Happy New Year again!

Yes, that's right. China is cool enough to celebrate new year twice - one western, one Chinese. To be honest, because of... (gestures broadly at everything), this Chinese New Year is a bit more scaled down. The government has discouraged people from traveling, and unlike (gestures broadly at everywhere else), people are keen to follow that advice. Maybe fewer are following that advice that otherwise would though, because a lot of people sat out last year. Asking Chinese folks to skip one year of going back home is a big ask, so twice is huge.

To be honest, the recent outbreak in China would seem comical in comparison to the US, with a few hundred or so cases that popped up in province near Beijing. In typical Chinese style, they got that under control right-quick by shutting down the entire city, banning travel, etc.. So far it hasn't gotten out of that area, and only a handful of cases (literally, like a dozen or so), spread in Shanghai. And now we're back down to 0 new a day. So personally, I'm not worried. But it has gotten people a bit concerned, sort of in the style of "Hmm... everything is cool, but out of an abundance of caution, let's delay our travel plans." I think we will as well, although we weren't exactly dying to travel during Chinese New Year, AKA The Fast and the Furious: Beijing Drift. If you have never traveled during CNY, consider yourself lucky. It's a madhouse that we always sought to avoid by taking advantage of our long break, by leaving/coming back early/late.

But with our staycation in place, there's some Shanghai sights we're keen to see. Let's just start with a little place of interest, this weird sculpturey thing along the river. It's sort of on the north side of The Bund, and I've seen it many times. Is it a giant pencil? A bar? Rocket launch site? Well, we were in the area, so I suggested we pop over and figure out what the heck this thing is. Turns out, it's a Martyr's Shrine. They had a little museum about it that was closed, so maybe we'll have a chance to come back. It does look kind of cool from underneath, but otherwise just sits there to be spiffy. It has a great view across to the river to Pudong, so it's probably worth stopping if you're in the area, especially if the museum is open. There's also a bridge across the Suzhou River, which looks "American" enough for Ella to comment that it looks like it's from Cincinnati. But aside form a photo or two, there's not much else to see here.

Another place we checked out is one just around the corner from our apartment. That's quite unusual itself, because our place is tourist-circle adjacent, but hardly within that circle. The Shanghai Aviation Enthusiasts Association, which is apparently a thing, have a smallish appointment-only museum with some old planes. I had been meaning to visit for quite a while, but seeing old planes is pretty far down the list of things Ella would want to do. But finally I convinced her to make the appointment, and we set out for the grueling 5 minute bike ride. And honestly... it's kind of cool! I mean, you really don't need to make the trip if you're visiting Shanghai as a tourist, there's not all that much there. The showpiece is a DC-8, a large passenger jet from the 60s. They've left the plane pretty much the way it was, except cutting a hole in the floor to let you see the cargo hold. Fun fact, this particular plane had a (non-fatal) accident at Hongqiao Airport, and instead of repairing it, they apparently thought towing it to a small park in downtown Shanghai would be a good idea. Which, I have to imagine that back in the 80s, that was feasible. Now it's wedged in between a couple of buildings, you'd have to take the whole thing apart to do that today. Just for funsies, I tracked down the report on this particular plane, and sure enough, it has the same photo (minus a few more buildings that have gone up since).

That day was pretty chilly, but fortunately winter seems to be on the way out. One day it was downright warm, or at the very least "cool", enough that we took a long walk around the city. We've had a bunch of places marked on our maps to check out, mostly restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. So this would be a good opportunity to cut a swath through the middle of the city to try them all. We met a lot of cats, and even a bakery that did authentic cinnamon rolls, which blew my socks off. But the trip started out in Tianzifang, which is a bit touristy but still one of my favorite places in the city. Basically, it's a bunch of alleyways with tiny shops and street food (overpriced snacks for tourists, but street food nonetheless). Honestly if there was an entire city that looks like Tianzifang I'd want to live there. The lanes are too small for cars, and they're packed with lots of outdoor bars and interesting boutiques. The closest I found to this feeling is Mong Kok in Hong Kong, or maybe the north part of Macau. Basically, anywhere that is designed for people and not cars, so walking for a minute will have you pass a hundred different places. Of all the places I have lived, Taipei came the closest, which is maybe why I like that city so much. I don't know - living above a cafe or bar makes me feel like I'm actually in a city.

Speaking of cafes, let's talk about something else we did, that was one of the coolest things maybe ever in the history of everything. You've probably heard of cat cafes, maybe even dog cafes. Many cities have those. But something that Shanghai has that your city may not, is a raccoon cafe.

