Thursday Morning - Zaoshang! (Good Morning)
Off to the South Bund Soft Spinning Material Market today!
Yesterday I wore clothes all made in Shanghai! Nice to have a warm Cashmere wool overcoat for my suits!
A few tidbits from the past ... bought a "parka" coat from the local Target/Wal Mart type shop for 139 Yuan (less than $20). I needed a coat with which I could hike up a high hill (Foding Hill is 300 meters) and walk on the beaches. Wore the coat most of the time outside, the cold is more ... intense, I would say - the humidity probably. The temperature has not been below 41 degrees F (5 degrees C) and usually gets up to 50 - 59 F (10 to 15 C), but for example the humidity is 82% right now and rarely below 60%. Somehow it gets into your bones if you don't wear enough clothes. And the concrete holds the cold, so buildings really don't warm up, in some cases - especially because doors are often open, windows too! Like I said before, I am glad the Chinese don't dry their clothes in an electric dryer - there isn't enough energy!!! Especially with the price freeze on gas, bus, plane and train tickets right now!
OH - again with the Chinese sizes - for the Parka I had to go up to an XXL!!! That one JUST fit! Which is why I am heading to the tailor for other clothes - no Dockers (cheap) just around the corner store! Plenty of cute jeans for women though - I feel a pic comin' on from Lhasa Tibet! Jeans are definitely worn to make a statement here, in my humble opinion.
Another tidbit - once I got into my hotel in Putuoshan, I immediately switched to CHACOS!!! Of course I wore SmartWool socks too! Sooooo nice to just relax and wander around, into the temples, onto the beach, etc. So here's the picture of women's jeans ...
Unfortunately, Cindy (on the right) has partially covered up the Mickey Mouse ... but you get the idea! The women love their jeans here in China - WHOLE STORES sell just jeans (and they are not cheap!). Lots of different designs amount of fading, etc. etc.! You'll notice a woman in more traditional dress coming towards us.
Now I am sure that you want to see a picture of Emily and Cindy from the front too:
The Jokhang Temple is the backdrop for our picture. The first temple built (in 647) and the pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Buddhists. We stayed just down the street so this was a regular morning and evening gathering place for everyone.
Daisy (Zhou Ma), Cindy (Cang Jue) in front, ME (Andrew Parkes) in back and Emily (Cang La) are the CHARACTERS!
Could you pick me out? I'm the one that ISN'T 22!!! grinning wildly!
They showed me around Lhasa and we had a fantastic 4 days - the OP group enjoyed too as we ALL went to Potala Palace (one of them had not even been there before). They have to pay 1 yuan!!! We paid 100 yuan!
Just a little colder in Tibet now! Yet as you can tell on this rainy day (our first together) we were still having fun. The Buddhist Tibetans are chanting and walking around the Jokhang Temple behind us. The Jokhang is well over a block in circumference but it seems like 20 as there are shops and sellers of all sorts of wares around every square inch of the temple. Talk about a free market - and bargain, you MUST if you don't want to be laughed at by the Tibetans! In fact, I had to walk away so that the store keepers didn't know that I was around or they wouldn't sell to my friends even!
Yesterday I wore clothes all made in Shanghai! Nice to have a warm Cashmere wool overcoat for my suits!
A few tidbits from the past ... bought a "parka" coat from the local Target/Wal Mart type shop for 139 Yuan (less than $20). I needed a coat with which I could hike up a high hill (Foding Hill is 300 meters) and walk on the beaches. Wore the coat most of the time outside, the cold is more ... intense, I would say - the humidity probably. The temperature has not been below 41 degrees F (5 degrees C) and usually gets up to 50 - 59 F (10 to 15 C), but for example the humidity is 82% right now and rarely below 60%. Somehow it gets into your bones if you don't wear enough clothes. And the concrete holds the cold, so buildings really don't warm up, in some cases - especially because doors are often open, windows too! Like I said before, I am glad the Chinese don't dry their clothes in an electric dryer - there isn't enough energy!!! Especially with the price freeze on gas, bus, plane and train tickets right now!
OH - again with the Chinese sizes - for the Parka I had to go up to an XXL!!! That one JUST fit! Which is why I am heading to the tailor for other clothes - no Dockers (cheap) just around the corner store! Plenty of cute jeans for women though - I feel a pic comin' on from Lhasa Tibet! Jeans are definitely worn to make a statement here, in my humble opinion.
Another tidbit - once I got into my hotel in Putuoshan, I immediately switched to CHACOS!!! Of course I wore SmartWool socks too! Sooooo nice to just relax and wander around, into the temples, onto the beach, etc. So here's the picture of women's jeans ...
Unfortunately, Cindy (on the right) has partially covered up the Mickey Mouse ... but you get the idea! The women love their jeans here in China - WHOLE STORES sell just jeans (and they are not cheap!). Lots of different designs amount of fading, etc. etc.! You'll notice a woman in more traditional dress coming towards us.
Now I am sure that you want to see a picture of Emily and Cindy from the front too:
The Jokhang Temple is the backdrop for our picture. The first temple built (in 647) and the pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Buddhists. We stayed just down the street so this was a regular morning and evening gathering place for everyone.
Daisy (Zhou Ma), Cindy (Cang Jue) in front, ME (Andrew Parkes) in back and Emily (Cang La) are the CHARACTERS!
Could you pick me out? I'm the one that ISN'T 22!!! grinning wildly!
They showed me around Lhasa and we had a fantastic 4 days - the OP group enjoyed too as we ALL went to Potala Palace (one of them had not even been there before). They have to pay 1 yuan!!! We paid 100 yuan!
Just a little colder in Tibet now! Yet as you can tell on this rainy day (our first together) we were still having fun. The Buddhist Tibetans are chanting and walking around the Jokhang Temple behind us. The Jokhang is well over a block in circumference but it seems like 20 as there are shops and sellers of all sorts of wares around every square inch of the temple. Talk about a free market - and bargain, you MUST if you don't want to be laughed at by the Tibetans! In fact, I had to walk away so that the store keepers didn't know that I was around or they wouldn't sell to my friends even!
Comments