Before my trip to China this past September, I found it difficult to visualize a park-to-be being built in a suburb of Shanghai, China.  There were so many unknowns… the culture, the land, the people.  Even after the trip, I still find myself scanning the area on Google Earth trying to make more sense of where I was.  As it was difficult for me to visualize, I’m sure it is also difficult for most of you.  So in this post, I’ll share some info about the neighborhood and photos from our trip that might help put this project location into context.

The Jesuit Cathedral and Observatory from the coaster site.

From the coaster construction site, in the distance you can see something perched on top of the hill (indicated by the arrow in the photo above). This is a historic Jesuit Cathedral and observatory.  Apparently the Jesuits were the elite scientists in China up until the fifties.  They were responsible for many of Shanghai’s universities, museums, and hospitals.  In 1890, the observatory was built at the peak of Sheshan Hill.  More information on the observatory and the associated Cathedral can be found here:  http://shanghaiscrap.com/?m=200801 (scroll down to In Memoriam: The Shanghai Astronomical Observatory).  There’s also a little info and a good photograph on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Shan_Hill.

The sun sets behing Sheshan Hill.

This photo (above) of Sheshan Hill was taken from the parking lot in front of our hotel.  LeMeridien was a very nice (and architecturally impressive) hotel with all the amenities.  This was our home for eight days.  Every morning we had breakfast at the multicultural hotel restaurant; sushi, French toast, bacon, sausage, lo mein with veggies, and kiwi juice were present for most of my morning meals.  An interesting note – “sausage” in China is usually something that very closely resembles a hot dog.

Chad (left) and Korey in front of LeMeridien Hotel.

Most evenings, after long days at the project site, Korey and I hung out at the hotel lounge with the gentlemen from Martin & Vleminckx Rides.  But a couple of evenings, we ventured out into the nearby town of Song Jiang.  Song Jiang is primarily a college town.  Actually, it is home to as many as seven universities.  The first night, we took the subway to Song Jiang and walked around in the rain trying to find a good place to eat.  We found a nice seafood restaurant, and after speaking with the incredibly shy waitress, realized that we were in “New town”, and “Old town” is much more interesting.  So the next night we headed a little further down the subway line to “Old Town” Song Jiang.  This is less university, more entertainment.  The streets were lined with shops, food and souvenir vendors, restaurants, and historical architecture.  Korey and I enjoyed mystery meat on a stick (twice).  Korey tried, to no avail, to determine the animal origin of the meat by communicating with the vendors via animal sounds.  Unfortunately, the onomatopoeias we use for animal sounds, like “moo”, “oink”, and “cluck” are different in Chinese.  So the incredibly shy, teenage food vendor girls just blushed and giggled at the sight of the crazy 6 foot 7 inch tall westerner strutting around like a chicken making indiscernible animal-like noises.  I giggled and blushed as well.

Song Jiang "Old Town" at night.

In posts to come, I’ll highlight some more fun and interesting locations around the project site – places you might be interested in visiting should you make the trip to Happy Valley Shanghai.