Just ducky

Another Sunday evening and winter has arrived in Shanghai. It has been in the 40-50's lately with a cold wind. Lots of places do not have heat and I can't imagine. We have had our heat on and off this past week. Each room in the apartment has their own little heating/cooling unit. People here don't heat when they are not home and same goes with the air conditioning in the summer. The cost of electricity here is quite expensive. People still hang all of their laundry out of the windows. The Chinese bundle up like it is below zero but I can see why if they need to ride their bikes.

On Saturday Mark and I went to a Christmas fair in the area. There was so much advertisement around the event we thought it was going to be huge...it was very small and disappointing. Maybe a dozen tables set up with their advertising. They do decorate quite a bit around here for Christmas. Most of the shopping centers are really decorated as I suppose it is a pretty big business for them this time of year also. Our apartment has a tree and lights in the lobby area. We bought a Poinsettia...so far that is our only Christmas decoration. From the fair we went to check out the Flower Market. It was set up for Christmas. Selling trees, wreathes, Poinsettias and decorations. It was extremely busy with Expats buying all sorts of things. Along with flowers they also has a lot of little shops along the hallways. We ended up buying some porcelain balls in a bowl for future home deco.

On Sunday we went for a long walk. Not windy today so the 50's didn't feel so bad.  Since we were on the streets we decided to hunt for dinner. First we bought a barbecued duck and Mark had them chop it up and package it for home. They even split the head in two in case we wanted to eat every part. Then we stopped at a vendor selling some peanuts and another one with a big barrel roasting something very much like sweet potatoes. Then we trekked home and ate our dinner. Mark loved the duck...I had a few pieces...the sweet potatoes were awesome. They sell a lot of food along the streets, most of the time we don't have a clue what it is and we keep on walking.

Porcelain balls we purchased from the Flower Market

Some enjoying the park

Little one in a snow suit, mittens and boots...it's a pretty mild day

Park flowers still blooming

Different park..with duck boats and car boats

Fishing with nets along the river

Walking by one of the poorer neighborhoods

Selling fruit

They haul many things with their bikes...this is actually a pretty small load compared to some

Waiting in line for a duck...popular spot!