More Shanghai

At home in the US my feet are unusually wide. I can never find any dress shoes that fit properly. If I can get my wide foot in the front then the back is usually too big and the heals slip off my feet when I walk. On the rare occasion that I find one that fits in the front and back, my arch is still so high that the shoe does not support it which means that my feet get very tired very quickly. Ok... and I'm a baby, I'll admit that. I know tons of women with scares all over their feet that wear heals all the time and never say a word! Anyway when I read on line about this place called "Hot Shots" that makes custom shoes and does a great job, I decided to check them out. It was not cheep. I spent about the same as I would in the US. (I don't get too crazy on shoes, but i believe in buying something high quality that lasts a long time). I got one pair of boots for $210. And two pairs of heals for $100 each. If they work out then I will be so, so happy and the store has kept my measurements on file so that I can order more over email if I want. I can't wait. I won't have the shoes for at least a month because I don't want to pay for air mail. I had a dream last night that when I got them they were the wrong color, and the wrong style.


I went for a fabulous Shanghai style Dim sum lunch yesterday at a place called Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. It was so, so good. For that I really didn't need hot sauce. The natural flavors of the food were completely showcased.


The bumpy deep fried ball on the assorted plate in the back is a steamed bun with crab row stuffing. It was one of my favorites. The shrimp is ground up into a paste stuffed rolled into a ball, steamed and then possibly flash fried. The Adkins diet fans could make an excellent case here. The Chinese people (at least in Shanghai) seem to eat a ton of meat, and very little else. I expected that there would be rice with every meal but that is not the case at all. What little carbs there are are in a light exterior, but there is tons of protein and TONS of oil. I can't believe how oily things are. (the meal above is more of an exception to the oil because in dim sum most everything is steamed. My absolute favorite thing that I have eaten so far is in the far back of that assorted plate and you can't even really see it. It's a cake with salty cashew nuts covered by black sesame seeds. I am not sure what was in it other then the obviously stated but it was amazing. The green veg dish on the left is some kind of greens with lilies. You eat both. It tastes like kale.



The pastry thing with the straw coming out if it is basically like a seafood stock. You drink the inside and leave everything else. The other things in the bamboo baskets are called Nanxiang Steamed Buns. You put them on a deep spoon, bite a little hole in the side, suck out the juices (Which is delicious) then drop it in this vinegar, ginger mixture which fills the pastry part back up, then eat the whole thing. It's quite good. Insides are stuffed with various things like crab, mushrooms and shrimp.


Above, picture of them making dim sum.

As I have mentioned in previous posts there is a China town with in Shanghai. Here you will find more traditional style Chinese architecture. Most of Shanghai is made up of very tall sky scrapers. On a side note, It is really unbelievable how big and how developed this city is. Despite the fact that there is a ton of smog, the city is very, very clean. There are virtually NO beggars and NO homeless people and no crime. On the surface it appears that in this aspect communism really works. There are other really terrible things like all of the the relics and buildings that were thousands of years old that were destroyed in the 1950s "cultural revolution." Obviously people had to give up even the most basic freedoms of religion, freedom of the press, to name a few, but one can't help but wonder if some how this system could be adjusted to work. After having traveled in Mexico and India where the people are starving, the city's are trashed and tons of people are living on the streets one begins to wonder what would those people give up to have shelter and food? Hell even in SF the city is trashed and everywhere you look there is a strung out homeless person begging for money. I don't know...I know I bought my own car when i was 16 because I didn't want my parents to be able to take away the keys (the freedom of a teen). The problem with the government providing you with everything is that then then they can totally control you. The other problem is motivating people and getting innovation. How do you motivate someone to work harder when everyone gets paid the same? How do you get the Microsofts or the Googles of the world when everyone is taught to be a robot and do what they are told? In a communist system, you go in put in your time and go home? Anyway, lots to think about. I was just expecting to see all this poverty and even after driving through the country side I don't see it. Maybe they do like India did at one time (during what i think they called the "beautification" of the cities) where they round up all the really poor people and take them to concentration style camps, sterilize them (through castration or other means) and make them work for nothing.

Ok...i got of track...and now i have to run...more later.