Shamian Island

Annalyn and Daddy went to the hotel for a nap. Friends had gone on a tour of a Buddhist temple. I was strolling the island by myself. I was in a shop when I suddenly heard all kinds of racket, mostly drums. I asked the shop keeper what was happening. He said that there is always a street celebration for the opening of a new business and that a restaurant is opening down the street, I ran to see. It was raining, so the crowd lined one side of the street with umbrellas while the performers filled the street and stage in front of the new restaurant. I saw lion dancers, a puppet looking guy, many drummers, and a rooster man playing a saxophone type instrument. I could only stay about half an hour as we had a meeting to attend. I had to leave when the women came out to play the stringed instruments. I would have loved to stay all afternoon.

At night, we wander the island. It's maybe a mile long and three blocks wide. There are police everywhere. Quite a few people, mostly shop keepers, live on the island. There is a small school, a Protestant and a Catholic church, a few convenience stores, several restaurants (pricey ones by Chinese standards), stuff and junk shops, a wedding photography studio (brides dress in the studio's gowns to have portraits taken all over the island), the two five-star hotels that specialize in housing adoptive families, and stone paved common areas for playing and dancing. This would be a beautiful place to vacation.

It is so much the opposite of Shanghai. I cannot come up with words to express how congested and crowded Shanghai is. I keep thinking of the cranberry juice commercials where men stand in a flooded cranberry field in their waders and the cranberries float side by side gently pushing each other because there is no space for them to spread apart. The crowd of people is like that. The cars and bikes and pedestrians are like that. Everywhere is bumper to bumper, shoulder to shoulder, bumper to shoulder. It seems the only traffic law is stopping for a red light. Although there are barely inches between vehicles (and humans) we saw only three wrecks, and we noticed that none of the cars are driven with dents. Everyone moves in sync with everyone else. I don't understand it, and I'm so glad to be on the island now.