Summer: Tourist in Your Town

It has been about 1 year since I first posted the Tourist in Your Own Town series. I started it as a random challenge whenever something struck my fancy. A fellow blogger suggested I do it at a regular interval to increase results and participants. It then became a monthly challenge. After a few more challenges with only a few participants I considered stopping the challenges. After lots of comments and encouragement from the blogging world to keep going I decided to give it more time, but still I have had less than positive results. Good intentions are appreciated, but it makes me think my idea is just not something that interests enough readers.

Summer Rain

The first few challenges had a few regular followers join in and I made a few new friends a long the way with new bloggers stopping by. Since those first months fewer and fewer people have joined and I am lucky to have had one or two bloggers join in. July was the worst results with no one until just recently Chava61 found my blog and did a great post.

A portable beaver tail truck! Just for you Bastet!

With mixed feelings I have decided to retire the monthly challenge. A challenge needs work, time and leg work getting out there to tempt you all with great ideas and dropping by to nudge, hint and persuade you to participate. With a busy work schedule where I work 10-14 hours a day and 4-8 hours on weekends I cannot devote the time to a blog and photo challenge that I would like. So August will be the final challenge. For the final prompt I would like to tempt you with images of summer. Maybe it was a picnic in the park, trip to the cottage, a beautiful sunset or garden. No matter show something summery where you live. Link back here and use Tourist in Your Town in the title and as a tag.  

Fun at the pool

Funny that I wrote this before last week’s “summer lovin” theme set by word press, but since I am doing a scheduled post because I will be travelling half-way round the world on the usual posting date. Why not send us a link to that post? Thanks to all my followers and participants over the past year. Stay tuned… not for more challenges, but more adventures in Shanghai and around Asia as we enter our final year.  

Festivals & Gatherings: Tourist in Your Town

Here it is June already and time for a new Tourist in Your Town Challenge. Thanks goes out to  Junkboat Travels (on blogspot)  for participating in last month’s challenge Favourite and showing some of her favourite Burger joints in and around Toronto, Canada.

It is a long weekend here in China for Duan Wu, Dragon Boat Festival. The holiday is usually mid-week, but this year it falls on a Monday. Yippee 3 day weekend. Yesterday John and I went to the Beer Festival. John’s friend had a booth and was selling his home-brew and asked John to prepare some food to go along with the drinks. We spent the day selling tasty Beef on a Bun. Crowds came despite the heat. The energy and fun-filled the air for those expats and locals alike that decided to stay in the city.

The Beerfest runs Saturday and Sunday from noon until 10PM. Numerous homebrewers, restaurants and breweries sell their ware. Most participants are from around Shanghai, but some come from other cities. With a large expat community tastes from other countries are also present. In the evening bands hit the main stage to entertain the crowds and create a bar atmosphere outside. It was held in Puxi near Fuxing Park at Sinan Mansions. Sinan is an outside venue with small 2 story European style buildings. This year is the 4th beerfest, so if you’re in the area next year keep it in mind 😉 The address is:

Sinan Mansions 519-521 Fuxing Zhong Lu (near Sinan Lu)

and in Chinese:

思南公馆 复兴中路519号 近思南路

The metro information:

Line 10 (Purple): Xintiandi 10号－新天地

Shanghai Beerfest

The Beerfest gave me the idea for this month’s Tourist in Your Own Town theme: Festivals and Gatherings. Now the festival season is just starting, but if you have any photos from last year post them and give us the details, dates and description for this year. Hey maybe if someone is in your neck of the woods they may stop by. No festivals where you live? No problem… what is your summer tradition? Maybe it is a family BBQ, a weekend around a campfire with friends, a church picnic or even a parade. Just show us something festive and fun that you are looking forward to this summer.

 

Then…

• post your pictures and then link back to this post so others can find you
• use Tourist in Your Town in the title and tags
• invite others to join in

View of the venues just before opening time

 

 

 

The challenge runs for the month of June and a new challenge will be up the first week of July

Stay tuned…

 

Favourite Romantic Work of Art: Photo Challenges Combined

Favourite Romantic Works of Art… 3 photo challenges all rolled into one.

Favourite -show your Favourite thing from where you live (food, place, thing to do…) for Tourist in Your Own Town, which is a monthly challenge hosted by me. 🙂

Romantic -Bastet’s Pixelventures has asked us to show the softer side.

Work of Art – from Word Press. A work of art can be a masterpiece, something your children have made for you, something in nature, or Michelle’s example of gastric delights almost too pretty to eat.

