Walking around Ningbo, China

Gentle Reader,

Welcome to Ningbo! This was one of the first towns we had some time to walk around in during the afternoon. Bliss!

One of the things I have not really mentioned is that this is my first time in China in the winter. Shanghai and surrounding areas tend to be in low 50's F, so that causes some issues with typical transportation. Many, many folks get around on these electric scooters. There are many accouterments one can purchase to make the ride warmer. What you see here are some of the winter applications added to the scooters to stay warm. Very creative and very practical.

As I sometimes wander around without an agenda, just walking for the adventure, I sometimes wander into places I really shouldn't go. One example was a compound of sorts, protected by guards and a gate booth. According to scott, I just wandered through this security area. Anyway, it was a compound of apartments with some beautiful sculptures. As we exited, they stopped us and asked if we were Russian. Scott was wearing a Greek fisherman's cap, which I suppose could look a little like Russian headwear. This cap also became Scott's added attire to the "Song of Heroes" portion of our concert.

We found many of the food shops to be closed down in the midafternoon. This, too, is typical. Loads of customers for lunch, and then many of the food shops shut down until dinner. The town becomes much quieter in this midafternoon phase. Sometimes you'll see folks playing cards or even mahjong. Most often, I think people use this as prep time for food for shops or time to just rest a bit. We found that teachers we worked with in Guizhou in the summer used to take a short power nap between their lunch and their afternoon sessions.

We did end up finding a coffee shop. Lovely layout with sections of beige Naugahyde sofas/love seats. The waitress immediately directed us to the "fancy coffee" section of the menu. We had a delicious cup of "fancy" coffee. It was tasty, as well as a visual delight.

May your day be filled with unhurried wanderings and surprise discoveries along the way...

Namaste,
Marianne

A pet pampering parlor of some sort...

Fruits. Vegetables. Lots of bamboo.

Eggs are typically not refrigerated at the markets.

A goat or donkey head...

Fish drying outside the food shops...

Clothes rack outside shops/apartments... We would sometimes see meat and clothing drying on the same rack or lines.

A beautiful musical sculpture in the compound we wandered into...

A flower in the midst of winter...

A sausage drying rack...

Not sure what they were making, but they were having a good time!!! Some kind of dough with filling, but the results looked different than the typical dumplings...