Shanghai
Shooting in China for a client I had the final Saturday off before flying out on a night flight back to the UK. The client had gone for a hotel massage and soon realised you have to be quite precise when asking for a massage in Shanghai. I had most of the day to explore and so went for a wander. The following images are a selection of those I took in the few hours I had to myself. I hope you enjoy looking at them. Initially I stumbled across a fascinating fairground with rides that felt as though they belonged in a different era. A few people were taking rides on some while some lay unused like forgotten toys. An overhead car took passengers on a slow squeaky ride through the trees while men and a few women played Mahjong and gambled on benches and at tables. I tried communicating by sign language and smiles but soon realised they were so engrossed in gambling that I was ignored. In one area a toothless man was flying a kite. I could see him holding a wire taught but the kite was so high it was lost in the clouds well above the height of the skyscrapers. Different from my days of running along a beach with 20 to 30m of thread. I jumped on a very modern and clean metro and ended up in another part of the city. There was another park. People sat behind rows of umbrellas with notes in Chinese on top and occasional pictures of young men and women. At first I thought these were people who were missing but it transpired this was where parents went to advertise their sons and daughters for marriage. It was the Shanghai version of Match.com. When I realised what it was I must have looked like a prospective suitor, window shopping, which given I had glanced at pictures of men and women they must have thought I couldn't decide which way to go! They had Japanese, Australian, American and German Flags but not a Union Jack that I could see. Finally I hit the modern part of Shanghai with it’s Gothamesque skyscrapers above which an eerie mist hung. It’s a city I cannot pretend to know well but has a wonderful juxtaposition of Western Modernism and old Eastern Communism. Not speaking the language meant I viewed the city visually with fewer distractions. By the time I reached the skyscrapers I would have liked to go to the top but time was running out and I only had time to jump on the metro back to my hotel before it was a fond farewell to Shanghai.