinner.

Like all water towns in Jiangnan area, you get to see a buzz of life, a buzz in business, a buzz in tourism, and water boats and canals. There is a lot of similarity among most of them, the only difference they might differ from one another is the hidden stories each town might have or the delicacies you can encounter. But mainly, people just have a sweet mentality it is one of the many Jiangnan water towns you can find in this district. For me, it´s more about recording life and maybe one day finding one water town that is not so commercialised, and I can share with people.

Anyway, here´s some pictures of Qibao:

I find this particular board very interesting. It is telling everyone that is had the number one chicken in this ancient town. Chicken, in Chinese, besides the meat we usually eat, has another meaning: prostitutes. I seriously wonder whether that´s what it meant. There are plenty of tattoo parlours around the old town as well. No idea why too.

A local at Old Qibao Town, Shanghai, selling Chinese famous yellow wine from Shaoxing.

Local area where locals wash their spittons and toilet bowls. Many places in Shanghai, still uses the spittons and washable toilet bowls. This was a custom continued by the old, but is a slowly disappearing scene in Jiangnan area, as well. Strangely, it is not this bowls that make a place smell bad, but rather the usual littering that cause foul smell all over Shanghai.

An worker restoring the many buildings at Qibao Old Town, Shanghai. When I was there, Old Qibao Town is expanding. The government might want to improve the livelihood of the locals there, as well as improve the tourism of this town. Old Qibao town is actually very interesting. Despite the fact that many water towns are getting more commercialised, but when you look closer at how they operate, you will realise that most of them can create a micro economy within themselves, substaining within without much interference.

Chopping wood into chips for burning. Qibao Old town, Shanghai.

Constructions workers at work. Behind, written in Chinese: Rare gold Pawn Shop or something like that. Qibao Old Town, Shanghai.

Dumplings in the making. Qibao Old Town, Shanghai. It was close to Dragon Boat Festival when I visited Qibao Old Town. Dumplings are a part of daily life in China. You can eat them almost everywhere. And at different places, they are made differently as well. Dumplings are usually linked to a famous Chinese called Qu-Yuan, who threw himself into the river(committed suicide) when his advice were unheeded. Qu Yuan is a symbol of loyalty and love of country. And dumplings were thrown into the river to prevent fish and other animals from eating the body of Quyuan. So the story goes, I believe.#

There are always bridges at Jiangnan water town, and most of them are kept as they are. If they are protected, the government will issue law enactments saying that the bridges are relics and are considered as immovable heritages and relics.
And usually, every bridge might have a story to spice up historical records and boost tourism.

A local craftsman making pails and bath tubs. Old Qibao Town continues making this traditional craft, and one day, the preservation of such a trade is merely for remembrance more than usage. But we should alway try to remember what brought us so far in civilisation don´t we? I think some of this pails, in accordance to shape, might be used to store faeces are well. Ahem..

Locals relaxing. Qibao Old Town, Shanghai.

Playing Chess is a national past time for Chinese. Of course, sometimes people use it to gamble. Just to past time. Sometimes, you can see bird cages hanging around as old man enjoy the day with a cup of tea, pet seeing and good friends and chess.

Love Love Love

That day I was just walking pass Nanchang Road after dinner with the guys when I saw a newly opened shop at Nanchang Road with nice pinky love shape displays. I came to realise slowly, as we stay longer and longer over here, we tend to see a dramatic change in the locals here. They become better as time goes by, not as crude. Of course, now and then, you will still the aunties with perm hair running around your neighbourhood in pyjamas, but the young generation don’t do that too often I think!

Similarly, this new bunch of new kids become more sensible, as they look beyond their own reclaimed land, and realise there is a bigger world outside. I am beginning to like how the locals look, dressed up, and behave. Slowly, and hopefully, those days where you curse like some babarian and swear under your breath will slowly dissipate with time.

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