The explorers: Dominic the Birthday Boy*, Andy, Nik and myself*

The four of us met up yesterday morning after breakfast to discuss our destination, Fuxing (pronounced “foo-shing”) Island. None of us knew anything about Fuxing Island. Only that it was an island, it showed up on most maps of Shanghai, it appeared to have a road that led to it, and it was pretty far away.

Nik's bike wheel is being realigned

But first we had to tune up our bikes. We managed to stop at every single bike shop on Fuxing Road (no relationship to the Island) between Hua Hai and the Huangpu River. Let me tell ya, there are a lot of bike shops on Fuxing Road. In the end, Nik had his front break tightened, his rear wheel realigned and his back tire patched. Andy had his rear tire aired up and bought key safety gear including a helmet and a dust shied for his face (that’s the weird bandanna-like thing covering his nose and mouth up there….and although it looks silly, I am considering investing in one because the pollution in Shanghai is probably doing a number on my lungs). Dominic had his breaks tightened, shopped for a new bike and almost bought mud flaps, but didn’t. Then almost bought mud flaps again, but didn’t. My bike was already perfect so I sat on the sidelines cheering on the others.

This is very typical. The boys are ramming into each others bikes while I sit back and watch...laughing and happy not participating*

We finally made it to the end of Fuxing Road and took the ferry across the river to Pudong. Neither Andy nor Dominic had ever ridden the ferry, so on this Saturday afternoon, the horizon of their biking adventures doubled.

The Super Brand Mall

Once we were in Pudong (the other side of the river) Dominic played the “it’s my birthday” card and took the group to the Super Brand Mall so that he could go to Toys-R-Us to buy himself a birthday present: Jenga! I didn’t mind in the least that Dominic took us into the most rediculous and busy place in Shanghai as a pitstop in our adventure. The other two, however, were not very happy about it, but they were troopers and sucked it up while we scoured the game section for Jenga! and ate ice cream sundays on the steps outside of Donald’s.

Riding*

Birthday Boy was satisfied and we were on the road again. The area of Pudong that we were in wasn’t very exciting and we quickly made it to another ferry that would take us closer to Fuxing Island.

Silo Stairs

Riverside details*

–I’ve been trying not to use Nik’s photos too much recently because he is posting the best ones on his site, I need to focus more on my own photography to capture what we’re doing, and I know that a lot of people look at both….but I couldn’t pass these up. They are so crisp and amazing, that I had to show them in the context of my photos.

On the ferry

Sunlight on the river

Man in profile

Shipping Cranes in the distance

Once on the other side of the river we really started to notice the haze/fog/polution/dust that had consumed the air. It was only 3pm, but the lighting made it feel like dusk which was pretty cool visually. However, this is when Nik and I really started feeling the effects of breathing all of this in, and looked at Andy and Dominic’s bandannas with envy. But we carried on…trying not to breath to deeply.

Juliet Balcony of an abandoned building

Intersection

Then we stumbled into this abandoned warehouse/art gallery area. The place obviously had someone that cared for it and restored it, but it was unclear whether it is currently in use. All the doors were open so we wandered freely on foot and riding our bikes, and no one seemed to mind. I’m sure there is something we don’t know about the place, and honestly, we probably never will. The things I do know is that they turned a bunch of large old warehouse buildings into amazing art spaces by using found materials. They respected the existing structures and left them alone as much as possible. Then they filled the place with vegetation. Huge trees create an almost solid canopy, potted flowers and plants are scattered everywhere and the entire courtyard that winds through this large space is made of slate roofing tiles that have been turned on their sides to create pavers. The area didn’t appear to be under construction, and it looks like it’s been here for at least a couple years, but nothing was occupied. All of the furniture (mostly steel tables with marble tops and lightweight aluminum patio chairs) was arranged in an orderly fashion and nothing was broken or falling apart. Maybe it is more active during the week? Maybe it is simply an event space and is only active during events? My curiosity is peaked, so I will probably be making a return trip.

Courtyard

Open Space

Sunflower

Wall of old windows

Pearl Tower decal

Slate roof tiles repurposed into slate courtyard pavers

More huge open space

Andy's ghost

Orange sun....and bird? Is that a real bird? Or a scultpure?

Enough of that. Back to the quest for Fuxing Island….

Red hand dyed yarn drying on the side of the street

Extremely typical residential building (sorry for the bad photo, but had to show it)

After riding along a nasty, dusty, potholed road for almost an hour we finally made it to the island!!! We were so excited about it that we spent nearly twenty minutes just standing on the bridge taking photos of each other and the water that separated the island from the “mainland”. None of my separation photos turned out, so you’ll have to assume that it was worth it.

Nik and Andy on the bridge

Dominic on the bridge

Me on the bridge*

It turns out that Fuxing Island is a completely industrial island that has one road that runs its entire length. To the east of this road are the ports, power plants and industrial stuff. To the west of this road are dusty residential buildings that seem to be falling apart, but I’m sure they were just built three years ago. There were pipes, manhole covers, wires, sand, rock and concrete truck after concrete truck everywhere. The one public green space (a park) on the entire island was closed for construction.

Rust

Man hole covers

The Dusty Road off the island

It was starting to get late and began making our way back home. Then, all of a sudden, it was dark. None of us remember the sun setting, it was just gone.

Back to the city

Now we know where we are

The bike ride was epic and we saw such a huge variety of places along the way. I told Nik that it felt like we were on vacation. That is how removed we were from the Shanghai that we know. In the end, Fuxing Island was a little anti-climatic but….

