Ok so I didn’t manage to sleep in. I woke up at 6+! Tried to go back to sleep but finally gave up at 8+. I think I was just too excited about all the things I could do with the extra time! So since I was up I decided to go collect tailoring for sam, pam and myself.
Took a nice half an hour morning walk down Lu Jia Bang Lu to the tailors and then loaded down with all the clothes, I took a bus back! My first bus ride in Shanghai! It’s very normal actually, just like any sbs bus. But I was proud to have figured out the bus to take (43!) and managing to stop at the right stop (which doesn’t even always happen back home haha)
Check out what my neighbours think they’re for:
And then I went running around the XinTianDi park/pond which turned out to be quite a bit bigger than I’d seen previously…
Along the way I discovered an antiques market at Dong Tai Lu. It wasn’t very crowded but the majority of the people there were tourists. And the Mao posters here are a lot cheaper than elsewhere! Shall come back here to buy some before heading back to Sg.
So I was out and about for about 1.5hrs and got really famished so I grabbed lunch at a roadside stall near my house which had something called 飘香拌面 which seems to be a local specialty but we’d never tried it before. The sauce really was very fragrant – had a peanut smell but no over-bearing peanut taste.
Lunch felt very homey. Tables in these road-side stalls generally sit 4-6 ppl and you can just take whatever seat is empty and share a table with strangers. So I was sitting with this old man when a mum and her little girl came in. I moved in so that the mum could sit with her daughter.
All of her sudden the girl started crying… I think she kicked her leg against the chair or something. The mum immediately rushed over and tried to soothe her while the old man opposite me tried to help by telling the girl “aiyah you kicked the chair ah? Kick the chair must pay you know! You have money or not?”
The girl was not amused and kept crying even more. Some guy at the next table got soft-hearted and said “ok ok no need to pay no need to pay” But the wily old man at our table said “ok lah ok lah if you stop crying you don’t have to pay. 不哭就不赔.” So the girl took a huge sniff and then gulped down her tears and the ppl around all chuckled and everyone happily went back to eating. I still had my camera with me and would have taken some pictures but it didn’t feel right just then, would have made me seem like such an outsider.
(I interrupt the post for a public service announcement: the honeymooners and friends left for the airport around this time! Bye dears!! It was lovely having you’ll here and I hope you’ll had fun!! Hope you won’t miss this place too much when you’re back at work on Mon!)
Hopped home and had a quick shower then went for church. Was planning to go to the Long Hwa Market after church to shop and then to the Whisk café to eat dinner and chill, but after listening to the day’s message on Rest, I obediently went home and took a nap.
(all that running and walking…)
And then went to a café at Taikang Lu instead cos it was nearer. Inside Taikang Lu there was an alley-way with art-n-craft shops and a couple of cosy cafes. It’s quite a quiet/empty area so I got a nice seat in a separate alcove at Up’s…
(and NO I’m not in the photo!)
On the way home I found a real Internet Café (as opposed to a café with free wireless) and stopped in for awhile just to try it out. Not bad but a bit too smokey, made my eyes smart.
China needs a Smokey Bear.
Today was quite different and I finally realized why. People here are generally rather curt and rude, in a rush and disinterested. But today I kept meeting nice people, from the lady in the shop downstairs which I took my bag to to be repaired, to the lady in the noodle shop, the waiter at the café, and the counter girl at the internet café… they’d all been friendly and smiley (or at least I wheedled a smile out of the bag lady even if it wasn’t very forthcoming at first) and good service does make a difference!
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