written by Cait
A couple weeks ago, from a car while going over a bridge in our neck of the woods, I had seen this cool looking architecture of little houses, or shops, I wasn’t sure. So Brad and I decided to find it by foot the other day. We walked for a good hour and a half with no luck. We decided to head home while I wondered if my eyes had been playing tricks on me that night when I thought I’d seen it. If Brad hadn’t need to find a bathroom, we might have missed it. Thanks Brad’s bladder! And here’s what we found:
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The whole street was built in the traditional Chinese style, from centuries ago. One side of the canal was of unoccupied buildings, but the other side was of restaurants, a wine shop, specialty grocery store, etc. A long walk deserved a cold drink, so we sat down at Water Under the Bridge, a bar and restaurant with a nice patio along the canal.
Halfway through our beers, I said to Brad, “So…we’re sitting here looking at centuries old style Chinese buildings, listening to American music, drinking German beer, and there’s a French restaurant next door…where are we again?”
We seem to get this feeling a lot. At work-the teachers are from all over the world, England, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scottland, and of course, China. There is much more international influence in this city than I ever would have thought. And it’s tricky too. I’ll share an elevator with another Western looking person, and at first, I used to assume that they were American, Canadian, or British…but then she started speaking Russian. So, I was reminded the age old lesson of not to assume things. I really need to stop doing that-especially here. If you assume things will be one way, you’ll be constantly disappointed, which can lead anger and frustration. It’s best not to assume anything. Ha, easier said than done.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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Near the end of the street, we realized we were definitely in China after seeing these two things:
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
