Monday, November 11, 2013

Shanghai, October, 2010: Street Scenes

Interlude:

I'm so far behind.  I still haven't wrapped up my trip this summer.  There are a few more things to say, people to thank, some statistics, thoughts about riding solo for so many miles and perhaps how much a trip like this would cost, similar to this for others contemplating a long multi-week trip across the country.  I am thankful for being hosted by some of you, some of whom I visited for a few hours and others for a few days.  My hosts went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and gave me a home away from home as you will see on future posts.

I have been working on a project for the past couple of weeks, finding tutorials on the internet and I even bought a book but it has been a frustrating experience trying to get things to work.   I read the words and I think I understand the steps but when I try them myself, it doesn't work.  The problem with self instruction is that you follow the steps exactly laid out, sort of like this

1) open the image (background layer)
2) duplicate layer (layer 0)
3) make new adj/fill layer . . .  etc.   I mean where is Steve Williams when you really need him ?

I'm still upset with the closure of Webshots, my former photo host.  My blog was supposed to be my Diary and something that I could look back upon to see where I had been, but all is now lost.  All I have are words with no images to remember the good times,  like our trip to China back in 2010 so from time to time I will post some "flashbacks" . . .  and most of these images would also be those I had never posted before

   Local neighbourhood "restaurant"

It was not easy to snap photos while walking around.  I had problems with people staring at me and some were actually shouting something that I did not understand and waving their hands, so I immediately went into stealth mode.  This meant that I had to cradle my big Canon dSLR in my elbow and snap photos without aiming so most of the locals didn't really know if I was taking their photo or not.   In retrospect I think a GoPro Hero would have been a better choice


Here's what I mean.   See how low my camera angle is, around waist level and he is staring me down not wanting me to snap his photo.  He is another food cart vendor.   You will find areas like this just around the corner from a 5-star hotel.  Cars would be a rarity in these neighbourhoods as you will see mostly electric scooters, bicycle or these 3 wheeled bicycle carts.  This is a poor area and most of these homes will NOT have running water


Lots of human powered carts delivering goods.  In the background you will see that most business is conducted in the streets.   The Vendors would have their wares on the sidewalk in front of where they live


Again,  it was difficult to raise my camera and snap an overhead shot so I can't remember what this vendor was selling.   Perhaps live fish.    You will see mostly live animals being sold.  Live fish, live chicken, live frogs and when you buy a fish, they will kill it in front of you and gut it so you have the freshest fish to take home.  Some will just take the live fish home in plastic bags filled with water and tied at the top


We were walking around before lunchtime so some vendors were still setting up their tables


Everything is done "on the street".  Those clothes in the left background may be for sale, or they may be laundry left outside, hanging to dry.  Those bicycle would be for the residents transportation.  There would be no hope for any of them to be able to have a car, or even afford a scooter


Notice the "sink" outside.  Probably COLD water only.  Most likely this would be the only sink for the residents living in the apartment accessed from that door on the left.   These sinks are found at recurring intervals up and down the street on both sides.   We have seen people brushing their teeth, washing their hair and doing laundry using these sinks

That store on the right is typical of most stores which only do ONE THING.  The owner would live in the back and have things for sale in front.  That looks like a window pane store


Another one of many bicycle vendors you will see on the street


There you see another one of those sinks.   Those people must live there but their living room is on the street.  That vendor has no table to display things for sale, so they use the road and put things for sale on top of a blanket or ground sheet


There is virtually no such thing as a grocery store here.  Fruit is displayed outside and different vendors will sell different fruit or vegetables.  We stick out like a sore thumb.  We get stares from everyone wondering why we are there.  These are areas which the Government wants to keep away from tourists.  There are no other tourists here, other than us.  We are only here because we decided to stay over another day after our tour ended, thus giving us more time to wander around by ourselves.    Our tour was sponsored by the People's Republic of China and our tour guide told us they were not allowed to take us to certain areas.  They were restricted to places where they wanted tourists to spend money


Here is a typical local neighbourhood "cafe".   Most of these places would have a limited selection of specialty items, or may only make just one thing.  You eat and walk as there are no places to sit down.  Oh almost forgot none of these places would have washrooms either.   There are communal washrooms on every block using those "Pit Type" toilets.   I can dig out photos if you want.  You even see these at the airport when you arrive.  Just make sure you use the hotel facilities before you leave for the day.  Western type hotels mostly have western standard fixtures


I can't remember but I think this guy is delivering LIVE chickens.  He is using a tricycle with a small motor


80-90% of scooters are electric, maybe more.  You will seldom see a gas powered scooter here.   They are trying to cut down on smog so have banned most of them.  You are not allowed to ride a scooter or motorcycle on a highway or over most bridges.   Notice the smog in the background.    You can barely see the building  (top of photo)


Typical household.  These people are lucky to have their own sink and not have to share with other residents.  It is usual to have your living room outside on the street and just watch the world pass by.


Can't be sure but it looks like they are playing some sort of game and having lunch in their outside "living room"


Relaxing and enjoying the summer sun with nothing better to do


It seems like he is trying to feed an animal under that basket.

That's it for now.  Just some street scenes from a poor part of Shangahi under the shadow of our 5-star hotel.  Our hotel was 5-star western standard.  We had marble entrance, marble washrooms, flat screen TV, electric curtains. The locals are not allowed inside of our hotel and we as westerners are not allowed inside a Chinese Standard hotel either.   Streets are very clean as the Government pays people to sweep them up as there is no such thing as welfare.  You can spot these people as they are always wearing BLUE clothes and ride around on a standard issue CART and carrying straw type brooms.

I have more photos if you are interested . . .


