A trip to Shanghai provided many opportunities to see names in English and the character equivalents in Mandarin.
Our hotel in the Shanghai ‘suburb’ of Jiading
Ikea and Amway
Grocery items at the local Auchan (equivalent to Wal-Mart)
A wealth of western shopping opportunities in downtown Shanghai
A street sign on a side street
McDonald’s quarterpounder and KFC/Pizza Hut
A wonderful trip!
The rain came fast and, because I hadn’t been watching weather reports, unexpectedly. Thunder followed and a stormy day set in. It was a good time to relax the schedule as the heat and humidity, while sightseeing the day before, had tired all of us.
When the rain tapered off we ventured out for lunch and ended up exploring the streets and shops in the surrounding area. Our group split up which left my son, Patrick, and I hanging out together. 
We were wandering around, ambling in and out of the little shops when I spied a sign with a teapot. Loving all things tea, and especially drinking tea in Asia, we went into the shop to see what was what. The shopkeeper seemed excited to see us and began talking to us. Unfortunately, we had no idea what he was saying. We wanted to ask him questions but were not able to communicate effectively with him.
Note….Patrick has had two years of high school Mandarin and both my fluent-speaking Mandarin son, Joshua, and me, his mom, (speaking absolutely no Mandarin) are highly impressed with how well he has been able to communicate. However, this chatting was above his capabilities.
Finding no success in asking him if his teapots were for sale or display we left the shop to find Joshua and, upon our return, discovered this gentleman was completely delightful and wanted nothing more than to share his tea while working on his painting and flute-playing.
One of the things I love about staying in the less touristy areas is stumbling upon these amazing experiences that you can’t buy with money. It had been a lazy, rainy day calling for a ponytail and no make-up. No matter that I was ultra-casual though, our host could have cared less. Discovering this hidden gem and being treated to an absolutely wonderful encounter completely made my day.
Looking up to see Fahua Pagoda in the historical city of Jiading.
Originally constructed during the reign of Emperor Kaixi (1205-1207) during the Song Dynasty. Seven Stories tall it has wooden stairs to the top which gives a birds-eye view of the city.
At night the lights make it even more special.
No desert to be found anywhere near here as we are smack dab in the middle of a very large city. In other words – We made it to Shanghai! Despite a setback on our original travel day we did finally arrive, without further incident, on the next flight to China. Shanghai, being on the southeastern coast of China, is hot and sticky but we are having a good time.
My son, Joshua, who lives here, met us at the airport and got us to our respective accommodations before we crashed for the evening. After all, jet lag does take a toll. For this trip we are staying north of Shanghai in the Jiading district. It’s kind of like a suburb of Shanghai. My teenage boys – Patrick and Ben are staying at the apartment with Joshua and his Japanese wife, Ema, while my mom (Granny) and I are tucked away in a quaint little hotel in a historic part of the city. We have been keeping it low key since we arrived – soaking up the local culture and becoming familiar with our surroundings. It’s been lovely.
Scooters are a way of life and it is amazing how creative people can get with transporting things and extra people.
These children were so cute – following me and practicing their English “hellos”. I couldn’t resist taking their picture and they couldn’t resist hamming it up.
McDonalds
My Crazy Graced Life 