A Seventh-day Adventist church of yesteryear, a budget inn of today
“No, I told you, you can’t go upstairs if you’re not a guest,” the teenage hotel desk clerk scowled at my camera. Just then, a portly middle-aged man…
Street Stories
A dog’s life and a cat’s world
I’ve encountered my fair share of pets while roaming in old neighborhoods. Live poultry aside, they range from scruffy half-heartedly adopted dogs and cats that looked like they…
Rekindling a love affair with Shanghai
Crossing the river as evening creeps gently into a Friday is something I enjoy greatly. I find it a warmly symbolic way of starting my weekend, leaving behind…
Mahjong in the rain
The raucous clatter of tiles was unmistakable as I approached the corner of Zhijiang Lu (芷江路) and Xizhang Bei Lu (西藏北路) in Zhabei district. In a public playground,…
Standing tall on Tanggu Lu but not for long
A little north of Suzhou Creek, nestled behind the cacophony of Qipu Lu’s (七浦路) hectic wholesale clothing district lie two rather statuesque structures on Tanggu Lu (塘沽路)*. One…
Loitering youths and homemade tattoos
[imagebrowser id=41] Unless you have a specific purpose, hanging around the human crush at the clothing wholesale district of Qipu Lu (七浦路) is best avoided unless you take particular…
The soundtrack of recycling glass
The crunch of glass rang through the air. Then the jarring scrap of a shovel dragging against the ground. Followed by the jingling of glass flung together. And…
House and home for a migrant family
There was no reason to have entered what looked like a dumpster along Meizhu Lu (篾竹路), north of Wangjiamatou Lu (王家码头路). Until a small head in pigtails poked…
How street photography can humble you
You might enjoy this interview with Elliott Erwitt who recently received the Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Center of Photography. The “wit” in Erwitt is…
Shanghai’s Future Real Estate Developers?
The boys were on a mission. Focused and resolute, the objective was to build a faux irrigation ditch to channel the trickling stream of water cutting across the…