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I start to like the land of the living and, even Shanghai. Since my return from the land of the dead I was able to experience various joys of life scarcely available in Shanghai. Snack shopping in Qibao, skiing at Shanghai's indoor ski 'resort' and delicacies of Sichuan provenance, together with arrival of spring (sunny days and temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius) create combination which stabilize the force and balance the dark energy of study requirements. Details are written out below.

Qibao
Traditional Chinese old town visited mainly by Chinese tourists (still relatively undiscovered by foreigners) is area where you can see try various snacks characteristic for Shanghai area - from pig nose through duck head to smoked sparrows and roasted octopuses. Besides various dumplings I have stick my nose into pork. Qibao has nice old school touch with architecture of traditional peasant houses (go for Yuyuan neighborhood for upper class architecture) and remodeled seven floor pagoda. Unfortunately, this pagoda suffered concrete remodeling of what Chinese understand under 'renovation and preservation of historical building'.

Skiing in Shanghai
Never mind that it is almost subtropical climate and it snows once in a century here. As a true modern center of China it built for itself and its citizens indoor skiing stadium. 300 meter long slope offers something what those who never seen snow, call skiing. Basically, you ski on granules size of underdeveloped peas. In combination with loose rental equipment and old school skis it lays perfect ground for skiing on your bottom (which most of Chinese skiers manage gracefully). I would suggest going for snowboarding as the equipment at least looks not so ancient...

Frogs
Unable to eat dogs and rats in Guangdong, I settled for variations of frog dishes prepared in Sichuan restaurants around our campus. Unsurprisingly, I am smitten by the food and vowed to continue in exploration of Chinese cuisine. Hopefully, I will be one day able to compare frog a'la French with frog a'la Sichuan (same as I was for the snails) :)

Yuyuan
After arrival of my brother we visited Yuyuan (Yu garden), one of the main attractions in Shanghai for tourists (all nationalities present). This magnificent garden in traditional Qing dynasty style rivals those of Suzhou (those who have not time to visit Suzhou should be ok with exploring Yuyuan). Only problem is throngs of tourists. Surrounding streets offer wonderful architecture which is full of narrow streets, bending roofs and ornamental front doors. Also, many snacks stalls offer traditional Shanghaineese specials (crabs & co. are plentiful).

Shanghai museum
Indisputably one of the best museums in China (and believe me I have visited plenty of them), offers explanation of Chinese traditional bronze, ceramics, porcelain, painting and calligraphy for those willing to absorb Chinese culture. And it is for free :)

With arrival of my brother for a China visit the travel period starts again :) Next two weeks we will be traveling in Sichuan, Shanxi, Beijing and Taishan - hopefully - and thus I will again switch this blog to travel mode. For updates please check later. ENJOY!