 

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One of Shanghai’s favourite landmarks to shoot must be the unusual Pearl Tower. How romantic to stroll along the Bund at night and look at al the twinkling lights. It certainly is a masterpiece of unique design inspired by pearls, which are often harvested in China’s waters.

Dali’s melting clock, according to the plaque, is the second one in the world on display. Who would have thought it would be in Shanghai? It is one of my favourite works of art. I was delighted to happen upon this as we strolled along Nanjing Road. For some reason this masterpiece feels romantic for me. Maybe because the first time I saw it I was in the romantic city of Florence, Italy.

Be sure to show or tell about your favourite,  romantic, or work of art in the comments below. Can you roll all 3 into a post too?

 

Favourite: Tourist in Your Own Town

A new month has started so does a new photo challenge for Tourist in Your Own Town. As you may know at the start of each month I will post a theme and you can show us what it is like where YOU live. Let us travel to another place via the internet and your photos and words. Much cheaper and easier than actual travel sometimes. 😉

I had a few ideas for May, but after a little something on Monday night I changed my mind. Something got a lot of us excited here in Shanghai and it quickly became the talk at work. After all it’s about the little things in life 🙂 Each Monday a small group of us has gone to a local restaurant, The Blue Frog. This place has American style food with burgers, fajitas, large yummy salads and pastas on the menu. There is also some local dishes, but people usually come for the burgers. Every Monday night they offer a 2 for 1 burger. With the cheapest burger at 75 (now 78) RMB which is close to $12;  it is a little pricy, but that is how it is for a taste of home. The burgers are good and totally worth it when you can get 2 for the price of one. To top it off from 4-8 PM every night it is happy hour where the  majority of drinks are also 2 for 1. We discovered this place our first year here and quickly it became our Monday night tradition. A table for 2 has now extended to sometimes 6 or 8 of us. We have celebrated birthdays, work functions and just gone there to hang out. The staff is super friendly and our local Chinese friends Albert and Joy are super sweet. They go out of their way to always stop by and say Hi. I think we love this place because we feel so welcome. We are known to all the staff and often they know our order before we do 😉

All this is exciting and makes us really happy, but Monday things got shaken a little bit. The prices went up and new burgers were on the menu. One caught my eye, but it was 108 RMB (about $17). I thought well it is 2 for 1, lets give it a go. Well it was delicious! I ordered the Gourmet Burger, the latest addition. It came on a ciabiata bun with avocado, a spicy cheese, a thin slice of parma ham and a chilli sauce. When it arrived the presentation was beautiful, more than a burger slapped together and thrown on a plate. It was so pretty I snapped a photo. After my first bite I was in heaven. It melted in your mouth and the mix of sweet chilly sauce, the creaminess of the cheese and juiciness of the burger were all paired together into delicious bite after bite. A few of us tried this burger and everyone’s conversation suddenly turned away from work to how yummy the burger was. Now that is saying something! With teacher appraisals, reports and assessments underway it took our minds off things to savour bite after bite. A few other people from work also happened to be at the restaurant and all week when we ran into each other we were asking “Did you try the new burgers?” “Which one?”  “Wasn’t it SO good!”.

The Gourmet Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

 

SO my theme for May is to show your favourite food, restaurant or place to hang out. It can be a place you are a regular, or just go to for special events. Tell us why it is great and why you like going there then show us some photos. Be sure to link to your post in the comment section below and add to a link (pingback) to this post. Lastly use the tag Tourist in Your Own Town  in your title so others can stop by and see what is your FAVOURITE where you live. So be a Tourist In Your Own Town and give us a peek at what is great about where you live.

 

 

Missed my post for the Black’s Photography Contest I entered?  Hit the “older post” button below if you want to check it out.

Stay tuned 🙂

 

Round: Tourist in Your Own Town

Recently we went up the Pearl Tower here in Shanghai. It is an interesting building that has pink coloured glass and round ball shapes. Certainly not your traditional straight lines and rectangular shaped building. Word has it that the name came from the round balls, similar to pearls. It was the tallest building in Shanghai at the start of the building boom. The Pearl Tower was completed in 1994.

One of the upper decks has a glass floor where you can view the streets below. Looking through my photos I loved the circular shape.  I loved looking down at the round pedestrian walkway and round about. I thought that would be a cool idea for this month’s Tourist in Your Town photo challenge – ROUND.

Looking down at the (g)round.

Around and Around they go

Now you don’t need to go to a tall building to get your shot. Just look (a)round you and show us something in your backyard, from your street or skyline. It can be round in shape, or hey maybe it could even be something that has been (a)round a long time. Get creative!

