Ant go

Shanghai Youth hostel overcast weather check in and sleep for ten hours. Cold shower and go to see the city. Winding highways crisscross going in all directions. Bumper to bumper crawling towards the river that separates the old and new city where couples stroll hand in hand at sunset and men play chess. Drink coffee at a franchise overlooking classical architecture where shoppers buy the latest electronic gadgets whilst eating scorpions on a stick. French concession feels like a smoky movie scene. Small bars with sophisticated drinkers their neckties undone talking and laughing while the rest of the city sleeps. Underground train commuters squashed up read advertisements and morning news. Buy a string of kites form a man on the street and elevate to the top of the world’s fourth tallest building to fly them. Evening ... read more

City girl steps forth And breaks her heel on a grate. She curses the sky. I walk on trailing strands of bubble gum from my shoe as I bump shoulders with other pedestrians on the sidewalk. Man on my left offers me a cheap suit. Rows of strange herbs and smells at the Chinese medicine shop. I stop for a minute to take a picture of the old lady behind the counter. She frowns at me, probably feeling older. I pick up a handful of bark and ask her what it’s for. “Headache” she grunts. Out on the street again under a bamboo scaffolding held together by a thousand plastic strings dodging my way past a group of girls drewling on the window of Gucci. A flock of three skinny pigeons flap up in front of ... read more