Later in the day, I went out to stroll around the streets near the dock. It was drizzling and I didn't walk too far from where the ship was berthed.
Lots of people rode bicycles, right down the main streets and of course there were bicycles parked everywhere. The bicycle parking lots looked like this, going along both sides of the sidewalk. 0960
Search for the OperaIn the evening, I wanted to make one last attempt to go to a Chinese Opera. Nancy and I found out where an opera house was and took a taxi to get there. It was near People's Square. It was dark when we arrived but the sidewalks were filled with people on foot and lots of traffic on the streets.
The taxi let us out right by the opera building and we went inside and managed to communicate our inquiry to the woman at the reception desk. It turned out that in the winter, the opera happens sporadically. There had been a performance the night before and another one coming up the following week but none that night. I was extremely disappointed.
We went back out on the street and decided to find a place to eat dinner. The opera house was on a corner of the main street. We crossed the side street and saw a busy, modern looking restaurant and were trying to decide whether to go inside or not when a small, older Chinese man came up to us and in basic English conveyed to us that if we wanted to eat, come with him.
Dining Adventure
I know this kind of thing can be iffy but I didn't have a bad feeling about it and felt it would be an adventure to make up for missing the opera so we slowly started to follow him. The place he led us to was only a couple of doors down from the other place, so it wasn't in a hidden alley or anything sinister. It was just a very small, family-run restaurant. He showed us a menu while a 20-ish woman set our table and someone in the cooking area got ready to make our food. We tried to choose something safe but interesting but he kept pushing the fish so we ordered it as well as another dish each. (This took place six months before I am writing about it, so I don't remember what else we ate.)
I ordered water to drink, much to our host's distress. Finally they brought me a class of hot water. I took one sip and then realized it probably was tap water and unsafe for my expat system so I didn't drink any more. The fish was interesting. I don't know what kind it was but we got the whole thing, except the innards; it had been cleaned, fortunately, but had all its bones. It was fried and the skin was crispy. We tried eating around the bones - with chopsticks, of course; there was no Western-style cutlery - but there wasn't much meat. We finished quickly, paid for the meal and left.
The Pedestrian Overpass and People's Square
The night was still young so we decided to walk to People's Square, which wasn't too far away. We came to the main intersection where two huge streets intersected. I can't remember how many lanes were going in each direction, but there were a lot and all were filled with traffic. People overflowed the sidewalks and into shops and stores. There was a huge walkway going over the streets so pedestrians could safely get across any of the streets to reach their destination. It was covered, which was good because it had started to drizzle. The stairways were wet, though, and slippery, so we had to step carefully. There were steep stairways leading up to it. Once we were up there, we saw that there was also an elevator we could have taken! Too late...
From the pedestrian walkover bridge, I took this photo of traffic stopped at a signal. 0961
A view of the walkway from another vantage point on the same. It was very modern and attractive. 0964
A view of traffic in another direction. 0965
And yet another direction. Note the ceiling of the walkway cover at the top of the photo. 0968
A view of People's Square. The dark shapes on the left and right sides are beautiful trees. The square has a wonderful park surrounding it. The big building is a theatre. 0969
When we saw the big theater, I wanted to go to it to see if possibly an opera was playing, so we started, slowly and cautiously, down the steps on that side of the walkway.Another view of the square, focusing on the park area. There were very bright lights around the perimeter and a fountain in the park. 0970
When we got to the theatre, we saw lots of people milling around, waiting to get inside even though there wasn't a theater entrance, just regular doors. We went up the stairs to the terrace near the doors. We couldn't figure out what was happening so Iventured to ask a nearby young woman if she spoke English. She did, and explained that it was Opening Night of something (I can't remember now, a movie maybe) and her company had given its employees free passes to see it. That's why they were at the back doors. We left them and went back to ground level to walk around to the front of the building. There we found a normal box office but it was closed. We gave up then as it was getting late and we had had a long day. and went back to the ship.Embroidery Class at Harvest Design Studio
The next morning, I headed out with three other women from TSS a 10:00 Chinese embroidery class at Harvest Design Studio. I had seen a brief reference to the studio in my guidebook to Shanghai under "Shopping." The last sentence was something like, "embroidery classes for four or more are offered." I started trying to find out how to contact the studio since the book gave only an address.
I finally asked one of the library's student assistants, who was from Shangahi, if she could find the contact information. She graciously emailed her mother, who did some investigating and sent an email address and contact name. The contact's name was Shirley. I emailed Shirley and found out the details. I then recruited three other women to join me and over the course of several emails, Shirley and I set up the appointment.
That morning, we took a taxi to Autumn Design Studio, which was rather hard to find but eventually our driver got us there. It is in a complex of arts and craft studios that have the most wonderful original creations for sale. I'd love to go back there again and spend several hours wandering, window shopping and maybe even buying!
Anyway, we finally found the studio we sought, after finally having to ask in a nearby shop, and were exactly on time for the class to begin.
