Day trip to Sheshan

Last Friday, some friends who live in our compound suggested that we go on a day trip out to Sheshan, where there is a huge park with loads of activities for kids. It sounded fantastic – we arranged to meet the following morning and would work out logistics then.

In the interim, a rain forecast nearly put us off, but a “let’s wait and see what tomorrow looks like rather than rely on the weather bureau” meant that we were up and in the direction of ready to go on Saturday morning. Our kind neighbours did some maths and decided that we could all squash into their Buick van. Thanks to the lack of overloading laws in China we managed to fit in 6 adults, 5 children and a dog as passengers. This was not too bad as it meant that each adult held a child (usually one of their own) or a dog, heaps of space – we could have easily had another couple of dogs there, and maybe another child! Anyway, cozy it was, so lucky we’re all friends.

Sheshan is about 30km south west of Shanghai, and it is the only part of Shanghai that there actually is a significant hill. On the top of this hill is a Catholic Cathedral, called Our Lady of China where services are actually conducted in Latin. There is also a big radio telescope out here, which is part of the international Very Long Baseline Inferometry project (as is 'The Dish'). It was not either of these attractions though which was our Sheshan destination. We were headed to the Shanghai Sculpture Park, which is almost 90 hectares surrounding Yue Hu (Moon Lake) and bordered by the Sheshan Mountains, beautiful open space. Felt great to be out there, and not be able to see buildings in all directions!!

The park is divided by seasons into 4 sections, and not surprisingly we headed to the Summer section, which is basically a water park. There is a beach on the lake, with lovely sand (compared to that in our sandpit) and sculptures all along the beach, and a huge pool with fountains, bridges, islands and waterfalls, and all less than 60cm deep, so perfect for the little people. Ellie loved playing in the water and actually was in for about 3 hours, until her lips were turning blue. She was completely disinterested in lunch, and just wanted to stay in the water splashing and swimming. Mike and I took turns in being in the water with her, and drying out on the pretext of looking after Jamie. The other kids were in and out and entertained her as well. Other activities included climbing into an enormous tree house, which was really only offered as a bribe to get the kids dry, and some climbing nets, in which I felt really uncoordinated, but the kids managed to scamper across.

We then piled back into the car for the trip back home. Unfortunately additional traffic made the trip a bit longer, and with tired kids who weren’t strapped down, it was harder to keep them contained. There is a lot to be said for compulsory childseats, besides the safety aspect! When we arrived home, some other neighbours were watching open mouthed as we just kept climbing out of the van – it was like those Guinness Book of Records attempts squashing people into a Mini… we just seemed to keep on coming!

As it turned out, the day was perfect, not so hot and sunny that we were all fried after a day in the sun, and also not so hot and sunny that it drew an enormous Shanghai crowd, which also meant that our kids were not bombarded with paparazzi, so a bit of a holiday for them too!

The Great FireWall of China

I’ve hit a little snag. My updates to Blogger are no longer quite so straightforward. The Great FireWall of China has decided that a number of Weblogging sites are bubbling pots of risk and so internet censorship is rife! Basically anything with links to Tibet, Taiwan or the Tian’anmen Massacre are censored, interestingly they will show up on internet searches, but clicking the link prompts a connection reset message. As the 20th anniversary of the Tian’anmen Massacre is fast approaching, it comes as no surprise that Blogger is temporarily down.

Interestingly to me, having such strong censorship makes me more interested in reading up on these things, YouTube is also blocked, and I miss looking for fun children friendly clips for Ellie. I am definitely keen to try and find the video on the protesters, so it’s lucky that I’m coming to Australia soon!

I now feel really technologically advanced, as I am now somehow connected to a proxy server in the States. But connection is slow (even slower than regular China Broadband), so I’ll reserve it for just the bare minimum!!

Cinco de Mayo

I love living in an international community, because of the opportunity of learning about different cultures and celebrations all around the world. So this weekend has been a good one for us, as Friday (1st May) was Labour Day here, coinciding with May Day in the UK. Being a public holiday, was particularly lovely as it meant Mike had a three day weekend.

To make the most of the extra weekend day, we took the plunge and got ourselves organised and out of the house. For some reason, it actually takes us longer to get out of the house when Mike is home and technically available to help organise the kids, than it does when I'm on my own... I am not sure why. Anyway, our big excursion was to the Yuyuan Gardens - somewhere so pretty I was keen to see it in spring, and also have been pushing for Mike to go there!! We got the train to Lujiazui, then walked down to the ferry terminal (not really close) and got the open ferry across the Huangpu River, then walked through some alleys and past another park before we reached the Yuyuan Gardens.

I'd like to explain about the open ferry - there are two ferries which cross the river, one is airconditioned and only carries passengers and costs 2RMB (40c) per trip, it drops you quite close to the Bund, the big tourist attraction of Shanghai, and the other one is open air (it has a roof, but no sides) and carries passengers and their bikes (motor, pedal or electric powered) and cost 5 jiao (10c) for a passenger only. Kids under 1.2m are free, so the four of us crossed the river with our pram for 1RMB - what a bargain. Personally I preferred the fresh air and the real feeling of being on a boat, and our double decker pram caused a reasonable level of commotion, but I was a bit concerned that someone's scooter would fall on our pram and cause damage to those travelling within.

The open ferry drops you off a bit further away from the tourist area, but it was technically closer to where we were heading. We then meandered through a number of streets where the stores were overflowing onto the footpaths, and along an alley, reminiscent of the Hutongs in Beijing for their community feel. Mike and I had a little snack of some dumplings on the way - we really have become addicted to dumplings, but although tasty, these ones didn't rate in the best ever comp.

As we got closer and closer to the Yuyuan Gardens the sense that China was on holidays got stronger and stronger. There were people everywhere! We went into the Gardens and it was beautiful. The azaleas were blooming, and compared to my visit in February the garden was alive, as opposed to just waking from winter. I think having the sun shining, and warmth in the air made a difference too.



Ellie was attracted to a little girl in the garden because she had a heart on her T-shirt. The two of them were standing, and dancing, and playing on a pedestal that one of the temples is built on, and subsequently the two of them were photographed by more than 50 onlookers. It really was very cute, and lots of curious people came over to look at our pram, which is quite different to the standard prams available here, only to be blown away by "didi" (little brother) hiding in the back.

We meandered back to the river and headed home, this time crossing the river in air conditioned comfort! We met some friends for dinner at Latina, a Brazillian restaurant inside our nearest fake market. It was here that we had an early margarita to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (a Mexican holiday commemorating the Mexican army's defeat of the French Army which had been undefeated for >50 years at the Battle of Puebla in 1862). This holiday celebration has crossed the borders into the States, with the number of Mexicans who have moved, and subsequently my American friends have introduced me to this too!

I'm not sure what the greeting is officially, if indeed there is one. So hope the following causes no offence:
¡Salud! - Cinco De Mayo!!