Disney in October

In China, there's only one "Cheesecake Factory" restaurant, and it is located right outside of Shanghai Disney in a shopping area known as Disney Town.

In Disney Town, everything has ears! I'm not into Halloween, but this is kind of cute.

I did not visit Disney's park. I have arthritis and an enlarged bone joint in my right big toe. It doesn't bend anymore. It hurts to walk, and just by going to the restaurant, I thought my foot would fall off. No way I could have walked through the park too!

Big bathroom tour

I haven't shown you much of my apartment, but today I have a photo of my large bathroom to show you. I also have a smaller bathroom attached to the master bedroom, but it's hard to take photos of that one due to its size.

It's common in China to have the washing machine in the bathroom since plumbing fixtures are available there. An alternate location for a washing machine is an enclosed balcony, but I don't have an enclosed balcony.

Once upon a time, I had to bring towels from America to use here. The ones available here were tiny; even the ones people used to dry off after a shower were no larger than a hand towel. Also, they had children's drawings on them, like bears or tulips or constellations, and the colors were hideous, in my opinion. Then one day I saw some good larger towels at Wal-Mart and bought them. But I got tired of pink, and Wal-Mart closed down. So when I saw these turquoise ones for sale at the Japanese home furnishing store called Nitori, I got them. 

There is a large hot water heater on the wall above the toilet. The sliding glass doors in the back enclose the shower area. 

I have a small cube-size clothes drier on a piece of furniture on the wall to the right that you can't see. Most people here don't have electric clothes driers, preferring to hang their clothes to dry. The clothes driers that are available are either small and minimally effective, or they are good and really expensive. I ordered mine directly from the factory since I couldn't find any in the stores. It takes 3-4 hours to dry a pair of jeans. But during rainy season, it could take 3-4 days to dry a pair of jeans, so the drier is still a better deal.

I like the brightness of this room. All my rooms have windows. 

That's the bathroom tour!

The small street market

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had to locate a new veggie market when my old alley market closed down. Sometimes, I really don't want to go to all the trouble to go into the big market that I showed you yesterday. I just want to hop off my e-bike and buy some veggies fast. I found a nice street market to go to, but it is further away than the big market. It's veggies are actually better though, and they even sell fresh asparagus! It's in a run down neighborhood, but I like the feeling in those neighborhoods, so I don't mind.

It's just a small little nook of a market.

See that asparagus in the middle of the photo?

The view right next to the street market. 

The big market in my neighborhood

After eight years of going to the same little family-owned veggie stall in my alleyway, one day it closed down. I was shocked! How could the family just disappear without saying goodbye? I couldn't believe it. I had to go in search of a new market. The other markets are further away, so it is not very convenient to get there. Instead of taking five or six steps from my e-bike to the veggies, I have to park, lock my bike, walk into a building, and make a real effort. But I found a really nice, pretty woman who always smiles at me and welcomes me, so I go to her section to buy veggies. That's her pictured above. 

There are many vendors in the building selling veggies, fruit, and meat.

I'm not much of a fruit eater, but the fruit looks nice.

Here is the entrance to the market building. The floor is often wet and muddy inside.

The market building is near a main road. I park my e-bike on the sidewalk like everyone else.

Another view of the market building.

Deluge

I was at an office building last weekend when a thunderstorm and downpour began. I went down to the lobby and saw the guards trying to keep it from being flooded. What a mess! What a miserable job they had that day. I had to wait half an hour before the rain slowed down enough for me to walk outside. 

Subway people today

Young woman checks her cell phone on her long subway trip.

At first I thought they were ballerinas. But then I realized they just want to look precious.

Self-portrait. That's me in the reflection of her sunglasses.

Boating in the water town village

In my neighborhood

You don't see this kind of thing in Texas.

So far, so good

                                        
It's 2017 and all is well in the Middle Kingdom. I think 2017 is going to be a better year for this blog. (I found a better internet solution, and I'm not as exhausted as I was during most of 2016.) Keep checking back.