Chinese New Year - Feb 22, 2007

A slower pace.

The fireworks and firecrackers kept us up past 1:00 AM. Sun-Ling was up early. I dozed until 9 or so.

With no real plan for the day, we had some breakfast and watched the weather. When it looked like the sun might come out, I headed to Lian Hua Rd Metro station to try to shoot a photo of the new CRH bullet train as it came through. Sun-ling headed to IKEA to buy some some food.

Limited success for me as one train came by from the north at 1:41 and one from the south at 1:52. It's hard to get a good photo of a bullet. ;-)

This bullet train, known as the CRH (China Railway High-speed), from Shanghai to Hangzhou, is actually two bullet trains hooked together as you can see in this series of "coming", "joined in the middle" and "going" photos.

Coming towards you.


Two joined in the middle.


Going away.


We met at home around 2:30 and set out again at 3:00 for more historic architecture viewing. Ho hum. Not much cool stuff today.

Here's one apartment building that caught my eye on XinHua Lu.


One of the historic villas, 483 XinHua Rd is now the Hai Fei Xuan tea house. Good place for a break. Sun-Ling had a Mango Milkshake and John had a Coffee Ice Cream Snowy (like a milk shake).

Here's the historic villa.


Check out the bird carved from melon rind in SL's shake.


Rode bus 946 home. Dinner at home. Watched movie "A Sigh" by the Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. Pretty good.

Pig of the Day.

Chinese New Year - Feb 21

Year of the Pig: Day 4.

Plan: Forecast says a clearish day so we'll do another DIY walking your of historic buildings. Then, since it's the eve of the 5th day of the new year, we will stay up for midnight fireworks which traditionally welcome the God of Fortune/Wealth. These fireworks will rival the New Year's Eve fireworks in intensity but not duration.

Once again the Metro was full of people with gift bags and baskets. Here's a shot I took while waiting to get on the train in the Xujiahui Station. Notice the big glass doors/barriers for safety and crowd control.


Another nice winter day. Old folks were sitting in the sun. This lady was looking for a good spot to catch some rays.


We wandered around looking at old buildings. Actually it's not wandering. Sun-Ling has done some great research.

Some "soon to be renovated" historic apartments on Jianguo Rd.


The doorway of the Anting Apartments.


Greenish pre-1949 modernista home.


We popped into an antique store and bought a table for our apartment -- 100 RMB including delivery.

Stopped in Senses restaurant for a latte and cappuccino.

We ended up near Sun-Ling's Grandfather's (on father's side) younger sister's house. We call her Little Grandma. And after a call to Ma to get the exact street, we stopped in. Little Grandma's daughter and son-in-law were there and we had a good visit with lots of snacks: pistachios, tangerines, candied walnuts, candied hickory nuts, Picnic candy bars from Australia, various seeds, and hot tea. Forgot to take a group photo.

Just around the corner from Little Grandma's house was this meat shop.


Took a taxi home.

The fireworks were again more than awesome. The restaurant across the street let off a barrage. And our neighbors in the courtyard made some of the loudest noise I've ever heard. Wow!

I've been experimenting with my camera settings in an attempt to get some better fireworks shots.

From our courtyard balcony.


From our Nandan Rd balcony.


Towards Gateway Towers.


Pigs of the Day.

Chinese New Year - Feb 20

Today is the 3rd day of the Year of the Pig. The plan: Lunch with Sun-Ling's father's relatives. Try to shoot a photo of the new CRH bullet train. Catch the new 007 movie with Sun-Ling's nephews. Dinner out.

Made it to the 11:30 lunch on time today. Again, most people on the Metro were carrying a gift bag or basket. I managed to sneak a shot.


There were two tables for today's banquet. Eating. Talking. Toasting. Etc.

Packing the leftovers. Grandmother and Beckham. Who knows?


The lunch lasted until 1:30 so I missed my chance to photograph the CRH train. Maybe tomorrow.

We rode the Metro back to XuJiaHui. Sun-Ling's father's older brother, his children and grandchildren, who were all at lunch, met us at our apartment.
Father's older brother's family.


After a short visit, we took the two grandchildren - boys ages 16 and 15 - to see the new 007 movie, Casino Royale, which we all liked. Chinese refer to Casino Royale as the new "007" (ling ling chi) movie, not the new "James Bond" movie. I guess the numbers are easier to pronounce.

Gino's was the next stop for lasagna, spaghetti, and pizza; finally put the boys on the Metro about 8:30 PM. They are good eaters. Good kids.

Pigs of the Day.

Hapig New Year ;-) poster seen in at Gino's bakery.


From a poster in a bank.

Chinese New Year - Feb 19

The weather forecast was for clear skies. No family activities were planned So our plan for the day was to check out some of the historic buildings in Shanghai on a DIY walking tour.

First stop was at Gateway Towers to buy tickets for tomorrow's 4:30 showing of the latest 007 movie. We are taking Sun-Ling's nephews (the sons of two of her cousins). While waiting for SL to buy the tickets I took this shot of the mall dome with the red lanterns.



As we walked along Huai Hai Lu in the Embassy/Consulate District, the streets seemed almost deserted. The even the normally kinetic street sweepers were relaxing.


The Consulate Guards were out for a walk on a winter's day.


The famous Normandie Apartments - at left.


The famous Empire Mansions (apartments).


24 Fuxing Xi Lu (Magy Apartment) faces the corner. A super Art Deco building. One of my new favorites.


Willow Court (apartments) - the yellow building at right-back.


We made two pit stops today. First at 1:30 for iced coffees, onion rings, fried noodles,and deep fried rice balls. And again about 4:30 for 2 coffee milkshakes. Yum!

Home at 5:30. SL made a tasty spicy Thai stir-fry.

Evening: I worked on uploading photos to Flickr and writing this post.Sun-Ling watched Million Dollar Baby. We were both interrupted several times by more fireworks in the courtyard. Fun!

Pigs of the Day.

McDonald's poster by a bus stop.


Poster on the door of a restaurant.