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super fun trip!!! I got to use my RETO ultra-wide camera... it's a total toy (no zoom??? tots ass with low light???), but it is lightweight and pretty fun to swing around. it looked chic, too.
most of the photos are pretty ugly, but I managed to dredge up some cute ones for a photoblog :p
on the first day I visited a retrofitted cow slaughterhouse. it's structure was quite interesting: a cylindrical building in the centre, multiple sloped walkways that narrow leading towards it. I looked up some info and found a nice article including its blueprint! a local told me that the narrowing, sloped walkways were for herding cattle up and down, whilst human workers had their own staircases. It had such a cool brutalist vibe.
it works as a kind of mall/office space. lower levels have bars, restaurants, and clothing stores (which unfortunately didn't have styles that I liked). it's not super busy or anything. the quiet is nice.
afterwards I had dinner at a vegetarian hotpot shop. I ordered tomato soup base, with tofu and pumpkins. it was really good!
I took a walk by the shore after dinner and saw the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. super iconic landmark, but at this point the sky was too dark for my film camera to take any photos of it ugh. there were a lot of tourists, most of them hiring photographers to follow and take pictures of them. I knew that this kind of business existed, but I never expected it to be that popular? I don't know how to appreciate that kind of service, it seems annoying as hell; but to each their own or whatever peeps say.
on my way back to the hotel I took a road that was loaded with touristy shops, the obnoxious kinds with blaring neon lights and cheap, mass-produced souvenirs. I didn't visit any of those lol.
second day! visited an art museum. I don't have any photos of this because it was way too dark inside :(
one of the works was titled 'Ulysses', consisting of several AI-generated video clips; i clocked that piss-yellow tint from a mile away... I don't know how the exhibition was ok with showing this ‘work’ besides manmade videography and 3D animations. it felt gruesome to see. otherwise human art included a flapper wall clock displaying 'e=mc^2', miniatures, self-portraits by art uni students etc.
right after, I visited this bookstore that I read about online. it was advertised to be super pleasant and whatnot, but it was a disappointment lol. the books were horrendously limited, so there really wasn't much to see. then, I took a walk by a large lake. it was hot out and most people were riding in sightseeing carts. my hair is a bit overgrown, so it was suffocating my neck a bit. I had to borrow a rubber band from a street vendor to tie it up... there were a lot of squirrels, and beautiful moorhens leading still-fluffy hatchlings and sailing ducks.
the last place I stopped by was a temple (recommended by the taxi driver who was probably just trying to get me off his car as soon as possible). it's dedicated to the 'crazy monk' Ji Gong (濟公), who ate meat and drank wine, and is said to be the reincarnation of an arhat. the lore is pretty cool and I'm planning on reading more about it in the future.
I don't think I've seen a yellow temple before! just within the entrance was a large metal bell. tourists could gong it once at the price of 10 yuan. I didn't think that it was worth that much, though, so I didn't sound the bell. otherwise, there was one building that was particularly interesting to me. if you click the last photo below, you can see a stone well sitting before a temple:
the legend goes that Ji Gong was ordered to build a temple with wood within three days. despite this, he wasn't fazed and continued to laze around. it was only at noon of the last day did he get to work. Ji Gong performed a miracle by pulling out entire logs out of the well, and with them managed to build the temple as seen in the photo.
after all that, I went and had an iced Americano and tiramisu at a greenhouse-themed coffee shop. it looked really pretty! there hung a large glass box of plants in the centre, and the walls were lined with dark potted plants. a section of the floor was even made with mahjong tiles, which was super chic? if ever I get my own place I am tots stealing that idea.
I went to another museum in the morning. this one was collaborating with a French museum (god if I remember which one), and had Van Gogh and Edgar Degas' artworks. I used to do ballet, so it was a nice surprise to see 'The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer', though I dislike how they decided to display her nude. despite being a complete layman when it comes to art, I dare say I liked 'Portrait of Madame Roger Jourdain' by Henriette Jourdain. I can't really comment on artistic techniques or whatnot: I just really liked the slight green tint in the painting lol. the museum also had a long glass hallway facing the river, so you could capture a panorama of the city skyline.
the rest of the day was pretty chill, and I just walked around different streets (that I found recommended online). most of them were laden by cheap tourist shops (as previously mentioned), so it wasn't all that interesting. I did spend some time in a cat café, though, and managed to chummy up with an angry-looking hairless cat.
spotted one of those retro shanghai desklamps, too.
on day four I flew from shanghai to yunnan, so I couldn't visit many places. on the plane we were fed a bit of bread, sandwiching some Gross Mystery Meat. so that was totally cool and stuff. i kind of just offered my bread to the guy sitting besides me.
the pictures on day five all came out pretty trashy.