18 comments:

  1. Great stuff, though phone cameras it seems to me do everything except telephoto as well as an SLR in most circumstances for an amateur, especially as you can disguise photography as texting... so you hot a meal preview of out future. nine billion people and the yuan as the worlds reserve currency. knee how!

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    1. Mr Conchscooter:

      Flaunting an iPhone would cause problems. Lots of younger people text but not in these older historic areas where they live life the old way, without modern conveniences. I don't think our stomachs could handle this "street food", there is no sanitation control. You cannot drink the water either, sort of like Mexico. The hotel gives you bottled water to wash with and all the tour buses hand out bottled water.

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  2. Great pictures. We also like getting off the beaten path when travelling. When we were in Guangzhou our guide was a bit of a rebel and didn't always follow the government-proscribed routes and so we got to see some similar areas there. But we were advised "no photos". Like you I had a bulky SLR with me and my stealth photo techniques resulted in little of value. Great memories though of a very different way of life.

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    1. Canajun:

      I also went into historic Shanghai Old Market, which was not recommended for tourists. I mostly shot video. There are people watching you all the time. They have many levels of these people. They wear black arm bands. You often see Army and Police side by side and then others who wear white helmets. All of these people are constantly watching. I wished I knew someone local who could have explained this to me

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    2. Even with a local guide there are arbitrary limits. My wife took me to Tiananmen square and we were turned back because a spontaneous demonstration was being organized and no foreigners were allowed.

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  3. Hmm, I wonder what was under the basket... To me, I'm so used to putting a camera up to my eye for a photo, any other method seems weird. Holding something a foot in front of my face to frame, focus and expose a shot is a pain since I would need to remove my glasses to see the phone but would lose sight of what I am trying to take a picture of.

    Street photography would be difficult. Maybe a GoPro with a remote would work better.

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    1. Richard:

      I have done street photography for years but you can't do it with a P&S camera. You need an adjustable camera and manual focus to about 12 feet and set shutter speed to 250s in shutter priority mode. This way there is no AF or shutter lag, and 250s stops motion. You cannot hold the camera to your eye, you have to shoot from the hip and "guess" where to aim and I usually look in the opposite direction to where I am clicking which further confuses them. They have to believe that you are NOT snapping any photos.

      There were only a couple of places where we were "stopped" from using our cameras. I can't remember if it was the Army or local police, but they wear white gloves and carry a baton of some sort, and they motioned with the baton and gestured "no" with their fingers.

      We also got a lot of "brainwashing" on the bus and everywhere we went about how great their country was etc. Remember we were on a Government sponsored tour

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  4. "I have more photos if you are interested . . ."

    Always interested in seeing someplace new.

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    1. Richard:

      For this series I was entering my opinions as to what I saw. I also feel that we were held prisoners in our Tour bus as were were not allowed to stray and go where we wanted. I tried to "escape" the sales pitch and hide in the Garden at one stop, but they were counting heads and were short one person. I had an argument with the tour guide and told him I wasn't interested in seeing the sales pitch and would rather snap photos of the flowers and fish in the ponds but in the end I had no choice but to join back with the group and someone noticed that they locked the door

      You may not know that foreigners are not allowed to drive alone. All rent a cars come with a driver. In order to drive by yourself you need a Chinese Driver's License. There are NO rules of the road and you will see vehicles go every direction. I have video of scooters blowing through red lights. Our tour bus was making U-turns everywhere and also going through Red lights

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    2. It must be possible. Carla King rode a Chinese sidecar rig all over China in 1998 and last year, I think, Tiffany Coates led a BMW motorcycle tour group that ended in China.

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    3. Actually, late Summer/Fall 2011 for the BMW trip.

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    4. Richard:

      Officially, it is not allowed. But there are loopholes if you enter through certain borders. There are many threads on ADVrider how some circumvent the rules. You are not permitted to rent a car and drive by yourself.

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  5. When I was married I had family in China. I had a Chinese friend from Shanghai tell me that Chinese drivers were the best in the world. He was serious. the rational was that if they weren't, they all would have killed each other. There are rules that the locals operate by and understand, but they aren't the written rules.

    One thing I vividly remember. Never tell a Chinese taxi driver that you are in a hurry. Scary.

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    1. David:

      I have seen vehicles go every direction, and not necessarily the way they're supposed to go. We had to hire a taxi and take the freeway. The most common rule is "Right of First" and if your horn doesn't work, then you might as well not drive. Their motto is "Honk and go "

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  6. Bob, this is great. Let's divide to conquer. You visit all the really interesting gritty places in the world that are hard to get to (and maybe slightly dangerous) and document your travels, and I'll do the same in all the really easy cushy desirable places that are easy to get to. Between the two of us we'll be able to satisfy the vicarious needs of all the armchair tourists the world over. Maybe I'll do Provence next.

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    1. David:

      I told myself that I had to see my own Country first so before I switch continents I have a few more places to go and I prefer road trips

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  7. How did I miss a trip to China? Must have been before we met. Interesting place. Sounds like a PhotoShop project?

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    1. Kathy:

      If you go back to around that time you will see my posts, however devoid of photos. This blog was supposed to by my diary, something I could look back upon to re-live memories but now it's all gone.

      I've been fiddling with PS since Ver2 and never really learned it. Are you good with "selections"? and brushes ? but during the past week I have managed to understand a couple of things.

      I have other photos from China taken in the Countryside where there are no tourists but taken from the bus. I'm not sure how a tourist would be allowed to visit there as there are inspection booths for virtually all entrances and exits of these highways. Our bus had special permits with stamps and signatures visible from the windshield for the guards to see and let us through. Motorcycles and scooters are not allowed on these highways and we never saw any other private vehicles, just tour buses like ours carrying tourists

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