More Chinese Photos

Here is my favorite thing about being in China--William Scott!!! We only saw him suck his thumb this one time.

William is awake and letting his Grandma snuggle him. This was the best!

Taylor, William and I waiting for the elevator on the 22nd floor.

This life-size replica of Xao Ming, Shanghai's famous basketball star is a very popular photo op in this mall.

This is a view of a nearby park from Taylor's office window.

Inside of Taylor's office.

The driver is dropping us off in front of Taylor's office in downtown Shanghai.

Here is a machine repair shop just around the corner from Taylor's apartment. Quite a comparison when you see these pictures next to each other.

The blue bags contain live snakes. Taylor says the man is selling them for medicinal purposes. Notice the bikes in the background.

Just in case you missed the meat in the previous market pictures. This hanging version actually appears a bit more sanitary than those pieces sitting on a board.

The goose is ready to be cut up by this butcher.

Taylor and Jen say that there are lots of these little exercise stations located along the streets. People will stop and swing their legs back and forth on these non-automated exercise machines.

Here's another exercise machine. You can see that Taylor has his work cut out for him selling treadmills.

Steve was amazed by the bamboo scaffolding. We saw this quite a few times. We saw some primitive, old steel scaffolding too. All of their equipment was old and rusty looking. Things are mostly done by hand. Apparently there are plenty of workers so automation isn't popular.

Do these street sweepers look like typical government workers? There were a lot of people slowly doing a little work.

This girl is wearing the only traditional Chinese dress we saw during our trip. Steve had to get a picture. We saw lots of Chinese dresses in the shops. This is just the only one we actually saw on a person.

Typical narrow, crowded streets.

This big blue character is the symbol for the World Expo that Shanghai is hosting in 2010. The little boy standing in front for his picture is wearing a popular hair style for little boys--a big tuft of hair right in front with his head shaved.

Taylor and Jen, with little William in the sling, stop in front of a Chinese market that is kind of like a mall. As we got into the market area, it became very crowded and was almost a gridlock in some sections. There was a Dairy Queen in this one. It was extremely popular.

Here we are looking across the river at an area called The Bund. Taylor and Jen live across the river in the area where the tall buildings are.

Balloon salesman near the Century Park.

The street sweepers in Shanghai use bamboo brooms which are very coarse like sticks tied together.

Street sweeper with her cart. There was also a little water truck we saw once. The driver would use a hose to wash the street corner. It seemed so small and inefficient. It was reflective of the effort made towards sanitation.

I almost forgot to mention the amazing acrobatic show we went to one night. It was definitely created for tourists. The place was full of tour groups. And it was too expensive for the majority of the local people. However, it was fascinating and very well done. One could hardly believe that people could train their bodies to do the things they did. The choreographer puts together Las Vegas shows also.

Shanghai is a city of many contrasts. Taylor and Jen seem to enjoy conquering the challenges and I know they have some wonderful friends. May it continue to be an exciting and fun experience for them. We look forward to another trip in about 10 months.