7/29
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Tea pot |
Annie took this day off work and we went to the Shanghai Museum, which should really be called Museum of Ancient China. We only saw 1/2 the stuff before it closed.
Before dinner Annie's niece, Mun Quen (pronounced "Mun Chien"), showed up to check me out and brought a friend. So we had a full table at dinner. Mun Quen lives in Boulder and attends CU (as I do now). She's from Shanghai and comes here regularly. It was total coincidence that she was in Shanghai same time I was.
The Big TV Tower
After dinner we went to the Big Tower, which looks very nice at night (they light it up well). Only Annie had been there before, so the other three (including myself) were expecting a visual show of Shanghai's neon-lit streets from way up high. It was on the other side of the river, so we took a taxi, which crossed the river via "the tunnel". Once on the other side we went through a toll-gate. Only the traffic going in the other direction was stopped to pay the toll, we simply sped through it, to which I paid no attention. But when we paid for the ride, the driver exacted the toll fee from us.
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Shanghai TV Tower |
Inside, the tower's base was large and empty. Fast elevators took us up to the observation platform, which was housed inside a huge glass sphere located half way up the tower. The observation walkway made a full circle. It was very crowded and very noisy. The view was uninspiring: the tall buildings of the streets blocked out any light, we were looking at black rooftops of Shanghai at night. We looked at the river-front for a while, we walked all the way around. This thing was basically one big, loud souvenir shop. Well it was worth one trip, just to know there was nothing to see.
On the way back the driver stopped to pay toll and something clicked in my brain. Hey, on the way to the tower the driver didn't stop, but we paid him toll! I shared my insight with the others. They absorbed it for a bit, then a conversation with the driver ensued. He kept insisting that everything was correct, that's the way it's supposed to have been done. Sure, maybe from his point of view it was.
7/30
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Tibetan masks |
Annie’s at work. First I worked for several hours. Then I went back to the museum. For two hours I wandered through relics from ancient China: bronze, jade, ceramics, furniture, paintings. I left when the museum closed. I got a taxi back to Seagull hotel. The cabby got lost. It was rush hour. I got to see some of the smaller streets. Interesting, but all the film was spent in the museum. There was a lot more "local color" there. After dinner, more work.
7/31
Annie’s at work. I work, watch the river, watch TV.
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