Goodbye summer activities - Shanghai Zoo - Shanghai Aquarium - Minghan Sports Park End of Summer Company party - Shanghai Sculpture Park End of summer team-building trip - Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Island Lake) - Hangzhou
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When I travel, I'm a tourist. I like to see the tourist sights. No, I don't want to see that giant peanut or the world's largest anything. But when in Paris, yes, I did want to go to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. In Rome, I spent a day at the Vatican (it's the motherland). When I visited my college roommate in Cambridge, she gamely downloaded "The Boston Trail" app and walked me through the whole thing, even though she had done it before. Things are touristy because everyone wants to see them when they visit a particular place. They are significant, important, worthwhile, or maybe just very big. That's not to say I only want to be a tourist when I travel. I like to try to find things that are off the beaten path, or places where locals like to eat, drink, and hang out. But I'm not ashamed of my desire to see the sights. Shanghai is not necessarily the best city for tourism because it isn't a city with must-see sights. Walk along the Bund and you've pretty much crossed off the one big to-do. Nonetheless, I have a list of tourist sights that I want to see and I am slowly working my way through it. That "tour guide from hell" mentality my father instilled in me relaxes a bit when I have a whole year to see everything. Recently I decided I want to go on one of the big bus tours around the city. You know, the ones where you can sit on the top level and take pictures, then get on and off at various sites. They universally signal "TOURIST" but I think it would be fun and a good way to see the city from a new perspective. I mentioned this plan to another foreign teacher from my arrival group. I received a look of disdain as she told me "I live here. I'm not a tourist." Girl, please. Yes, you've lived here for four months. Just like me. This makes you neither Shanghainese nor Chinese. You're a foreigner. If you don't want to do embarassing tourist things, that's fine (me sharing plans was not an invitation, by the way). But please, un-arch that eyebrow and tone down the disgust. I don't think me saying "big bus tours" aloud automatically diminished your cool factor. In honor of that arched eyebrow, here's some tourist things I've done recently: Shanghai Museum of Sun Yat-Sen's Former Residence Sun Yat-Sen was a Chinese revolutionary who helped overthrow the Qing dynasty. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the Republic of China and became it's first president. Fuxing Park We have had really nice weather the past few days, and Shanghai has some beautiful green spaces to while away the hours. Also a great place to shoot the breeze with old Chinese men. Snag a bench in the shade and watch them flock to you. Requisite Bund photos (many more to come this year) Stalking old people exercising
Old people are very active in Shanghai. They make a concerted effort to exercise, but they do it in a lot of fun ways. I've seen a lot of tai chi and some huge night-time dance classes held in parking lots. However I also see old people just playing games that get them up and moving, including badminton, kite-flying and spinning tops. I'm always tempted to join in when I see the dancing classes, but it's usually unclear to me if this is an invite-only thing or what. Here's hoping my new friends from the park can give me the lowdown. |
SARAH ELLENTPA - SHA - BNA Archives
December 2016
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