good morning shanghai!

xujiahui park; didn't bring a camera but it looks like this.

this was one of the rare mornings that i was actually up and not because of work. we slept rather early the night before. with my flu, i can sleep for 12 hours even after having just gotten up 5 hours earlier. well...sort of.

i decided to go find some chinese breakfast as PB and honey toast was getting old. i really was craving dim sum but did not know where to find it. so i waltzed down Tian Yao Qiao road, a busy road with food, banks, the post office, etc. i got "shao mai" which tastes less and less appetizing each time i have it but the soy bean drink i got was cold and sweet and just perfect, on a somewhat warm morning. after getting my breakfast, i decided to walk through Xujiahui Park, a nearby park i had not yet checked out but had been planning to forever. it's amazing how much activity goes on at 7 in the morning. there were tons of old folks doing wushu with music from their ghettoblasters, taichi, and stretches, chilling with their friends, grandparents w their baby's babies, people jogging (i was glad it was a joggable type of park b/c i did not want pay for gym membership but was looking for a place to run without fear of getting plowed over by cars), contemplative people, and people just staring at all the aforementioned people. i was sure to stare at all the people as i always do as i walked across various wooden and steel bridges, past old men practicing calligraphy with water as ink and the concrete ground as paper and wushu students and masters. i walked around a very stinky lake and peered in to see koi miraculously alive. there were people drilling into the lake. it looked rather strange. when i was on one of the bridges, i looked down and saw a plaza with very manicured bushes and lawns around it. it was one of the cleanest and well-kept parks i've seen in shanghai. after that, i decided to continue down Tian Ping Lu to see what i would find. this was the first time i had felt better since i got the flu last friday and i was up for exploring again. it was the usual. but i found a wet market, wrestled my way through and got Morning Glory or in chinese it's called Kong Xin Cai (hollow vegetables) for 2.8 rmb. then i continued along and was curious as to the big lines near what smelled like chinese breakfast. alas, i peeked my head and saw what looked like chinese version of omelettes: an egg crepe filled with what looked like garlic, scallion, a brush of maybe fish sauce and hot sauce, all toasted to a nice thin crisp. i wish i had not eaten breakfast yet b/c it looked good! next door, there was an egg thing with similar items on it. i could see why this was breakfast alley. the lines were out the door and the prices were so low! so after wandering down that street, i headed back and made my way back home where i stopped by the local bakery, got 2 garlic cheese bread pieces first. by the time i got home, it was only around 830am. my body is not used to being up so early despite how much sleep i got and i was already pooped.

what a great start for the morning. i love it when i see with my own eyes how there is life beyond my little world. i can get so egocentric sometimes. i guess the world does not revolve around miss red tape adventures after all.

sad to say the day kinda went downhill from there, at least for a while. related to the awful w/d we have and certain relatives. but the karaoke happy hour was quite a spirit lifter. so is this corona. :)