Yes, raccoon. Oddly enough, this is not our first time in a raccoon cafe. Are they becoming more widespread? I hope so, because they're really fun. And this cafe was significantly better than the one in Bangkok. For one, admission included a surprisingly good hot dog and a drink. But also, they let you interact with the raccoons, and they want to interact with you. The Bangkok raccoons were a bit scared of people, and sticking pretty close to their owner. These raccoons were more chill, and loved to use their little paws to see what was up with you. We also got to feed them crackers and vegetables, and it was pretty adorable how they would reach out and grab it from you. One of them in particular I took a liking to, as he was just very chill. The others would quickly snatch food and run away, but he was very patient, and carefully took it from you. And then he would lick my hand to look for any spare cracker residue. And wow, raccoons are incredibly soft. I can see why people used to go for raccoon skin hats. I think their body is about half as big as they appear, they're just covered with a giant layer of fur. 10/10, one of my favorite things I've done in Shanghai, and totally worth the $12 or so. Any friends that visit - get ready, we're going back there. And for anyone else who is interested, it's at 462 Changle Lu, near Line 1 South Shaanxi Road Station.

Other than raccoons and planes, we've mostly been meeting up with friends for food and drink. Since most everyone stayed home, there's a lot of time to spare - not to mention taking advantage of the weekday lunch specials at western restaurants we'd usually think are too expensive. But I've never been much for taking photos of food, because A) I don't care about anyone else's food, so why would you care about mine, and B) It's mostly been western food, so I can't imagine it would be interesting. But I will post one photo, of "Mongolian" food. They're basically little oat tortillas covered in sort-of spaghetti sauce. But for the most part, imagine we've been eating pizza, nachos, and Vietnamese pho. Alright, I lied. The last one isn't western. We're on a quest to find the best Vietnamese pho in the city, and I gotta be honest guys - it's not going well. Nothing we've eaten is bad per se, but it just tastes plain? Or at least not Vietnamese. I refuse to believe nobody in a city of 25 million can make noodles as good as what a street vendor in Vietnam can do for a dollar. So far we're at about 7 restaurants down, and only 2 have even achieved "Eh, not bad - but not Vietnamese."

And speaking of Southeast Asia, let's take a turn into sort-of-serious town. If you haven't seen the news recently, Myanmar's military has taken over the country. Strangely, I have experienced a coup before. Although, we're comparing apples to oranges here, because it has been my impression that this move in Myanmar is very unpopular, and people are worried. And of course that really sucks. I have said a few times that Myanmar is the best undiscovered tourist destination in the world right now, and everyone should make plans to visit. In particular, I said (and still feel) that Bagan is the most beautiful place I've ever been to. It seems that unfortunately, now fewer people will get to see it. I remember when I visited Myanmar, I felt special to be one of the few tourists in the country, as the military had just given up control. I had a blast, because the country had that "undiscovered", "authentic" feeling that all tourists want but never find. And the locals I met there were incredibly cool, up there with Laotians and Malaysians being some of the chillest, most awesome people I've had the pleasure of meeting. And I worry about some of them, like the monks I chilled with at the top of Shwedagon Pagoda. Or the tuktuk driver Mao Mao, who was an amazing guide who took me all around his village, and then home to meet his family. It really is a shame what is happening in Myanmar, because they deserve better. And I can only hope this coup brings positive changes for their lives - I doubt it will, but fingers crossed. And on the other side of all of this, if there is another side, I hope other people will consider visiting Myanmar. Because it is an amazing place full of amazing people, and apparently you have a fleeting chance.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc. etc.

It's gotten cold here in Shanghai, although not terrible considering what I grew up with. That all changes in the next few days though, where it's going to drop to below freezing for New Years. We're supposed to even get a little bit of snow, which will make me a little happy, and I'm sure my kids will go nuts. Something about the cold I've had to get used to, living in Asia, is that insulation in buildings is just not really a thing. I suppose it's a cost concern, why put in the money to insulate a building if you really only need it for a month or two out of the year? Or it could simply the construction companies saying "not my problem". I still have to think it would pay off in the long run. But it's something I have to live with regardless, which does not sound so appealing. I think I'll go straight from work to bed for the next few days.

"Reusing" paper for our 3R Unit

From a personal standpoint, things are pretty normal. Weekends are still spent hanging out with friends, including some very lovely Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. I mean, one in particular had a robot deliver the birthday cake, which, holy cow - best moment of 2020. I also made a Thanksgiving turkey in our toaster oven, which I was amazed it came out as well as it did. It fit with not even an inch to spare. Also, unrelated to Thanksgiving, but apparently Ella can roller skate like a champ - who knew?

