Photo Friday: Shanghai Street Scenes

One of the best ways to get to know is new city is to simply walk around as much as possible.  Here's a collection of scenes observed around Shanghai.

Bund Waterfront

The French Concession

 Spices and other oddities

 Treats? (I still have no idea what these are)

The most intellectual feline in the world.

Nanjing Road

Water writing

Badminton on Nanjing Road

Xuhui

Penglai Park

For more Photo Friday lovelies head to Delicious Baby!

6 Offbeat Things to do in Shanghai

6. Go Goldfishing
In Yanzhong Park, you'll be outfitted with a fishing pole and bucket (for a nominal fee) to try your hand at angling for goldfish.  You can catch and release or buy a bowl to take your precious catch home with you.  FYI - you might be the only adult fisherperson in the crowd.

5. A Loo with a View
The bathrooms on the 100th floor observation desk of the Shanghai World Financial Center (the world's tallest observation deck) offer perhaps the best view you'll ever have while peeing.

4. Gnomes Riding Camels
The Shanghai Museum, which houses an impressive array of artifacts and artwork from all over the world, also boasts a collection of ceramic gnomes riding camels as part of their permanent collection.

3. Sword Dancing
You can watch Sword Dancing practice every Sunday morning...on public sidewalks! Its an instinctively alarming sight to see a group of people assaulting the air with metal swords.  On closer inspection, the control and grace with which the swords slice this way and that is rather elegant.  But still, file this under "things you won't see at home."

2. Sugar Rush
You'll find sugar cane carts being pushed all over the city. For about $0.25, a hand-crank will frantically be turned until a full glass of juice is extracted from the cane.  Its a refreshing and sweet beverage - though not as sweet as you might think given that it is, well, pure sugar.

1. Down the Rabbit Hole
An easy way to travel from one bank of the Huangpu River to the other, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is a literal and figurative trip.  Its a strange four-minute journey filled with flashing lights, awkward narration and psychedelic sound effects.

Video courtesy of Conor O'Brien

Photo Friday: Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

When I heard that Philadelphia had a place called the Magic Gardens, my interest was peaked.

When I found out that the Magic Gardens was actually an apartment building converted into an art space, I was intrigued.

But it wasn't until I discovered that the art space was actually the brain-child and life's work of a whimsical and yet generally disagreeable artistic eccentric, that I was sold.

My trip to Philly simply had to include a stop at the Magic Gardens.

That artistic eccentric was actually a man named Isaiah Zagar, who has created public mosaics and artworks throughout Philly for the past 40 years.

He draws inspiration from his time in the Peace Corps in Peru and clearly has a thing for Gaudi and Nek Chand.

The Magic Gardens spans half a city block and includes the fully mosaiced converted apartment (now used as a gallery and community gathering space) and a massive outdoor mosaic sculpture garden.

Its an overwhelmingly funky environment that engulfs you the second you walk in the door.

It feels like a place you could visit a hundred times and still find something new.

In short, it was awesome.

And its well worth a visit if you should find yourself in Philly.

*For more Photo Friday glory, head to Delicious Baby!