So after eating the popular (and cheap) Shanghai fried dumplings, I made my way to People's Square to find some photo opportunities. As I was about to leave to People's Park, I was stopped by a young Chinese couple who asked me to help them take their picture. After taking the picture, they noticed the Canadian flag on my bag, and so we started conversing about where everyone was from and so on. I got a chance to practice a bit of my basic Mandarin, and they got to practice their English (which I think was their intention in the first place). They said they were from another province in China and they were visiting Shanghai, but they seemed to know the city quite well. So after a 10 minute conversation, I declined their invitation to join them for tea, and went on to People's Park. On my way there, another pair of Chinese friends stopped me to ask me to take their picture for them!
It's a very nice park, similar to the many other parks here in Shanghai: full of seniors practicing tai-chi, playing cards, lounging around, conversing with friends, and enjoying various other activities. But it didn't seem as big as some of the other less well-known parks in the city, such as Luxun Park (which is right across from my school and quite vast). One of the interesting things (for kids) was the carnival rides area, which I've noticed are present in the other parks and is probably a feature of all of Shanghai's parks.
Then I headed over to Xintiandi. For those that don't know, it's a area that retains the old-style housing that was the mainstay in Shanghai in the past, and then was turned into a high-end area mainly for foreigners by property developers. Obviously a very nice area with many pricey restaurants (by China standards, about on par with the classy restaurants in downtown Toronto). My plan was to watch G.I. Joe in the movie theatre in the area to experience the Chinese movie theatre atmosphere and to pass the time until nightfall, but it cost even more here to watch a movie (for recently released movies) than in Toronto(!), so I ended up wandering around the area for the rest of the afternoon. I decided to take a short break and people-watch just outside Starbucks, when a random 63 year old Chinese man sat down beside me and asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from Canada, he became ecstatic and we began a half-Mandarin half-English conversation (as his English was very limited, and my Mandarin is very limited) for at least 15 minutes. He was very friendly, and we talked about the weather in Canada and the area of Xintiandi. At one point, in broken English, he exclaimed (drawing the attention of nearby Starbucks patrons) "You are one of my best friends!" hahaha. It was definitely a very interesting encounter, and it totally took me by surprise. I couldn't help but feel amused (as well as some of the people sitting nearby) after he left, and briefly wondered if the conversation even really happened.
Nighttime finally came, and the place lit up, and I must say it really does look better at night (as my Turkish friend from my school suggested); I wasn't the only photographer taking in the scenery. I was planning to eat at one of the restaurants there, but since I am on a budget, and I figured it couldn't be any better than the equivalent in Toronto, I headed back to my dorm room.
I look Chinese (as opposed to another race), so I was very surprised I was approached so many times that day. (Many times I've seen the Chinese here approach people of other races to ask to take a picture with them, as if they've never seen a white or black person before...which I guess they probably haven't). Definitely a day of strange, but interesting, encounters!
UPDATE:
I can't believe I forgot to post about these dumplings in a food post! They're famous Shanghai-style fried pork dumplings! Very very tasty! And I ate them (twice) at the very popular shop near Nanjing Road West (lines are always quite long). And cheap too! For $1.50 CAD, you get 8 dumplings! That's filling enough to eat for lunch!
On my way to People's Square. The building on the right in the 2nd photo is a JW Marriott hotel...obviously very fancy shmancy.
A lot of people were out enjoying the day at People's Square. The 2nd and 3rd photos show the Shanghai City Hall.
People's Park. I didn't really know what it was, but one part of the park had a large number of people just talking and gathered around Chinese postings in the park (some looked like available apartments for rent, some looked like missing people information, some looked like a list of used items for sale)...I guess people use the parks are bazaars too? There was also a Western restaurant right in the middle of the park...you can't get any more capitalist than that. I took the last two photos because I was trying to show the elevated stepping stones for crossing to the other side, I'm not sure how visible they are though.
The bus stop outside People's Park. Look at that line-up just for one bus and it wasn't even rush hour!
Back at Starbucks at Xintiandi. It had two floors!
Still in Xintiandi - it's capitalism at it's best.
A close-up of the rundown poor area just across the street from Shanghai's most expensive area to live.
The 3 statues at Xintiandi - I've forgotten what they represented haha.
Xintiandi at night! I think it looked much better at night too, don't you? The place really comes alive as the artificial lights turn on. I think the slow shutter speed of the camera and the lighting inside the fountain of the statues made for a cool effect. And of course, my day at Xintiandi started at Starbucks, and had to end at Starbucks (I didn't drink more coffee, but you pass it on the way back to the subway).
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