A trip to Mission Impossible 3

I was on the train the other night, and we ended up talking about bacon. Yes, you can get bacon in Shanghai, but it’s smoked, and not my favourite. Anyway, by the time I got out of the metro I NEEDED to have bacon for tea. I dropped into the local supermarket and bought some bacon and some eggs. The eggs – well, I bought GREEN EGGS, but to be honest, they are just ordinary eggs – sorry for all you Dr Seuss fans out there!!

The rains have started here. I was feeling right at home – the rain started on Tuesday night and continued all day Wednesday, and all day Thursday. It was almost like being back in Scotland, except that it was warm (25 degrees), and there was no wind!! Luckily it didn’t get very warm, so the humidity wasn’t a problem.

One of my Chinese colleagues took me out to be a tourist last Sunday. We went to visit Xi Tang. This is a pretty village near Shanghai became famous a few years ago because they filmed part of Mission Impossible 3 there. It’s just a small place, with traditional Ming and Qing dynasty houses sitting on canals. I’d asked for the authentic Chinese experience, so we used normal transport to get there. There are tourist buses which go there from Shanghai, but where’s the challenge in that?? We met up at Shanghai South Railway station – what an amazing place. I don’t think I’ve seen a train station which is nearly so modern. It’s circular, and all the outside – including the domed roof is made of glass. It’s really big and airy. It just opened last year, and is very impressive. Considering hat it’s a train station in one of the biggest cities in the world, it wasn’t at all crowded. Yes there were lots of people there, but there was plenty of room for everybody. We got on our train and found our reserved seats, and at 10 o’clock we left Shanghai. Well, that’s not strictly true, we lest the station. It took at least another 20 minutes to leave Shanghai. The train trip itself was only 40 minutes long (and cost 60p!!). After

a short walk, we got on a bus which dropped us off at Xi Tang about 15 minutes later (cost = 20p). We then got in a bicycle rickshaw and were taken to a restaurant for lunch. I’m not a big fan of rickshaws, following our escapades in Beijing, but this one was OK. After lunch we went wandering around Xi Tang – a nice place, with very few non-Chinese tourists. Of course, I took a few photos!!!

After a couple of hours, we took the bus back to where we’d got off the train, where we’d planned to catch the bus back to Shanghai. Slight problem – the bus tickets were nearly sold out, so we had a couple of hours to kill before we could get a seat. Not a big problem, as after a little wander about we found somewhere to stop for an ice cream. The bus took an hour to get back to Shanghai -fighting through the traffic, but it was very comfy, and three times the price of the train!!! I’d a great day out – and spend an extravagant sum of just over 5 pounds!!

Life in the Big City

I know that living in the one of the largest cities in the world has it good side (ask my poor over-worked alarm clock about the down-side), but today’s experience was just a bit surreal!!

It all started off a few months ago, when I started learning Mah Jongg. Of course, never one to keep my mouth shut, I was talking about it at work – and so the idea of a Mah Jongg session was born. So, in a couple of weeks, some of my work-mates are coming round for an afternoon of Mah Jongg, followed by a ‘teach Rhona to make dumplings’ session, then a whisky tasting session – talk about a mix of cultures!!! The only problem I have is the table for playing Mah Jongg. I don’t have a table the right size for 4. My dining room table is for 6, and my balcony table is barely big enough for a cup of tea! No problem. I live in Shanghai – they have tables here! I have no idea where, but I’ll find one.

Mah Jongg table

So, it’s Saturday afternoon, and the weather has cooled down – a lot, so I decide to go for a wander in the neighbourhood. I needed to go to the bank, so that meant walking past the DVD shop (I was very restrained and only bought 5 – well, I was on my way TO the bank!). Then I decided to wander down that street there, as I’ve not been there before. Guess what area I ended up in? The furniture shop area!!! Spooky. I had no idea that there was a furniture shop area, never mind that it’s 10 minutes walk for where I live! Most of them were a bit too rich for my blood – and what would I do with marble flooring anyway – I’ve nothing to floor!!! I was drawn into the sculpture shop (which won’t surprise – but the fact that I came out empty-handed might. Nothing was leaping up and down enough saying buy me-buy me to make me give in. Strolling a bit further got me to a shop selling chairs. Now, I’ve been searching all over for chairs for my balcony, and had given in to folding chairs a few weeks ago – buy now I’ve found where the chairs are. Then I spied some folding tables hidden in the corner – just what i was looking for. On looking closer I saw that a couple of them were even specifically Mah Jongg tables. Perfect. I am now the proud owner of a ‘Silent Mah Joing’s Table Smooth Absolutely Pushing Tireless For Longer’. I’ll still loose though!!! It reminds me a bit of the card table that used to come out on a Saturday night at my Auntie Jean’s, to be filled with cups of tea and plates of cakes and, of course, pancakes!!! Who knew then that I would own a similar table 30-odd years later, but in Shanghai!!!

Shanghai Science and technology Museum

Last Sunday the weather was hot, so I decided that I would use somebody else’s air conditioning to keep cool. (Can you tell I’m Scottish??) I went over to the other side of the river to Pudong, and spent a few hours in the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. It’s an amazing building, and they have some good stuff to do. Unfortunately my Chinese wasn’t up to making the most out of my visit, but a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon. One of the bits I enjoyed the most was archery against a robot. The competition side didn’t interest me, but the archery was pretty cool. I think it’s something I’d like to learn how to do. I’ll need to see if I can track down an English-speaking archery coach in Shanghai (knowing my luck, there’s one next door!). I was a bit surprised at one point, as there was a big display dedicated to James Clerk Maxwell – the Scottish mathematician and physicist, who gave his name to the building (JCMB) where I studied physics at Edinburgh University all those years ago. The Scots get everywhere!

Display on the works of James Clerk Maxwell