just another day in paradise...

In case you haven't heard, we've been having a bit of a smog issue here in Shanghai. In fact, it's been a record-breaking week!

As of Friday, we were off the pollution measuring scale. As a frame of reference, typically, most US cities are in the 10-20 range on the PM2.5 scale. see below "Beyond index" Great!

*super smart ad placecment. air filters on your air quality app.

To bring it a little closer to home. Here's our view, pre-smog.

Here's our smoggy view

I wasn't exactly going to comment on the smog, but then the China news channel released a report outlining the "5 Surprising Benefits of Smog." The Shanghaiist & TeaLeafNation have translated it to English and provided their own commentary for your reading pleasure. Below:

1. It unifies Chinese people. Complaining about smog has brought Chinese citizens together. The haze “is everywhere,” the article continues, from “every big city” to “small cities, towns, and villages.”
2. It makes China more equal. Never mind that wealth inequality remains deep and pervasive in China; everyone has to breathe the same filthy air, right? “Of course,” the article admits, the rich can retreat to their luxury cars or use other means to avoid the worst pollution. “But that is after all a minority,” and even they “have a hard time” avoiding the smog completely.
3. It raises citizen awareness. Here it gets a bit earnest. The article insists that “with the whole world playing up the Chinese miracle,” the pollution “reminds us that China’s status as ‘the world’s factory’ is not without a price.”
4. Chinese people are funnier when they are contending with deadly smog. The article lists a number of popular smog-related wisecracks. The best example from a meager crop: “We’re never farther away than when we hold hands on the street — and I can’t see you.”
5. The haze makes Chinese people more knowledgeable. The article concludes that “through the arguments and the jokes” surrounding China’s pollution, “our knowledge of meteorology, geography, physics, chemistry, and history has progressed.” Also, students of English have added terms like “haze” and “smog” to their lexicon. [...]

 Even with all these benefits. We're keeping our masks on!

Don't worry, yesterday we were already back down to only a hazardous 351...

Black Friday Business Launch!

I don't want you all thinking I've been a total slacker with no blog posts for over a month. We've been busy traveling, PLUS, I've been starting up a new business with my friend Nick! 

Check us out!
www.banglesandcuffs.com

Don't think this is my new full time career, but it's been a great adventure/experiment in starting an idea from scratch. 

As we just launched, we are open to feedback!!! Let us know what you like / don't like / wish you saw / etc. We're planning on donating proceeds back to the local communities, but turns out there was a little snafu with our charity of choice. More to come there.

Absolutely NO PRESSURE to buy a thing, but if you're interested, we're kicking off with a Black Friday sale!

Promo Code: Launch2013
Free Shipping on Orders over $100: freeshipping100

Looking forward to hearing with you think!
XOXO
Jacqueline & Nick

China: in 10 minutes

We're back! At least on the blog. I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post, but I've been working on creating some great content. :)

There's so much to catch everyone up on, so the next couple weeks might be a little scattered as I pull together all the pieces. I still need to finish up our adventures in Vietnam, my trip home to the US and our current Ladies Adventures trip out to Western China.

First up, a China recap. This video was given to us by a guide on one of our most recent trips and I thought it was hilarious. A perfectly succinct, stereotypical yet fairly accurate portrayal of China.

Hope you enjoy!

Video: China in 10 minutes

September 24th, 2013. The Day Our Neighbors Lost their Homes

Originally, I wrote up an entirely different blog post for today, but I'll need to save that until tomorrow because quite a bit has changed in our very own backyard. 

When we first moved here, I wrote about "the price of expansion" and explained about how we learned that families were stilling living in what we thought were abandoned / burnt out homes in our own backyard and the struggles they went through to stay in their homes.

Unfortunately, today those struggles are over.  When I woke up and headed to Spin class I thought something seemed different about the lot behind our home. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it seemed like there was more debris somehow? On my way home and to grab some groceries I noticed a few policemen on the corner of Anfu Lu & Wulumuqi Lu with about 6 men taking sledge hammers to the wall. To myself, and potentially out loud, I thought "that's interesting, I'll take some pics on my way home." But on my way home I encountered an entirely different scene. 

