The Most Secret of Secrets...

I am currently sitting in the Lu Wan District of Shanghai, in a small and cozy café. I'm the only guest, my Latté cost me 35 rmb (expensive in China),  now they charged me 25 rmb for 20 cl. of drinking water and I think the employes are laughing at me... But this is a really nice café and I feel so relaxed : )

I was actually looking for "Tailor's Wu's Custom Clothes" (what it says on the bizz' card), and I was wandering helplessly around the streets. Even the chinese have a hard time reading adresses. Seems as if there's no logic in the numbering of buildings. I found a street that went from 2 - 47 and then it skipped to 15 and upwards again... When I finally found nr. 48, four different buildings insisted on being nr. 48!! I finally found Wu's, and then he tried to rip me of... He tried to charge me for a suit, more than I originally paid for it in Denmark : )  Silly tailor. 

It's with mixed feelings, that I explore the city that surrounds me. On one hand it's fascinating to watch the constant growing buildings, that construction workers build on day and night. On the other hand it´s terrible to learn that chinese families are evicted on a daily basis and moved to other parts of the city, against their will, just so the government can build shopping malls, hotels and record breaking tall skyscrapers.

After taking the above picture, I walked through a narrow alley and was amazed at what I found! This was a fantastic maze of old buildings with a mix of traditional chinese tea-houses, art-shops and cafés. I could spend hours just walking around and breathing in the atmosphere. I feel like I have found something very special here. The most secret of secrets in Shanghai : )

The narrow streets were filled with lights and palm trees and in the picture above, you can barely see the tops of the buildings from the previous photo. Two very different sceneries, so very close to each other. So sad that this place might get destroyed, when the building-lot steadily expands, to make room for another shopping mall. I'd better enjoy it while I can. 

Earlier today we had a lecture with a professor from a Tibetan university. I can't pronounce nor spell his name, but he specializes in Tibetan culture and linguistics. He is also currently working on establishing the first Tibetan animation studio. The english name of this studio is: Oriental Pearl Electronic Technical... I wonder who translated that for him... He mostly talked about Tibet's history and he invited us to come to Tibet and work on a project. After the lecture he gave us four documentary dvd's about Tibet. Nice guy.