Sunburnt in Shanghai

24th June 2009; 11:24pm

The grand total of stray animals that we saw today is 2 (cats). I was bitten by mosquitoes again, which Ellen thinks is weird since she says there aren't any mosquitoes here. I am convinced that she lies. Either that, or she doesn't smell clean (refer to previous post on the preferences of Shanghainese mosquitoes).
Shanghai is, at least for now, the Land of Construction. Cement, cement. While we were in People's Park today (which is a garden), the wind blew and I thought I saw a shower of mist. Until Ellen informed me that it was in fact, dust.

We decided to walk to the Old Town. On the way, we saw strange and beautiful buildings. Neoclassical and Gothic. Pathetically enough, we were too tired to walk around the Old Town after actually reaching so we went to sit at a Japanese resaurant above the pond in a garden (Shanghai has many) run by Real Japanese Men with Long Hair. I had a sparkling grapefruit drink and only after a slight headache and many giggles over nothing at all, realized that it contained 3.5% alcohol. I doubt my alcohol tolerance is that pathetic so I am just going to avert any potential mockery by maintaining that I drank on an empty stomach very quickly.

The Old Town is brash and colourful. So colourful and vibrant, that the place looks unreal. Instead, it resembles a movie set, a make believe town. Like a distant relic of some heritage, once forgotten, now dragged out from its hiding place and hurriedly constructed together. I won't deny my disappointment.

On a slightly more cheerful note, did you know that the Shanghainese can sleep anywhere? And that they have this amazing habit of sitting down and doing absolutely nothing at all. I have also now learnt that to cross the roads here, one needs to walk briskly but slowly. All I have to do now is remember that the traffic comes at you in two directions. Oh well, practice makes perfect, especially when the alternative is not quite so instataneous death.