Goodbye to Shanghai

It's the first day of 2012, and we're getting ready to leave. We're looking forward to coming home, but we're going to miss Shanghai. We've been spending our last few days visiting favorite places and packing up.

We had our Christmas dinner at a Shanghai-style restaurant with a fantastic view.

  

One of the downsides of being in Shanghai, no after-Christmas sales! But there's still plenty to buy. At Wal-Mart, the Christmas displays have given way to stacks of Lunar New Year items (Year of the Dragon). Lucky red underwear, anyone?

We were at Wal-Mart to get an extra suitcase to bring home some of the stuff that we've acquired.

Peter's become a pro at hauling stuff around on his bike rack.

   

Parker has been spending some quality time with his new obsession: Warhammer 40,000. Here he is with Mark, who manages the Games Workshop store at the Xintandi mall. The shop (the only one in China!) was one of the chance discoveries we call urban suprises. Parker and Mark really hit it off.

One of the things we'll miss most is the vendors at our wet market. We went to say goodbye and take some pictures.

     

 We saw the lady who makes fried dumplings, and the one who sells us vegetables.

The father-son team that makes meat and fish balls for hot pots.

Our fruit stand owner and his family.

   

 

We also said goodbye to the ladies who manage the Tongji pool. We haven't been swimming for a few weeks, because it's been so cold, but we wanted to see them one more time.

We made a farewell stop at Parker's favorite burger restaurant.

Slurped soup dumplings.

Had a last few cups of tea.

Bought a piece of art to bring home (this is just one corner).

  

        

Then visited a final building project.

On the way home from the project, we ran into a last pair of Shanghai surprises.

A hip restaurant with a mirrored bathroom.

And a street full of sea eels being dried in the cool air. Each eel's tag has the name of the buyer and the price he/she paid. They dry for about a week, and then the buyers pick them up. Ever since it started getting cold, we've seen all sorts of meat and fish hanging out to dry.

We each made lists of the things we'll miss the most.

We will all miss

     bicycle rides

     urban surprises

     street food

     wet markets

     hot pot

     friendly people

     family time

Parker will miss

     MoreCa

     Bistro Burger

     Tang Dynasty

     Shintori

     Tongji pool

     neighborhood cats

Pamela will miss

     tea culture

     soup dumplings

     tiny oranges

     being in a big city

     walking everywhere

     learning new things every day

Peter will miss

     clams

     Parker going out to buy breakfast

     getting lost in the crowd (one of the billion)

     talking to people excited about building projects

     learning about different approaches to rapid growth

     endless varieties of instant noodles

 

        

We'll be bringing back nine bags, two bicycle boxes and a lot of memories.