The rest of the weekend for 8/28/10

After the matchmaking site visit, I had lots to do, exchange a belt from the knockoff market, buy a book (on visiting certain cultural areas in China), etc. I decided that after 4 hours of walking, I needed a break so it was either a movie or a meal. I went to the theater to find out when the English version of "The Expendables" would be showing. Discovering, that I could get in right away, I went in, ate a zone bar and checked my pedometer, 5 miles done with lots more to go. The movie was crummy, I would recommend staying away. I then went to a restaurant that featured fresh juice and salads and thoroughly enjoyed myself. A great find that will be revisited frequently. I left the restaurant and discovered a nice shoreline park which will be ideal for taking photos of the opposite side, if I can get there early in the morning as the sun rises on that side of the river. Will revisit one day.

Then I took the metro to the other side and began walking back toward where I started the day. I found out that I was very popular. Many Chinese women approached me to ask the local pick up line, "Where are you going?" (All those years being single and I never knew that was the line to use.) By the time the 5th or 6th person approached, I must have perfected the look of absolute disdain and disinterest that the ladies stopped their approach before even getting near me. One man did invite me to someplace for a "Sexual massage", I guess this wouldn't be like the group foot massage I got a few weeks ago. I was also popular with the watch selling crowd, but now that I have my own knockoff, I just ask them if they want to buy mine, turning the tables and quoting a ridiculously high price. It gets a smile and moves them on to the next sucker.

When I got near the end of my trek some co-workers messaged me about dinner, which, while I wasn't interested in eating, I thought it would be a good way to end the day hanging out with some people whose company I enjoy. When they want to go to a bar at 10 PM after a poor dinner, I turned for home and got in with 25,000 steps or 13 miles of walking. My dogs were tired!

Sunday was a lazy start and then a trip to the electronics market with my Canadian co-workers. I tried to buy a camera lens but wouldn't pay what they wanted for a 6 year old lens. (The seller didn't even understand that Canon puts date codes on their lenses, so he was selling this at an almost brand new lens price.) So we decided to leave and head for a different area for lunch. On our way out of the market we came upon a lady making sugar cane juice which I had to try (adding to my list of dragon fruit, hawthorn and pear juice, etc.)



This looked like so much fun, I had to try. Guess what, this is not an easy way to make a living.



A rainstorm came up so I had a chance to use my umbrella that I've been carrying around for three weeks without a single chance to use. I only went back to the Metro station and back to the apartment to escape the crowds and catch up on some stuff.

The end of another interesting Shanghai weekend.