Day Trip to Fengjing

Yesterday we took a day trip to Fengjing, another one of the nearby watertowns. We caught the 9:38 train from Meilong station, 7 yuan each, arriving at Fengjing at 10:32. It's a 20 minute walk from the train station to the old town. We ate a tasty lunch for 36 yuan, watched the locals, took photos of boats and bridges, toured a few historic buildings, did some shopping, bought some paintings, and caught the 4:45 bus, 11 yuan each, back to Shanghai with drop off right at Lian Hua Rd Metro stop.

Fengjing reminds me somewhat of St Augustine, FL in that it provides a good mix of history, shopping, and eating and does not take itself so seriously as places like Colonial Williamsburg. Anyway, the highlights of the trip were:

-Riding the train to Fengjing.
-Watching the locals air out their shoes, quilts, and coats after a long winter.
-Taking photos of the bridges and boats
-The Commune Museum with it's revolutionary posters, air raid shelter, MIG fighter, and Chairman Mao memorabilia display.
-The Cheng Shifa Museum, (1921 -) an internationally acclaimed painter.

Riding the train to Fengjing.



Watching the locals air out their shoes, quilts, and coats after a long winter.




Drying greens on one of the historic bridges


Taking photos of the bridges and boats


Typical work boat like the ones that bring sand and gravel to the cement factory behind our apartment.


This couple lives on this small boat. They catch, buy and sell seafood for living. This shot is just after they made a delivery to a canal-side restaurant.


The trash cleanup boat.


The Commune Museum with it's revolutionary posters, air raid shelter, MIG fighter, and Chairman Mao memorabilia display.

I think that I see Nixon and LBJ in this poster. And you? The slogan on the left says "All Counterrevolutionary Factions are Paper Tigers."


Sun-Ling in the air-raid shelter.


And the MIG fighter.


A revolutionary painting by Cheng Shifa (1921 -), an internationally acclaimed painter. Reminds me of the style of Diego Rivera.


Some final shots.
Old lady carrying a chamber pot.




And if you are still paying attention. This is a honey pot with wooden brush that has been set out to dry.


Sun-Ling says this is a contraption is a fly trap.

It's warming up

After 97 days in row of wearing long underwear 16 hours a day, it is finally warmed up to the point that I've only worn them twice in the last 10 days.

Brackets Brackets Brackets

The annual rituals must be observed, even when in a foreign land.

This is a shot from several weeks ago when 3 Duke fans (including your truly) and 4 UNC fans gathered at a downtown Shanghai sports bar at 10:00 am in the morning to watch the 2nd Duke-Carolina game live from the Philippino satellite feed. "I'll have a Bloody Mary and some fries please."


FF: Duke, Memphis, UConn, Florida
Duke beats FL 76 to 68 in the final.

John has a new guitar!

I did not bring any of my musical instruments to Shanghai and was starting to miss playing the guitar so yesterday we hit the music stores clustered around the Shanghai Music Conservatory and I after much strumming brought home a new Toyama six-string acoustic guitar with gig bag and pick for just over 400RMB or about $50 US.

I also played an Ayers guitar which was OK but too expensive @ over $1000 US and several Johnson guitars which are made in China as a joint venture with AXL, a US company, but the Johnsons were strung with a crappy mix-match of strings and were not tuned so it was just not possible to get a good idea of the sound or action.

Then it was way cool to sling the gig bag over my shoulder and hop on the subway for the ride home.

I've got blisters on my fingers!

Chaozhou Part 1

I have posted Part 1 of the "extended" version of our early January trip to Chaozhou at http://meckleyearth.livejournal.com/.