Inside on the ground floor was the retail shop with the most wonderful, beautiful and intricately embroidered items for sale. We asked a sales lady for Shirley and were directed up a wooden staircase to the next floor. There we were greeted by other non-English speaking women sitting on stools, diligently and swiftly embroidering. Then Shirley came up to us, wearing a smile the size of a quarter moon. She spoke some English and welcomed us to her studio. She introduced herself and told us she was a great fan of Miao embroidery. The Miao are a minority group in China. She had setup this design studio to give employment to talented Miao embroiderers in order to keep their traditional needlecraft and fantastic designs alive and provide a way for them to make a living in the modern world. Then she introduced our instructor, a tiny woman wearing traditional Miao clothing who spoke no English at all. (Miao is pronounced, "meow.")
Shirley offered us tea and invited us to sit in armchairs surrounding a low table. I declined the tea but the other three women accepted. When the tea came, there was a glass of hot water for me, which I gratefully accepted.
Shirley then passed out photocopied directions and another woman brought us three silk-covered zippered sewing baskets - each a different color - and a black square of fabric showing the finished produce of what we would be starting on that day. We were actually taking the first in a series of four classes that would have seen us through a finished product, but we were leaving later that day and could only take the first class.
View of table, with handouts, sewing baskets and ginidhrf product (on upper right of the table). The basket at the center bottom of the photo is open, showing all the embroidery floss and other contents. 0971
Close-up of finished product. 0972
Traditional clothing sleeved arm of our instructor, showing us something about the pattern we would be stitching. 0973
Shirley, intent on her sewing. Hers is the blue basket. 0975
Teacher, demonstration a sewing technique. on my chalk-outlined fabric. 0976
Donelda, enjoying her sewing experience. She was the best embroiderer among us. 0977
Buveh, sewing and chatting with the others, having a great time. Clothing slated for embroidery is hanging in the background. 0981
Another shot of Buveh hard at work. 0982
All of us, including our enthusiastic non-English speaking Miao instructor wearing her traditional clothing. Ann is on the far left. Shirley took the photo. 0984
0985
The back side of the finished product, taken to guide me after I'd left the studio and had to finish on my own. 0987
What I accomplished before the end of our two-hour session. The flower stitches are in two hues of thread and the outline stitch in the upper center are in white. 0990
Another view. 0991
All of us, including Shirley on the far right and two of the embroiderers on the left. 0992
Shirley wantet her picture taken with me. She had a wall of similar photos of her taken with foreign embroidery class takers. 0994
We left at noon, with many words of thanks, many hands shaken and many expressions of go0d will on all sides, we were delighted to learn that the lovely sewing baskets were ours, part of the price of the class.
We were also given lovely cloth tote bags to carry our things in. The bag had a printed design of a traditional Miao embroidered design on the front and the name of the studio on the back.
Front of the bag, showing beautiful traditional Miao design. 8102
Back of the bag, with shop details printed on it. 8104
Close-up of shop details. 8105
The other three women caught a taxi back to the ship and I caught another taxi to go to a traditional market which was near an interesting park I wanted to visit. Nikki was going to meet me there and we were going to explore it together.
Desperately Seeking Nikki
When I got to the place, I left the taxi and started wandering around, consulting a map in my guidebook, trying to find the entrance to the park. I finally passed a high wall with window-like openings and could see the park inside but i never found the entrance. I walked far enough that I found another lovely park I thought might be the right one and wandered through it, without finding Nikki. Then I gave up and wandered through the market, eventually buying a few small souvenirs and then catching a taxi back to the ship.
Later, Nikki and I caught up with each other on the ship and I learned that the park entrance was hidden within a maze of shops in the market and she had happened to find it and had looked everywhere for me, without success. obviously. I had been almost at the park entrance at one time but hadn't continued far enough. I had a lovely day nonetheless. However, I never took photos of the lovely park I had been in.
Final Scenes of Shanghai
The ship was scheduled to leave Shanghai late that evening, so after dinner I went on deck and took some photos of the beautiful sights and lights I could see from there, facing Pudong.
TSS was berthed in the Huangpu River. On its east side is the Pudong area of Shanghai.
The distinctive needle tower. 0996
Needle tower on the left, with the buildings to its right side from where I stood. 0998
Lovely Dragon boat. It was designed like a dragon and the lights enhanced the features. However, it was moving, TSS was bobbing and my camera was not set to use the flash so i never got a clear shot of it. 1003
Another shot of the needle. 1004
Other buildings forming Shanghai's distinctive skyline. 1005
The dragon boat again. 1009
The entrance to the dock, showing the gate way with open gate and streets leading straight, left and right at the nearest intersection. 1010
Distant view of the skyline. 1011
Showing a nearby major hotel or other building with lighted sign on top. note TSS's life preserver attached to the rail at the bottom of the photo.1012
Bank of tall buildings near the dock. 1013
The ship set sail at about 11:00 PM, when I was sound asleep in my cabin.
Goodbye, Shanghai. Goodbye, China!
