out and about

when i was shopping for apartments my agent gave me a map and marked all of the places we were seeing. as i was brand new to shanghai i had a general idea of where in the city we were, but relied heavily on my agent's advice as to how long it'd take me to get to work each day.

i took digital photos and scribbled notes so i could remember as much as possible and eventually rounded down my choices to three apartments. one was already rented (two days after i had seen it), another was too expensive, so i settled for my third choice. was only after i had moved in that i realized the location was actually much better than the other two apartments.

the building is older, but the apartment itself has been nicely renovated and has some great views of remin (people's) square and the shanghai museum. the best part is that it's possible to walk to work, taking about 20-25 minutes. has been a while since i did so much walking so every day last week when i walked to the office i'd arrive with major leg cramps.


above is a pic i took of the shanghai museum early in the morning. it has been very cold recently so the morning walk can be a little... brisk!

from my living room, where i'm sitting typing this right now, i can look down on the stunning shanghai grand theater.

in january and february the theater is showing phantom of the opera, a single performance during the week and two on the weekend. i'll try to see it before it leaves town as i've still not managed to see this famous show.

at night shanghai really shows its stuff, with buildings all over town lit with static and dynamic displays. the remin square and park area is also lit up, though i don't think many people walk around inside after dark.

during the weekend remin square gets quite packed, especially the area behind the shanghai museum.

popular places to loiter include the fountain, with lots of picture taking and (in the warmer months) kite flying, and an area in the foreground of this photo where one can buy food to feed to the birds.

of course this being shanghai ordinary trafalgar square pigeons won't, so as you can see the square is filled with white doves.

there's some truly amazing architecture here. this building is just to the east of remin square- i wonder if the wave 'crests' are actually functional office space or just a decorative fascade.

not sure what the deal is with this building. it's just to the north of remin park and seems to still be under construction as at night there aren't any lights. i assume that's a revolving restaurant being built on top- it reminds me very much of george jetson's workplace, spacely sprockets.

the smaller brown building on the left is one of the less attractive buildings in shanghai. it's almost certainly a historical landmark of some sort but it looks rather ominous, like the ghostbusters building in new york.