Toponyms II

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

One of my favorite parts of the urban planning museum was a sleepy exhibit on one of my favorite things:  toponyms!
My first visit to Shanghai back in 2013, I exhausted my Chinese coworkers by constantly asking them what every place and street and park’s name meant.  I specifically remember being told that “Huaihai Rd. doesn’t mean anything.”  Well…An ancient name for the city of Shanghai was 申 (Shēn.)  This explains why it shows up in the street names around Shanghai Disneyland.I’ll let the other signs for the other areas speak for themselves.


  
  

  

  
  


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Urban

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get around to going to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.  Well, as part of Random Museum Day, I finally did.
The jewel in this museum’s crown is a huge miniature replica of the city.  Where else can you see the Bund (left) and Pudong (right) from this angle?
Zoomed in all the way, I was even able to find the Ascott, my first apartment building here in Shanghai!  The rest of the museum was modern and engaging.  (Shanghai’s new museums are all so good.)
There was even a small 36o degree theater with CGI flythroughs of all the different developing areas in Shanghai.I’ve been dazzled by how well planned out Shanghai’s Metro system has been.  This feels like one of those rare cities where the technocrats are actually doing things well.

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Thirties

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

In the tunnels connecting the subway stations under People’s Square, there’s this weird tunnel that’s decked out to look like Shanghai in the 1930s.

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Thwarted IV

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

After multiple attempts, the kung fu supply store was finally open!  Turns out it was a single, tiny room full of tassels and kung fu school uniforms.  Utterly underwhelming.

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Law

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

Today is my last goof off day before moving back to America from Shanghai, so today is Random Museum Day!  When I was living in Xintiandi, I’d always pass this weird museum when I’d take a taxi in to work.  Finally visited the Shanghai Museum of Public Security.

One floor was dedicated to the history of firefighting in the city.
Other floors had insane collections of weapons.  
Loved the filligree work on this piston.  And on these. Cane firearms?  So fucking awesome.
  Knives and swords and machetes?
Poison?  Are you kidding me?  Invisible chemicals to cheat at Mahjong???
  I also found this handy chart of country names!  

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Unicorn II

Posted on February 22, 2017 by d4vid

I didn’t think I’d see another one before I left Shanghai, but I did!  A five star taxi driver!  And it was a woman!

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Forehead

Posted on February 20, 2017 by d4vid

I’m feeling old.  Or, more precisely, I feel younger than the age I actually am and the body I now somehow inhabit.

When Gene Hackman was around the age I am now, he was in The French Connection.  When Bill Murray was around the age I am now, he was in Groundhog Day.  When John Malkovich was just a little younger than the age I am now, he was in In the Line of Fire.  When Bradley Whitford was the the age I am now, he was in The West Wing.

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Hotel

Posted on February 20, 2017 by d4vid

Back at the Langham.  One last time.

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Ignore

Posted on February 20, 2017 by d4vid

My seat’s flexible reading light on the train from Hangzhou back to Shanghai looked like an alien.  Reminded me of this.

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Epitome

Posted on February 20, 2017 by d4vid

Fence.  Train tracks.  Canal.  Crumbling buildings.  China.

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Spring

Posted on February 19, 2017 by d4vid

 First blossoms of Spring.  Time to go home.

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Ambush

Posted on February 19, 2017 by d4vid

Some public places in China have an “English Corner” where people come to practice their English skills.

I inadvertently stumbled on Hangzhou’s English Corner.

I was ambushed by a dozen Hangzhou residents who wanted to talk.  Don’t want to get into details, but it was a pretty straight line of Q & A from me answering “I am from Los Angeles” to me lecturing on why Alaska was referred to at the time of its purchase as Seward’s Folly.  (They should count themselves lucky they didn’t bring up Norse mythology or black holes or film formats or something.)

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Lazy

Posted on February 18, 2017 by d4vid

Having hiked up and over the hill to the Yellow Dragon Cave, I discovered that the northern approach was a simple, tree-lined path from the road.

All that exercise just to get fat shamed by this sign.
Joke’s on them, though.  I don’t even know my weight in metric.

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Matchmaking

Posted on February 18, 2017 by d4vid

黄龙洞 (Huánglóng Dòng meaning “Yellow Dragon Cave”) was quiet, peaceful, and the highlight of my trip to Hangzhou.
Beauty.  Serenity.
  However, my serenity was (briefly) interrupted.  I sat in a pavilion overlooking this path and watched for forty minutes as a swarm of touring middle aged women (plus a few children and a handful of men) stepped over these stones and bowed three times to the waterfall.  Some left offerings.
The shrine of Yue Lao, Chinese god of matchmaking, marriage, and love.  The yellow dragon cave itself.
Stone gateway to a bamboo forest?  I love this place.  Well-played, Yue Lao.  Well-played.

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Crossroads

Posted on February 18, 2017 by d4vid

Eventually, everyone comes to a crossroads.  Do you go down to the Yellow Dragon Cave?  Or up the Heavenly Stairs?  Turn to the Golden Drum Cave or turn to the Tiger Cave?

Or use the restroom.

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