Black and white... oooh so dramatic

Because I am just so deep and interesting I decided to post a couple of black and white photo's that I like but wouldn't fit anywhere. Tadah, and so concludes my snapshots of Shanghai

Shanghai Local Markets

I think this is one of my absolute favourite trips during my stay in Shanghai. I was studying Chinese Culture and Society, and being taught by two amazing lecturers, one of the lectures organised for us to get out and see how old Shanghai is still thriving. His son, whose English was astounding, showed us round the old markets in shanghai, close to the Yuyuan bazaar and Gardens, teaching us about the culture, unusual foods, and market life in Shanghai.

Through the tour we saw live chickens, eels, frogs, home grown vegetables, animals and organs I couldn't identify, as well as health and safety standards that would make even your local greasy spoon 'chef' cry. It was magical, as Fudan University is not in central Shanghai we had glimpsed aspects of this market life, a life incredibly different from the millionaires drinking at park 97. In my opinion this is the heart and origin of Shanghai; the community atmosphere neighbours chatting on street corners and men in suits buying weird weird produce.

The places we where shown is a side of China that is too frequently hidden from tourists. However, I think that this rough and ready version of Shanghai is the most honest, interesting and engaging. I believe I learnt a lot about the traditional cultutre of China through this market tour and I am overjoyed to see that this type of life is still thriving. It something that died out long ago in England.

What I really appreciate is that though these people have access to Wall-mart and Tesco, they still chose these markets, that have been in existence for hundreds of years. It's great that the younger generations who want to buy their frogs and Peking duck at Wall-mart can, but for every one of those, there is still someone supporting the local economy and local environment through shopping at these Markets.

Shanghai Zoo

So I couldn't resist it... I'm pretty sure that whatever country I travel to, I'm always going to want to go to the zoo. For the first time in a while I didn't go on my birthday - this year I pigged out on Korean Barbeque, I think my age is showing. Anyway, so one blustery Saturday me and fellow animal lover Aimee headed to Shanghai zoo. Needless to say, it snowed again, we definitely jinxed the weather.

My first ever Giant Panda

 I was pretty astounded at this, I know China's national animal is the Giant Panda, but being able to see one blew me away, and of course it would be sleeping on a slide, what else could be more fit for a panda? What you can't see out of shot is a child's rocking horse, ridiculous you might think, but actually it looked pretty well used, I imagine being a Panda is a pretty peculiar lifestyle. But hey, when your species is that rare I guess you can demand Victorian rocking horses and whatnot. 

 These adorable Red Panda's had to be the star attraction in my opinion, there where absolutely loads of them, pattering about with their pigeon toed gait munching on bamboo its enough to make a 20 year old squee (seriously get on youtube). I am well aware that the sleepy Giant panda is the thing to see, but these adorable little ones did it for me. They seemed pretty active despite the minus 5 temperatures, thinking about it maybe the Giant Panda had the right idea snoozing through the snow...

Shanghai zoo for me really reflected some areas of Chinese society, it was by far the biggest zoo I had ever been to (they even had grizzly bears) and a lot of other animals that I have never seen before. I felt like David Attenborough, however I don't think Mr. Attenborough would have been pleased by what we saw. I am aware its winter meaning the animals where far grumpier, and not as happy as a majority of the year but I found elements of this zoo disturbing. Much like Shanghai itself the main  attractions where amazing; the Panda's where beautifully housed, as where the bears. But the shabbier corners where a little uncomfortable for someone used to western zoos.

In my local zoo I am pretty sure most of the animals are housed and fed better than I am, but several of the animals at Shanghai zoo appeared to have mange or where shut out in the snow with little or no shelter. We even witnessed a wolf housed in pen similar to those found at a kennel with no clean water shelter or food, this sight was concealed by some corrugated iron which someone had pulled away so that observant visitors could spy. The wolf could have been in isolation due to illness I'm can't be sure, but both Aimee and I found this pretty horrific.

 I think Elements of Shanghai zoo are incredible and I am sure that in the summer months things look spectacular and I imagine all the animals are well catered too. But in the short winter days where business is slow this zoo feels a little neglected. I would recommend a visit to this zoo, but perhaps not in winter for the feint hearted. I hope I haven't put people of this zoo, perhaps its a cultural difference between the east and west but parts of this zoo are not what I had hoped for.

Suzhou

Lingering Garden Suzhou

 

 This is the Lingering Garden in Suzhou, don't be fooled by the greenery, there was snow on the roof. This is a classical Chinese Garden and it was really beautiful, there was even a lady in traditional Chinese dress draped across one of the decks. Though these photo's don't do it justice it is a world renowned garden and a heritage site.

Home visit

 

 These photo's are from the home visit organised by The Study China program. Groups of 7 or so visited teachers from Fudan University homes to get a look at life in China. We visited an amazing home and were welcomed by Grandma, Andy and our lăoshī (teacher). We received tea in the traditional way and were taught Chinese by a 4 year old, pretty impressive! We also learnt how to make dumplings and sesame balls with the family. This was probably one of the most fun experiences we had in Shanghai. Seeing how traditional elements of Chinese culture is still really strong at home was amazing.

Hangzhou

Hangzhou is a historical town not far out from Shanghai, It's renowned for it's beautiful lakes and temples so we took a day out to visit. Typically, as British tourists we managed to pick one of the coldest days to visit (it was snowing) as well as managing to get the local slow train to the wrong station. As a result we had a bit of a panic at the station and managed to surprise a lot of Locals by a little gang of British teenagers landing. After a fairly long taxi journey we reached the west Lake or Xī Hú as its called in Chinese.

We arrived fairly late and the weather was perfectly grey, but it was still a beautiful place to visit. So here's a couple photo's from around the lake.

Aimee and Bruce smiling through the cold

Me being an awesome tourist

If you look really closely one of these people isn't actually in the statue.

A wild red panda... or a cat whatever