It is the journey, not the destination.

*Photos taken by Nik and hopefully he’ll get his act together and do a post about this ride soon!!! his act is together and you can find his post here.

The streets as everyone begins to flee to shelter

The complex clovers of highway overpasses with the Nanpu Bridge in the distance.

On my way home I got caught in a thunder storm. As I rode, it was like the sky was on one big dimmer switch. The sky turned dark and ominous, the shops put up umbrellas and turned on lights. When I realized that I wasn’t going to make it home before the thunder storm caught up to me, I found shelter under the Nanpu Bridge. I parked my bike and noticed one significant flaw in my plan. Although the bridge does provide a large covering above my head, that covering is at least 80 feet above ground. In other words, if the rain decides not to fall straight down, I will be soaked. On the plus side, I wouldn’t be struck by lightning because the bridge is much much taller than I am.

Nik called to make sure I wasn’t out in the middle of the storm and when I told him where I was, he was jealous. We had some great times waiting out storms in Thailand, so this would have been a good one to add to the list. He would have loved dodging the rain behind the huge bridge supports. He would have loved watching the water fall from the bridge drains in huge archs as the wind shifted creating a waterfall for those of us standed beneath. He especially would have loved watching the old Chinese man do kung fu/tai chi while thunder boomed and lightning flashed all around us. (I didn’t take photos because I thought it would be rude…but boy did I want to)

Looking South towards the river

Thunder Sky

Looking North

…..

In other completely unrelated news, I went to the ceramics studio again yesterday and finished another pinch pot that I am actually proud of! After completing this set, I think I’m done with hand building and I’m going to start throwing again. It’s just so much more satisfying and therapeutic. To me anyways.

From the side

From above

Neon outside the apartment

Neon outside Nik's office

Sometimes when Nik finishes work, I meet him at his office and we go out to dinner. Most of the good restaurants are closer to his work than our apartment, so this makes sense. Also, I like the excuse to go on a night ride. Tonight I took my camera with me and took a couple shots along the way.

Lady sitting side-saddle at a stop light

Andy sitting side-saddle riding down the road

We had dinner with Andy and Dominic at Charmant, home of the black-sesame smoothie. It looks like concrete and tastes like heaven. We also laughed and laughed. These guys are good to have around!

Pinch Pot

Today was my first ceramics class, and I made a pinch pot! A pinch tea pot even. My masterpiece is about three inches tall, and very poorly made. The bowl of the pot has a cracked rim, the spout isn’t high enough, the handle is too small to place your finger inside and the lid doesn’t fit right. But for working with clay for three hours, it’s not too bad, right? What did I expect? To be an expert potter as soon as I walked in the door? Yes, actually. I did.

The Pottery Workshop

I made the mistake of telling my teacher that I had taken a ceramics class before. Then when he told me to grab a bucket with some water, clay and some tools and get started, I looked around dumbfounded thinking, “um, what tools? where is the clay? how much water?”. Oh, right, clay is normally in the trash bin labeled ‘CLAY’, and tools are those weird looking wire and wood contraptions next to the sink. Then he casually showed me how to make a pinch pot, and I immediately sucked. I was doing the exact same thing as him, but mine looked way different. How did he make the pot smaller at the top? Why isn’t his cracking? How come his lid fits? What am I doing wrong????

After a few tries and a lot of questions, I finally made something that vaguely resembeled a bowl and decided that I needed to go with it. I made a lid. Then made another one. Then made another one. Nothing looked good and time was running out. I told myself that the next one was it and I couldn’t make another, and so I did. It turned out really bad, but I had to run with it. Then I made a couple handles, four or five bases and one spout. I actually made the spout on the first try! It’s not perfect, but I think it might work. I put the pot on the firing shelf, cleaned up my table and told everyone that I’d see them on Thursday.

The class is weekly, and there are open studio hours every Thursday. I want to get as much out of it as possible and I WILL be an expert potter by the time I leave Shanghai. Therefor, I will attend the class to learn the basics and then spend the open studio hours redoing everything. So on Thursday, I will be making a new pinch pot!!

Ikea Shanghai

Before class, I had to find an apron, so I went to the most logical place. Ikea. Honestly, I probably could have found an apron at a million other places in Shanghai, but I’ve been wanting to go to Ikea ever since I found out it was here. There’s something about the store that I’m drawn to even though I rarely purchase more than a pot holder or apron. I am fascinated by the way they draw you through and the vaguely Scandinavian design aesthetic. I also love watching people go crazy in the store. Today, there were five Chinese women huddled around a bin of sifters. Sifters, you know the ones that sift flour? Well, they didn’t. They didn’t seem to have a clue as to what you might use this contraption for. I guess they didn’t grow up baking cookies and cakes!

Bicycle sun protection

Overpacked Tricycle

Belt Vendor

Watermelon Truck

The ubiquitous blue city worker uniform

On the way back from Ikea, I stopped to take a few photos of things I see every day. Literally every day I leave the apartment, I see watermelon trucks, vendors, over packed tricycles, ladies with sun sleeves, blue suited workers and so much more. I am going to make a pact to myself to actually document all of these every day things that I will forget otherwise. So here is my first installment!

Granny Squares

I have also started making Granny Squares that will one day be a large blanket. I bought this yarn over two years ago and I’m excited to finally have an idea for what to do with it. I really want to buy more yarn while I’m here in China, but I won’t let myself till this is used. 9 squares down, 500 to go!