Shanghai

We decided to take an extended weekend trip to Shanghai to celebrate mine and Naoto's birthday. It was my first time visiting China and although I did have some preconceived notions of what I thought it might be like I didn't really know what to expect. The culture is very interesting. In a lot of ways it is pretty similar to Japan but there is definitely an unrefined element there that in some ways shows a true sincerity but can also be kind of shocking. Kai and Noah were pretty much super stars there and were the center of constant attention. On the one hand is was really lovely to see people's affection for them in such a pure manner but of course it became overwhelming. We could understand the fascination: A foreign woman with an Asian man, children that looked both European and Asian (especially Noah with his blonde hair - that was amazing to them) and two boys in a country where they are only allowed one child and gender still sways heavily towards wanting boys. So yeah we were pretty much a traveling circus for the locals. But we had a wonderful time. The center of the city is very modern and looks a lot like NYC and Tokyo. The part considered to be Old Town was a blast- I got to show off my bartering skills and had such a fun time with the whole back and forth process of it all.

Taking the good with the bad. The upside of traveling on a LCC is being able to splurge on a nicer hotel. The downside is the unforeseen delays. Although our flight was delayed twice it didn't bring this little goof ball down.

He just got sillier with each delay.

The rain unfortunately followed us.

The boys at the Bund

Old Town, which definitely needs to be revisited on a drier day. Unfortunately, our photos really do not give the scene any justice. It really did feel like you were transported on to the set of a movie.

This begins my fascination with bizarre street food. While we all marveled at its oddity none of us were remotely brave enough to give any of it a try. These were small birds on a stick.

 Dried fish products

I want to say this was perhaps  a soup of some sort. It consisted of meatballs floating around a cow's head.

I think this was a sort of cured meat, maybe pork that was then wrapped in leaves and tied with rope. They kind of looked like cooked hearts. 

 There was a bone in the center of the meat though, so I don't think my heart theory really makes too much sense.

Frogs

Dried beans and pickled items. I could have really spent our entire trip photographing the food, but I'll stop here.

We took a day trip out of the city to a small canal village. It was really remarkable at how rural it was although it was only a 40 minute drive from the center of Shanghai. I naively asked our lovely guide what we should eat while at the village, who sweetly replied "oh no no you don't eat here- you see this canal, they do just about everything in that water."

 It was very pretty though

Our one and only family photo, so I feel obliged to post it

These cool allies were all different shopping stalls in the village.You felt like you were weaving though an intricate maze while walking through the narrow passage ways.

There were clothes hanging from just about everywhere. Usually the clothes are dried by hanging them on these really long poles that were laid across a frame that folded out from the windows. Apparently though people think nothing of hanging their skivvies out for the world to see.

This scene cracked me up even more, since it was literally pretty much near the center of the city. I guess there is an unspoken rule of not stealing others clothing even if they are hanging from trees or on fences off a main city street.

The bean, who some how gave himself a nice little black eye while getting into some serious trouble in the hotel room.

Mid-day sugar fix

Xintiandi, which appeared to pretty much be a mecca for foreign expats. It had a very old world kind of feel, with great little boutiques, traditional alleyways and outdoor dining. It really reminded me of Soho.

We picked these outfits up at a silk museum we visited.

Of course our attempt for a decent photo of the two of them quickly turned into their usual routine.

 Kai pretending to be some sort of ninja

Bedtime Shenanigans

Our awesome superman routine

That we do almost every night

Followed by a serious tickle fest. I'm sure in a few years he'll be way to cool to even give his mom a second glance so I'm making sure I get as many hugs and kisses as humanly possible

I have no idea who this character is nor does Kai but he absolutely loves this mask

Fresh out of the bath

They started out in one room ....

and then literally inched their way down the hall

Museum Circut Continued

Rain Rain Go Away! As it has not stopped raining our museum trips have continued. This time it was off to the Museum of Contemporary Art. While Naoto and I only really enjoyed a very few of the exhibits, going there jump started a little creative spark in Kai, who came up with this masterpiece after we got home.

Cup of Noodles Museum

Since we've been plagued with rainy weekends we've currently been on a mission to find some new attractions to explore. Only in Japan would you find an entire museum dedicated to the history of the sacred Cup of Noodles and all of its awesomeness.

The main attraction of the museum is being able to design your very own original Cup of Noodles and participate in the process of how the product is made.

Adding our dried noodles. They even had a section of the museum where you could make the noodles yourself, which we didn't partake in.

Picking out his ingredients

We got to choose 4 ingredients for each cup, along with a base flavor. Some of the choices were original to the museum.

One of our delicious looking (?) creations.

Cups getting wrapped in saran

 Right before it's placed in the super space age looking toaster oven

Now the saran wrap is being melted onto the container

Out it comes- we were all pretty much mesmerized by the glowing oven and hot Cup of Noodles containers that came flying out.

Placing the finished product into a giant bubble to oddly be worn around our necks or carried like a chic handbag if you like.

Bringing his scared expression back into the mix.

Cup of Noodles through the ages

Kai's impersonation of the founding father of the Cup of Noodles empire

Overall it was really a fun little thing to do with the kids, although none of us have been brave enough to actually try our creations just yet.