06/30: Oh the humidity!

S and I joined some friends for a ride this drizzly evening. It's no
Portland drizzle... hot and muggy and more muggy. Here we paused on
the pedestrian shopping street Nanjing Lu so locals could ogle us as
sweat dropped from my brow.

A few daily pics

Guys on little folding bikes riding with umbrellas. You don't see that in Portland. No shortage here.

In front of my gym, there's this big statue of a cow golfing with a soccer ball.  I don't get it either.

S buying dinner veggies at the local open air market.

06/26: Park art

Rainy days and night are when the parks are empty enough to enjoy.

06/25: Drizzle

Skyscrapers vanish into the low cloud cover.

06/24: You are what you eat

The little soft-serve cone in my hand is a whopping 1 RMB, or 15 cents.

06/23: First class seating

06/22: Fickle heater

Our water heater likes to turn off mid shower. I'd figure out what the
adjusting knobs are if they weren't seized.

06/21: Great lengths

06/20: Teppenyaki

A favorite lunch place cooks up grub right in front of us for about
$3. That there's chicken, fish, and octopus.

06/19: Wine abuse

I broke a bottle of wine this evening while changing the water
dispenser jug (the tap water is not fit for consumption).

Miraculously some wine survived and was promptly enjoyed.

Moganshan Wildlife

Daily picture smorgasbord

I'm still snapping photos, just haven't uploaded them recently...

It's been raining a lot here. Here's Sierra and Miina walking by an urban waterfall.

 

We got one dry day on Thursday. On the ride home after our last dodgeball game for the season, I rode by a street vendor selling these oversized teddy bears. The vendor was napping nearby in a chair.

Saturday morning I awoke to the plaintive cries of a kitten. It was in the hallway cowered behind a door.  Sierra and I bathed it in our sink and shut it in a hallway corridor -- we couldn't keep it in our tiny apartment and risk introducing any diseases to Ciao and Nickel. As we were trying to figure out who might take it, an apartment maintenance ushered the kitten from the hallway. Best of luck little fella.

06/13: Job half done

Tree trimmers made quick work of this street. So quick that the
couldn't be bothered to cart away limbs or trimmings, regardless of
what's parked under the tree.

6/10-11-12: Rain, more rain, and capitulating

 On Friday it rained absurdly hard, and at one point it looked like we were in the midst of an eclipse it got so dark.

It continued raining Saturday but Sierra and I opted to grab a couple of coffees and make the most of it.  This park was completely empty, which was quite pleasant.

With the humidity and heat cranking up, my body's built in cooling system has futilely working overtime. Here I am mid shave in an attempt to make the sticky heat more tolerable and less messy.

Best picture from Moganshan

I had to bully Troy into climbing aboard this statue, but it was worth
it! He seems to be enjoying himself anyway.

06/09: Paint

6/07 & 6/08: Ciao & Sweet kicks

 Ciao has made himself at home.

A store on the way to work is probably the official retailer of Kangaroo Jumps in Asia. Kangaroo Jumps? Yes please.

Bamboozled

For the Dragon Boat Festival three day weekend, Sierra and I took a trip to the bamboo forests in the Moganshan mountains, just a few hours from Shanghai by bus.

But first, my daily pics from Thursday and Friday...

Post dodgeball drinks at the Boxing Cat.  This brewery feels like Portland, and provided a soft landing for us the day we arrived in Shanghai.

Riding under an illuminated highway.  This is one way to beautify an otherwise drab slab of concrete.

Ok, that's out of the way. Here's a little from our trip.  There were no epic vistas to be captured as Moganshan was socked in, but it made for an enchanting experience among the bamboo.

As one might expect, without warning ninjas would soar from bambooed heights. This one looked like me.  Weird.

This ninja was a bit less threatening. 

The steep terrain was crossed with stone stairways, arches, and sculptures.

Sierra out-craning the crane.

I also attempted to out-crane the crane. I think I need to flap my arms faster next time.

This is how you chicken dance. CO-CA! CO-CA!

The next day we visited wetlands where boats ferried us between islands. I was really hoping that individual canoes would be available so we could explore on our own, but that wouldn't have been the Chinese way.

At least the boats had some class, although I could have done without the amplified Mandarin chatter from the tour guide.

The islands were interlaced with meandering bamboo walkways.

We're back in drizzly Shanghai today.  Photo du jour...

06/01: Dragon Boat Festival

We have a 3 day weekend coming up for Dragon Boat Festival. In the
spirit, work gave everyone vacuum sealed rice dumplings. I was lucky
to have a coworker tell me to boil it first, otherwise I would have
scarfed down on raw pork.