When I returned to the same corner just 10min later there was a a huge gap in the corner made larger by the bull dozer that was squeezing through it. Plus a whole line of men up against the wall wearing red circle stickers on their shirt pockets. Still not fully comprehending what was happening, I snapped a couple pics and headed upstairs to our apartment to get the full view.

It was astounding. There was a huge rope with flags outlining the sidewalks and guards stationed under beach umbrellas (?) every 20 feet or so. 

Through the hole in the wall men started coming in carrying folded cardboard boxes and delivering to what I believe are the 4 houses that still have inhabitants. Once the bulldozer broke through, 4 moving trucks followed down the inner "road" and pulled up to each of the four homes. All those empty boxes were loaded up into the trucks including their refrigerator. (Although I didn't realize that they had electricity?)

After the trucks left, the larger bulldozer came in. A team would water down each building with a fire hose before the bulldozer would attack and destroy. This is how you could tell where the bulldozer would strike next. 

(here's hoping the video works this time)

By 1pm all of the homes had been torn down leaving a cloud of dust in its wake with the smaller  bulldozer and garbage trucks rolling in to pick up the significant piles of debris. 

All-in-all the scene was incredibly calm. The only yells came from people on the street when one of the buildings collapsed over the wall and another from a cat in hiding that ran as fast as I've ever seen once it's hide-out was under siege.

As far as I could tell, no one was harmed this time, thank goodness. But these homes and neighborhood are demolished.

I don't really know exactly how to end this post, because while the buildings are down, there are still so many unanswered questions:

- why now?
- did these people know what was happening?
- where will they live now?
- have they been provided for?
- what happens to this lot?
- did the real estate company finally win? was it the government?

"Authentic" Chinese Furniture Shopping

I've been on the hunt for a Chinese-style dining table, so when I heard about these "furniture warehouses" in Pudong I just had to investigate.

Shanghai Mu Lan Hua Ge Jia Ju Li Curio, (easy to say right?) doesn't have a website, which after the pics you'll understand why, so I did some research and came across this write-up in Smart Shanghai:

If you’re looking to satisfy your sense of adventure, spend an afternoon in Outer-Pudongland, sifting and pouring through the wonderful mountain of crap and curiosity at this offbeat antiques and furnitures market... It involves a trek out to the wilds and it's almost impossible to find, but that's half the fun. Builds character. More a giant clearing warehouse than a market, really, Mu Lan contains 20-meters-high piles and piles of old trunks, chairs, tables, ladders, stools, musical instruments, taxidermied baby goats (that’s a hot item), old radios, televisions, buddha statues, and more. Miscellaneous, miscellaneous, miscellaneous... It’s a unique shopping experience -- oozing with authenticity, as they say -- not for the faint of heart or those afraid to get their hands dirty. Everything is covered in dust (and authenticity), it's cold, damp, dark, and would make a great setting for a horror film.

...After reading this, I rounded up my favorite partners in crime and we were excited for our adventure!! 

The pictures we found online must be photo-shopped, as what we found was certainly more "authentic"   I'll post pics in sequence so you can take in the full experience...

we stepped out of the subway, and this seemed somewhat commercial...

kinda commercial...

 uhhh.... they said it was tricky to find...

partners in crime, always up for a fun adventure!

the first "warehouse" we came across... (note the tanker on the side?)

our first look inside!

i want this drum!!! totally a practical purchase

  

 a little room wall-to-wall with chairs

 warehouse #2 

i can't believe we missed the official entrance 

 not quite what we were shopping for...

 i'm still interested in one of these birdcages...

 

it only gets crazier from here...

biscuit tins

"antiques" 

 

   

balancing acts

"hi, I'd like the trunk, 2nd from the bottom please"

Combined expressions are PERFECT!

need a chair?

 

 in summary, we had an awesome time!!! this place was a tad overwhelming. there were definitely some goodies, but took some time to process everything and there's no way we saw everything! I didn't find a dining table, but this console table caught my eye. we decided next time we need to bring a local negotiator to get the best prices.

  

we'll be back!!!