Day Two- Shanghai

Well, it's day two and I am already on a quest. My quest isn't particularly noble, but it's a quest nonetheless. Mrs. Brock (the art teacher at GPS) was asked to take pictures for the NCTA website. They need photos of Asian teenagers that aren’t copyrighted- particularly ones of what I like to call "fashion forward" teenagers. Think guys with pink hair that sticks up in all directions, brown striped shirts with skinny black or purple jeans and red sequined Converse shoes. (Yes, these people do exist- Mrs. Brock has the photos to prove it.) While looking for kids to photograph, we noticed a few commonalities- a lot of kids have cell phones; a lot of young people ride scooters or bikes; a lot of young men smoke; and a lot of young men carry purses. Cell phones, duh, just like the States. The scooter thing is easy- cars are expensive and take up space to park. Bikes and scooters are cheap and you can weave in and out of heavy traffic (or occasionally cut off a tour bus and ride against traffic- saw that today, too!) The smoking thing was explained as well. Apparently, the tobacco companies aren't doing so hot in the States (yea for us!), so they have moved the market overseas and are pumping the kids over here full of nicotine. Sad, but it seems to be the truth. LOTS of people here smoke, and you can smoke inside pretty much anywhere and everywhere. It's hard to go someplace and not get a lungful of smoke. But the purse thing... hmmm... they aren't "murses" or man-purses. They are like pink designer knock-offs. I have an inkling they belong to their girlfriends, but I will need to test this theory. So, my new quest is this: to find one photo that embodies all these things. I want a photo of an oddly dressed and poorly matched (but very trendy) teenager riding a bike with his girlfriend side-saddle on the back, smoking and/or talking on a cell phone, carrying a purse. Let's face it- talking on a cell phone AND smoking while riding a bike is just too much to ask for, even for native Shanghai-ians who seem to have no fear of being hit by giant moving purple tour busses.



My favorite part of today's tour was the Jade Buddha Temple. It is home to the largest statue of Buddha carved from a single piece of jade. It portrays Siddhartha and looks quite feminine- a trend that apparently started during one of the times that China was ruled by an Empress. (Ming Dynasty??) This temple is a working temple, home to monks and visited by devout Buddhists who clamber over masses of tourists with cameras to kneel and pray. My favorite part of the temple was the red ribbons tied to absolutely everything in the courtyard outside on the ground floor. Each ribbon represents a wish made by a visitor to the temple. But it's like blowing out the candles on your birthday cake. Your wish doesn't come true if you tell someone what it was. :)






After visiting the Temple, it only made sense to eat lunch at an adjacent vegetarian restaurant. For those of you who don't know, most Buddhists are vegetarian. As a matter of fact, while attending a lecture on Japanese Buddhist sculpture, I once heard that if you are Buddhist and you eat meat, you would end up in the Hell of the Fiery Chicken! Well, needless to say, I was excited. But the excitement didn't last long. Now, I'm not what one would consider an adventurous eater. As a matter of fact, I kind of like to know what it is I'm eating BEFORE I eat it. Call me weird. But, I could identify very little at lunch, and consequence ate very little. And speaking of food, guess what we had for dinner?

That's right, folks. Fish heads. Again. We're fondly referring to it as the "Blooming Fish." Kind of like the Blooming Onion at Outback. Only fish.