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The Museum
It looks like a giant ding!My plan for the day was to relax and minimize the walking a bit and spend the day at the Shanghai Museum. After two days with lots of walking and knowing what’s happening with the rest of my week, a break was in order! I wandered through the People’s Park before heading over.
The museum was amazing. It had old coins from the Silk Road, statues, calligraphy, and paintings to my heart’s content. There were also sections of traditional clothing worn by minorities and carved seal chops. I was there for about four hours and could have stayed a bit more, but the air conditioning was set just a bit too high for my Guangdong-acclimated body.
I sat on a bench outside to warm up and proceeded to meet a large group of Chinese people, all of whom wanted to take photos with me. It started with one man gesturing with a cell phone and pointing at a friend. I have a standard that if someone is polite enough to ask I’ll say yes; if someone just tries to take my photo like I’m a landmark, I’ll cover my face. The man and his friend said thank you and
8000 year old pottery
Give or take a few years suddenly there was a loud shriek from the crowd and suddenly ten more people descended upon me. And they didn’t want group photos, they each wanted their own. Each person sat down, greeted me, we smiled big, then they would shake my hand and say thank you. Then, fast as lightning, they’d be gone and someone else would be beside me and the process would start again. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t secretly enjoy my quasi-celebrity status, achieved only because of my light hair and large-ish nose. Maybe I just look friendly. Either way, all those photos only took about a minute, two tops. Then the pack of people was gone, saw another foreigner, and only one asked to take a photo with her. I secretly enjoyed that, too.
Matt, Matt’s dad, their VP, and I all went out for dinner, even though Matt had called and aid they were running late at the office so I should get dinner on my own. Which I did. And then I still ate an entire nother dinner. Matt and I got the most heavenly foot washes and then went out for a round of beer. Time to relax,
tomorrow is a big day!
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More familiar pictures
Some of the furniture on display came from the home of a Chinese gentleman in Beijing. The story was detailed in Peter Hessler's book "Oracle Bones."