In the morning, I went to an old street for a walk. it is relatively less tourist-plagued than shanghai, and I would definitely say that the experience was more authentic. the shops mainly sold food and odd bits of trinkets. many stalls sold bodhi fruit. I got one for 30 yuan, which included the owner removing its seed and polishing it, as well as hanging it on a dark bracelet that I could wear. I'm not an accessory guy, but it was pretty fun to hang onto the bracelet for a bit.
I visited the local temples. many of them had old buddhist statues, colourfully painted. I liked a Guishan Guanyin (thousand-hand Guanyin) most. her many heads were strange and attractive to look at. around the temples I encountered three cats. one was pregnant and asked me for pets very nicely.
as a treat I had a rose-flavoured flower cake for tea. it was shaped like a curled-up fish, complete with delicate scales and fins. it was small enough for me to cup in one hand. I don't have the sentiment of 'this is too pretty to eat' and inhaled it without regrets. usually I dislike rose-flavoured sweets, but this one was light-tasting and didn't taste like I was taking a shot of rose perfume.
afterwards I wandered around a museum. it didn't leave too strong an impression on me, but I was amused by the sheer amount of ornaments of a very particular strain of imagery: leopards eating pigs, tigers eating deer, wolves eating sheep, etc.
day six! I went to a lot of places today as well. In the morning I went to an old street and had crossing-the-bridge noodles for breakfast before I wandered around. the street was decently authentic, too. There were many shops selling carved pieces of wood and jewellery made of fungi or dried flowers. the road was littered with stalls and people selling basketfuls of fruit. also, bugs (e.g. dragonflies, crickets etc.) are common street foods! I'm too picky to try that though lol.
there was a really nice bookstore, DongFang Bookshop (東方書店), on the street. it's a bit difficult to find good articles on this store, but essentially it's been here since the second Sino-Japanese War, and was frequented by Chinese literature giants and students from a nearby uni (which I later visited). it was absolutely LOADED with books: too bad it only sold works in, or translated to Chinese. the vibes are really peaceful, and it's definitely a nice place to visit.
I also took a looksee at the Ruo'an Duiyuelou Boutique Hotel (ft. in the last two pics below), which narrow walls were really odd and pretty to look at. apparently it's shaped like a wine glass, if you look at it from above, symbolising the celebration of winning a war. I don't know much of the details, and surprisingly neither does Wikipedia (it doesn't even have a page on it lol).
after lunch, I visited the Yunnan Military School, established due to the first Sino-Japanese War. it's pretty much a museum recording the military figures, historical events etc. of the war. the information is actually gut-wrenching. the first batches of military students frequently graduated too early, having only received about a year or so of training, due to the lack of manpower in the war. it's insane how young most of those people were.
afterwards, I went on a walk by the Green Lake, and visited the National Southwestern Associated University (NSAU). there held an exhibition of NSAU's early history, and guess what? it's closely related to the second Sino-Japanese War, too. to put it (abominably) briefly, scholars from a number of northern universities fled to yunnan during the war, where they established the NSAU. its a prestigious uni, and many Chinese literary giants conducted lessons there.
behind the school's museum is a memorial, engraved with the details of the war, and names of students that had dropped school to join the anti-Japanese movement. and you know that the majority of them did not survive: it was sobering to see that long wall of names.
aand that was about all the places I visited for the day. I had dinner at a pretty secluded, but established vegetarian restaurant. I particularly enjoyed a dish made with rice and fungi; it was a bit oily, but it tasted insanely good. afterwards I had a walk.
on day seven, I went to the stone forest! I went there fairly early, but a crowd's ultimately unavoidable. I'm not really good at appreciating natural views, but there is a bit of interesting geology involved in the forest's formation, and I definitely enjoyed walking in the less frequented areas, where I could try out odd twisting paths littered with strange stones.
I had lunch at a highway stop before heading back to my hotel. I was exhausted and didn't want to get up for dinner, but managed it anyways: which was great, because the pumpkin I ordered was golden. I don't know the exact recipe, but it probably involves something like tossing a bunch of garlic, ginger, onions and pumpkins in a large pot and steaming them. Or something like that. I'll figure it out (maybe).
final day!! before my flight home, I visited the local wet market, untouched by the horrible evil force known as tourists (obviously I don't count because I'm just that special). they sold basically everything, from poultry to fungi to milk cakes. at this point in time I didn't have any film left, so although there were interesting people that I wanted to capture, I couldn't do so with a camera. I tried my best to memorise the scenes, roughly sketching them out as soon as I returned to my hotel: a woman leaning against a truck loaded with watermelons, a brick lodged behind its back wheels; a white dog with its head tilted down to asphalt ground, sniffing as it trots; an old man with a cigarette hanging from his lips, reaching for a slice of fruit offered by the merchant to taste, etc.
it's these kinds of things that render tourist attractions dull to me. I like seeing the way people live.
overall I had a great time! it's my first time blogging a trip, and honestly it really helps with refreshing my memories. I'll probably be doing this again.
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HUFISH
Wonderful reading, rich experience