Livin' it up like a local in Fuxing Park

We spent the afternoon wandering around Fuxing Park close to Xintiandi and it was such a very uplifting experience. It was great to see people, “just” ordinary everyday people, putting the public space to good use. We saw kids playing badminton, couples of all ages setting down boom boxes and dancing to their own music, musicians (saxophone) playing by one of the gazebos, three diabolo wizards strutting their stuff, an ancient mini playground (baby roller coaster, carousel, bumper cars), these cool single-seater vehicles that appeared to be in the park to help people with reduced mobility get around, and lots of families out enjoying a mid-afternoon stroll.

The highlight for Davy and Meg was the birch trees. Not for their grandeur or majesty or careful arrangement along the sides of the promenade as one might see on a Parisian boulevard, but rather for the spectacle of three gents in orange jumpsuits climbing up into one of the birch trees on these ultra-light rather long bamboo ladders, harnessing themselves with varying degrees of success, pulling out these arms-length saws (which were strapped to their wrists to facilitate hands-free climbing), and then proceeding to hack off sometimes quite substantial chunks. When one of the larger branches came crashing down along with the “head” of one of the pseudo statues below, the gents had a good laugh and continued their work.Baca selengkapnya