Speaking of Ella, she recently got offered a new position that she is starting in February - and she is beyond excited about it. I'm also pretty happy, because we were seriously considering another offer which would require us to move and have a bit of a commute. Her new position is pretty close to us now, which means next semester we're good to go. Beyond that, I'm not sure about me. I interviewed at the same school, so it would be nice if we worked together. But I won't know until early January. If not, I honestly don't mind. Truthfully I'd be fine to stay with my current school. Part of the reason I love the job I am in, is that compared to job hunting in the US, you are in very high demand. I'm headhunted pretty regularly, so I never have to look far to find a position. And if I were to get let go tomorrow, I could pretty much walk into any language center and get a job immediately. Not that I'd love the night and weekend hours, but the pay is good and certainly enough for both of us to live on. The struggle is a bit more difficult for Ella, but I feel miles better than job hunting in the US, in comparison. Reading all this while writing it out just re-affirms that I made the right decision to leave.

But from the ol' travel side of things, a few days off for Christmas has let us poke our noses around the city a bit. Shanghai recently opened some more metro stations (and is now the longest in the world by route length), so they've been advertising all the neat things you can do on the metro. One that caught our eye was a model train miniature town, thing, at a mall sort of near downtown. I wasn't too excited initially, as it was about $12 a person to see. To me, that's a bit much to see some trains, but Ella was quite keen to check it out, and we had nothing else going on. I still think it's a bit overpriced for what it is, but it is quite impressive. It's probably about the size of 3 apartments, and has lots of little buttons you can push to make things happen - like to turn on the lights, or have the tiny chickens move around. Since me talking about something that is meant to be looked at is a bit silly, I'll just throw up some pictures and you can judge for yourself.

After I heard the LEGO store at Nanjing Road was worth seeing. Despite me walking past it a dozen times and never bothering to look inside, it is definitely worth seeing if you're nearby. I'd imagine other LEGO stores do things just as well, but it's still pretty cool. They had a tower with a dragon wrapped around it, which reminds me a lot of Wat Samphran in Thailand. And no, unfortunately we never made it there: because it's far away, there's no good way to go without a car, and not much else to do out there. But maybe one day. Anyway, at the LEGO store we made little Mike and Ella figures, which made it worth it. That was about the only affordable thing in that place. Holy cow, every time I see LEGOs they increase at like 5x the cost of inflation. Like, a Harry Potter set was $500. Are you kidding me? You can get a knockoff online for $20 - which honestly, as the owner of a few knockoffs, the quality is pretty much the same. I love LEGOs, but I really wish they'd make them more accessible.

But the main reason to write today is to talk about a trip we took to Zhujiajiao, a town on the outskirts of Shanghai. It's still in the district, and you can actually take a rather long metro trip all the way out there. From the station, it's about a 15 minute walk into the actual tourist area. It's notable for being a water town, where people still get around with boats through canals. Of course, nowadays it's mostly tourists that do that, but it's still a pretty place that attracts a lot of day trippers from the city. I had heard that it's beautiful at night, so instead of cramming it into a day, we decided to book a room and go in the afternoon.

I guess deserving of its day trip status, there is about a half days worth of stuff to do there. A lot of small museums, like an old post office or a Tibetan Culture Center. Nothing that blows your socks off, but nice, and definitely worth a look. And of course, lots of things to buy like souvenirs, snacks, etc.. I think the main draw is just to walk around the town, because it is just a bunch of narrow alleys stuffed with tea houses and and cafes that you can enjoy while sitting on the balcony above the canal. It really is quite picturesque, and is basically Instagram City.

 

During the evening, all the buildings lit up with colored lights, giving it a very Christmasy feeling. Although I do think that's about all the town has going for it at night. I guess because so many people just go back to the city, the place pretty much shuts down. It was even a bit creepy, how few people there were out on the street in comparison to earlier. Although I get it's not tourist season, and especially because of, well, (gestures vaguely at all of 2020), it still surprised me at how empty it was. So I'd say, unless you want pictures a quiet, lit up water town, stick to the day trip. Or just go back late, because the last train leaves at 10 or so. Ella and I found a Tibetan bar and restaurant that was open (apparently Zhuzhajiao is a Tibetan hangout), and, ya know, always nice to try new things. This was my 2nd time to try yak, and this one was better, but eh... I prefer other meat. It was also my 2nd time to try Tibetian beer, and oh man, they are 0 for 2 on that one. Lhasa Beer was a huge disappointment last time, and this one who's name I don't recall - also pretty bad. Sorry Tibet.

 

I don't want to leave the impression that I'm sour on Zhujiajiao, because honestly I do really like it. It's very pretty, and has lots of interesting stuff to see. It just doesn't have much to see. It's the perfect Shanghai getaway, and I'd go so far as to even recommend it over Suzhou for the "Chinese Venice" feeling. Instead of opting to walk back to the metro, we paid a few bucks to take a boat. It was neat to see the town from that perspective. and be in many many peoples' photos - especially as I was pretty much the only foreigner there. We had a chat with the boat driver for the 15 minute or so ride. When he learned I was American, he asked me, "What the heck is going on over there?"

(gestures vaguely at all of 2020)