First Bike Ride in Pudong
After 6 months living in Shanghai and trying all sorts of transportation to explore the city (lot’s of walking, taxi, subway/metro, private cars, maglev, ferry) finally I get a hold of a bicycle and went for a ride, actually twice in a day since I had such a great time! My darling husband is currently training for upcoming half Iron Man in Cebu so he has been riding his road bike ever since all our bikes from sea shipment got delivered to our apartment. As for me, I have this fear about crossing the huge intersection in Shanghai, even though the green light for pedestrian walk is on you still have to watch your suroundings, the electric bike and cars are still coming from other direction hence you need to constantly looking for the one going your way.
Cut the story short we went for a bike ride after lunch (hubby take off on weekdays sometimes so we can have a day to ourselves to do errands and exploring the city while Little Miss is in school) towards the canal near Jinqiao in Pudong. I was frightened when we cross the street nearby the highway especially when I see this guy in the bike line in front of me just went off cross the street while the lights were still red!
Nevertheless I managed to cross the intersection safely and off we go. Surprisingly the canal has a very green surroundings, I’ve read that Pudong in the past is a farmland but I didn’t realize that patches of vegetables and fruits garden still exist nearby the city.
Seen some massive villas along both side of the canal, it felt like I’m in Europe instead of China. We crossed the bridge to a small compound where the locals live and Hubby took me to a local wet market (open bazaar) that he’s been telling me about. The thing is, I love market. I’ve been to several wet market in Shanghai but later on finding it out to be catered for westerner hence different produce were available, this was my first encounter with local Chinese wet market and I am so excited.
Since its midday not so many customers in sight therefore I can explore the aisles freely, these are some of my findings :
Did I purchase anything?
Not yet but definitely coming back in the near future for early morning vegetables buying slash more picture taking, now that I know where it is I can get back on my own anytime I want to. We had a water break nearby the local compound, it was a hot sunny day and I can see all the locals aired their laundry out, very common sight in this part of the world.
We ride back home, decided to wait for an hour or so till Little Miss got drop off by her school bus then I changed her quickly, off we go again with our bikes towards the outside bicycle lane in Century Park. It was her first time riding a bike on the street, the best part of China is you have bicycle lane on the road which is very good for a nervous mom like me, it is not entirely safe but I have a piece of mind that we are not completely riding next to a bus. We went around the park, did a quick dash to my Korean Supermarket for drinks and snack then back to the apartment.
Little Miss and I will definitely exploring more areas of Pudong with our bike when school is out, can’t wait!!
What a wonderful day of exploration! It looks like it was a beautiful day there too!
As alwys, great stuff! Miguel, how about taking a few shots of your talented wife on her bike. I would love to see her!
Dear Esti, What a splendid way to explore and see the real face of China. You and your family are such adventurers, thanks to you, I get to see the beautiful images and lifestyle in Pudong. The pictures of the fresh vegetables in the wet market, the green scenery on your bicycle trail. the European styled houses and the hanging laundry from the Chinese quarters…all very colourful and fascinating. Thanks for sharing.