How to join in:

• take a photo or search your files for something that fits the theme round
• use Round and Tourist in Your Own Town in the tags and title of your post
• link back to this post, so others may join
• add a link to your post in the comments below, so others can find you
• have fun… this challenge is up a bit early and lasts the month of April before a new theme will be posted

Be sure to check out my post from earlier today for WP theme street scenes.

Stay Tuned…

Skyline: Tourist in Your Own Town

I cannot believe it is March already and time for a new Tourist in Your Own Town theme. It is a dreary damp rainy day, so my original plan for the theme was put on hold. I could not bear treading out in the rain yet another day. Last week it rained here 3-4 days and this week we had 2 straight days of steady rain with a cloudy break for one day and then 2 more days of rain with a short break. Instead of getting soggy I looked through my photos and came up with these photos and a new theme.

Shanghai Skyline and fluffy clouds

The theme for March is Sky. Show us the sky where you live. If you live in a big city, like I do in Shanghai, show us the skyline. If you live in a small town or out in the country show a starry night, sunset or cloudy blue sky. What does the sky look like where you live? With the cold winter in North America and the cloudy and rainy weather in Shanghai show us some bright sky to lift our spirits.

Natural Sepia tones March, 2014

In the Pink -Shanghai March 2014

How to Join In:

• post something to show the SKY where you live
• use  Tourist in Your Own Town in the title
• use the tag sky and tourist in your town
• link back to this post
• link to your post in the comments below so others can find you
• a new theme will be posted the first weekend of April, so lots of time for sky posts

Shanghai Skyline along the Bund at night

On a side note thanks to all those who voted for me in the Canadian Blog Awards. The contest ran differently this year and the results are already up. They only show the top 3, so I am not sure of how I did. I did not make the top 3 😦 Oh well I will try again next time.

Stay tuned….

Red #2: Tourist in Your Own Town

Each month I have posted a theme and asked you to join in. For February the theme is RED. I haven’t been getting a lot of participation and asked for suggestions on red post #1. Many readers said keep trying and it may be slow going before it catches on. Thanks so much for your encouragement. I did have some takers this month. Patchwork Ponderings, who has participated before, showed us some RED from The Niagara area in Ontario, Canada. I also had 2 new bloggers visit and post. Debbie had a very cool take on the theme in London, England while Jackie, a fellow Canadian, showed some RED from Toronto, Canada. Visit the orignal RED post (in the comment section) to find their links and check them out. They are worth a peek!

When I first thought of RED I wanted to post something for Chinese New Year, but didn’t have any photos. The other day we were out and I captured this.

Red paper from firecrackers litter the streets.

Chinese New Year is the big celebration in China. Some compare it to our Christmas, but I think it is bigger. The holiday lasts 14-15 days. The biggest part of the celebrations take place over 3 days. New Year’s Eve brings loud pops and bangs as firecrackers scare away the evil spirits and bring good luck for the upcoming year.  With pollution at high levels Shanghai was said to limit the amount of fireworks, the much more colourful counterpart of crackers. The newspapers reported less polluting fireworks were also being sold as to still allow the tradition to continue. Despite this New Year’s Eve was still noisy and continued cracks and bangs went on at regular and random intervals for close to 48 hours. Another part of the celebration is a family dinner with all members reuniting. With many migrant workers coming into the city for work, or higher wages it may be the only time they see family. This is not just seeing extended family, but it may be people reuniting with spouses and children.

Chinese New Year involves gifts, but not brightly coloured packages wrapped in bows and coloured patterned paper. Instead crisp bills are placed inside red envelopes. Other gifts often include oranges and sweets like cookies in specially designed gift boxes similar to those we see in shops for Christmas at home. The following photo shows the symbols of Chinese New Year as well as red envelopes hanging on a holiday tree. As far as I know they do not usually decorate tress in the way for the holiday. I think this was more a mix of East and Western cultures done by the local hotel.

Red envelopes and lucky coins with tassels decorated this unique holiday tree.

The last photo is to celebrate the start of the olympics. Here are my RED Olympic Canada mittens which I wear here in Shanghai. GO CANADA!

There is still time to participate and post something unique, special and RED from where you live. Be a tourist in your own town and share something from where you live. Follow this link to get all the details. Be sure to leave a link back to your post in the comment section of Red #1

Stay tuned…

Red: Tourist in Your Own Town

Each month I pick a theme and ask you to post a photo of something from where you live to fit the challenge. As February begins so does 2014’s Chinese New Year and for many other parts of the world you may think of Valentines Day and love. What better idea than to show something RED? Maybe you want to show yourself or how other’s paint the town RED. Maybe there is a Valentine or Chinese New Year display where you live to show RED. However you decide post something RED, from wherre you live, before the end of the month.

