Marriage Market. Tickling. Japanese BBQ.

Apologies for the lack of blog posts. March has been a bit of a write off health wise. Week one I got a bladder infection. Week 2 I acquired a bad cough. By week 3 a head cold joined in too. At this point I went back to the doctors, turned out I had pneumonia. Around this time I hear that back home in the UK, Emmerdale (a soap opera) has a story line where a character dies of this very thing! Don’t panic dad, I’m chuffed to report after shit loads of drugs I’m back to full health.

So here’s some pics of what we did manage to do during a rather ill month.

Peoples Park on a Sunday. Known as the Marriage Market. Hoards of parents gather to try to marry off their sons or daughters. Their credentials (age, height, job, income, education, family values, etc) are pinned to umbrellas. The parents walk around chatting with other parents to see if there is a harmonious fit but only after their children’s standards are met. Many parents do have permission from their son or daughter, but some don’t … It’s a must see for Shanghai. This is the older generations way to uphold a traditional dating style for their children in modern China. I’m going to suggest this idea to Tim at Clyro Court 😉

Spot Mr B in the red t-shirt. We’d come to a quiet part of People’s Park. It turned out to be an area where the Chinese come to practice their English. They flocked around Mr B to chat away. I thought I’d stay clear, especially with my English being a tad ropey with a Welsh twang and lazy slang!

These ladies found a quiet spot to practice local craft. The sun was out. Lovely for us to see these snippets of culture.

Look closely, the man has a fish in his hand. He’s ‘tickled’ this out of the local pond and looks like he and his wife are taking it home for tea. We all watched on at him going into the pond for more. My Mum used to go ‘tickling’ for fish down her local river in Gwenddwr when she was a child … Mum let’s take the kids this Summer? Looks like it’s an international thing!

More gambling at Peoples Park. I love this scene. Never get board of it. Men of all ages flocking round the tables, dotted all over Shanghai, any time of day … always with a look out as it’s illegal.

A nice way to end our time at Peoples Park. At 50p a go, I’d happily return!

Here is Cariad at School. She’s still going 2 days a week. This is Leo her teacher, he’s from Columbia. She calls him the funny man. If you ask her what she thinks of School, she still says she prefers Clyro School in the UK. I was a little hesitant of posting school pictures but the amount of times during one day each of the children get snapped is a sure bet they are all over Chinese WeChat.

Cariad still loves the Metro. It’s an exciting part of any day for her. All she needs now is a mobile phone and she’ll fit right in.

Mr B needs a indoor pond for his office. I heard on the grape vine there were B&Q stores here in Shanghai. So off we trotted in search of this store … Here we are near Zhenbei Road metro. A completely different feel to Downtown Shanghai.

To cross this mammoth roundabout we need to stroll along the elevated walkway above the traffic.

Mirrored ceiling lift means one thing. Family selfie time!

Pit stop to our first Japanese Barbecue. You sit around a 3 sided table while the chef cooks what you order.

This place rocks. I was a tad reserved when we entered. Minimal English on the menu. No Westerners in this part of town. But hey, when miles from home trying new things are a must.

Otis (like his dad, brother and sister) will eat anything. Here he is with squid. “More Dad” was said once he’d eaten this chunk.

So we leave the restaurant, we’re on route to B&Q … Otis starts going crazy about this digger. Saying “Bamp”. So dad this pic is for you. I’m yet to see any new kit in Shanghai. All run down, rust galore. But hey if it works, who am I to criticise.

We’ve reached our destination with the assistance of Apple Maps. The store is a lot different to the UK … no garden section, no outdoor section = no frigging ponds! Oh well, at least we had a nice lunch.

Taxi home. Look at the overhead wires. They run the whole street.

Sunday brunch with friends. Here’s Nikki, Jaleel and Mr B tucking in at the Boxing Cat Brewery!

Cute factor alert. Otis and Keana enjoying the food too!

The Boxing Cat Brewery is famous for it’s ale. So we decided to try all 6 on offer. A couple of them were rank, but Mr B will drink anything, so empty glasses all round.

Another photo showing the bamboo scaffolding. I’m assured that bamboo is very strong. But would I do roof work up there? No chance.

A trip to the supermarket for essentials. Bull frogs not on our shopping list.

Cariad is mad about the Three Little Pigs story. But here she’s a little weary of these fellas. Eeek.

Health and Safety Co was not impressed with this man hold covering.

This brings us up to about mid March. Next post to include a Shanghai Mamas day trip, weekend to Hong Kong and a few quirky things in between. It’s Sunday evening and we’ve got a new DVD from Big Movie to watch!

Lots of love to family and friends back home x