Very RED tomatoes at the local wet market

The response to these photo challenges hasn’t been good. 😦 I have had lots of comments and ‘will come back later’ to post, but few have. Any suggestions how to make this a better challenge or how to get more interest would be greatly appreciated.

Traditional RED doors in Shanghai

The rules:

• post a photo of this month’s theme however you interpret it
• add a link in your post to this one here so others can join in
• put a link to your post in the comment section below, so we can find you
• add RED and Tourist in Your Own Town in your tags and title
• Snap away and have fun. Be sure to post before the end of February

The RED China Pavilion  -for the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Long after Expo this building remains to be used as a museum.

Thanks and stay tuned…

Cabin Fever: Tourist in Your Own Town

Happy New Year and Welcome to the first Tourist in Your Own Town for 2014!

Speaking of NEW this is post #301 for Canadian Travel Bugs. As a new year begins we also reflect back over the passing year. Thinking over the last posts of 2013 (check out my stats here thanks to WP) I noticed many of my recent posts have been photo challenges. My goal for the new year is to get back to more stories and adventures about China and travel as well as have this photo challenge that I host and post monthly to increase.  Without further ado here we go with this month’s challenge, Cabin Fever.

DO you feel like hibernating?

For most places in the northern hemisphere winter has hit with a vengeance. Winter has brought cold, damp temperatures and wet weather with rain, ice storms and lots of snow. With colder weather many people turn into hibernation mode and want to stay indoors. Who enjoys the miserable weather outside? Curling up by a warm fire, under a cozy blanket and enjoying a good book or movie may be how you spend your days. After awhile maybe cabin fever sets in when you are bored with the inside and feeling cooped up. Maybe if we share ideas of what we do everyday, or a post a view inside our homes it will give us new ideas and break the boredom.

I think we were lucky not to go home this Christmas with all the snow, ice and bad weather they have been having. Coming back to Shanghai after being in Cambodia we found the first night very cold and damp, but the next day it reached a comfortable 15c with clear skies! Today the air quality is bad, so we will spend the day inside watching TV, cleaning up, reading, and the most fun playing with Willow.

How to participate

1. Post a photo of something inside your house, from your window, or your daily routine. It can also be an idea of how to break the boredom of being trapped inside. Alternatively post a photo of the weather from where you are. Maybe we will be jealous of your warmer temps or think Whoa at least it isn’t that bad! 😉
2. Use the Tourist in Your Own Town as a tag and in the title of your post.
3. Use Cabin Fever as a tag and in the title also.
4. Link back to this blog in your post about Cabin Fever.
5. Add a link to your post in the comments below, so others can find you easily.

Willow pooped out after playing chase. Time for a cuddle and watching TV.

Looking forward to seeing what you do to break Cabin Fever and how you spend your days.

Stay tuned… Next month there will be a new theme for Tourist in Your Own Town. Usually a new theme is posted the first weekend of the month. Also  check back this weekend for a post about our recent trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Tourist in Your Own Town: Holidays #2

Last spring I started to post on Tourist in Your Own Town and encouraged others to join in. A few months ago as a suggestion to make it more regular I started to set a theme as a monthly challenge, which I will post the first weekend of each new month. The month of December I posted on Holidays and asked you to share what celebrations look like where you live. I posted a unique crystal christmas tree at  a local hotel here in Shanghai. Last night we went out and around to see some lights along Century Avenue. A few weeks ago the twinkling bright blue and white lights caught my attention and I knew I needed to get up close. Around the JingMao Tower, World Financial Tower (or Bottle Opener as it is referred to here), and Shanghai Tower, which is still under construction, we captured these lights.

View from Above

Today at the Kerry Parkside in Pudong I spotted this Polar Express display. A super huge mountain of ‘snow’ and train. Each season they seem to out-do themselves with some sort of seasonal splendor.

It is not too late to join in the challenge. Here are the details if you want to share a post and be a Tourist in Your Own Town.

All Aboard

The rules …

• post a picture(s) for this month’s theme: HOLIDAYS
• link to my post Holidays: Tourist in Your Own Town (or this one #2)
  
• add a link to your post in the comment section below (so others can find you too )
• add the tag TOURIST IN YOUR OWN TOWN to your post
• use TOURIST IN YOUR OWN TOWN in the title of your post
• have fun clicking examples of the holidays

Next weekend we are off to Cambodia for Christmas, so stayed tuned for more adventures and travels around Asia.