Dong Tai Lu is lined on both sides with tiny shacks that sell anything and everything that is old, or even "looks" old. Items are cluttered all over tables, on shelves, and on the ground, and are often dirty, or tarnished. It's like a giant garage sale, with every shack competing for your business. Many of you know that I am not the garage sale type. I hate searching through piles of stuff, trying to find something I like. But Dong Tai Lu, has plenty of entertainment to go along with the shopping, and I usually find a "treasure" or two, anyway.
Up and down this little street, along with the shacks, are locals, usually grandmothers and babies. They are sitting on the sidewalk on folding chairs, holding babies in "split pants." Yes, little bottoms hanging out all over the place, at the ready for any necessary potty breaks. Smiling grandmothers, enjoying the company of neighbors on a warm spring day.
It is common to find lots of Buddhist items on Antique Street. There are all sorts of Buddas, prayer balls, prayer sticks, jewelry, etc. There are also porcelain dishes, vases, figures. Ornately carved wood boxes, old Chinese instruments, and bird cages.
There is plenty of jade and bone in various forms, and this is where more entertainment comes into the picture. Along with charms, statues, and small swords or knives, that can be found, there are also many things of a more "adult" nature. One thing that I purchased, to bring back and show friends, merely for entertainment value, is something we call "naughty fish." Naughty fish looks like a carved Chinese-style fish on the outside, but if you pull his head off of his body, you will see "naughty pictures" carved into the piece that fits into the body. You will find similar pictures on bone panels, that are all strung together. A different picture on each panel, and on both sides. Things like this can be found on vases, rugs, and in figurine form as well, and if you can't find something to fit your needs in a store in the US, just come to China, you can get jade, onyx, and bone models. Enough said........ this is a family blog.
At one point, not long after we arrived, Andrea saw a shoe shiner that she has met before, and asked him to shine my shoes. Turns out, he is a well-known shoe shiner, who has been featured on the news and in newspapers. He has polished Bill Gate's shoes (so he said anyway) and the Prime Minister and a District Governor for Australia. (According to an Australian friend of mine, the Prime Minister does speak fluent Mandarin.) He had a notebook, with the names of many foreigners whose shoes he has shined, and had me sign it as well. It was a fun thing to do, and he gave me a GREAT shoe shine for under one dollar!
Later in the day, I bought a small wood boat at a stall, and a few minutes later, just down the street, another vendor came up and showed me a bigger boat that he had for sale. It actually was much nicer than the first one, and he started talking to me in Chinese, I'm sure thinking that I did not speak it, as he called me a "Ben Dan" or "stupid egg" in the middle of his rant. This, of course, set me off, as I DID understand, and knew that it was an insult in Chinese. I started loudly announcing that he had just called me a stupid egg, and I could not believe he had done this. This resulted in a crowd forming, as always happens in China when something interesting is going on, and I continued to rant back at him for the show. He apparently thought I paid to much for the first boat (the reason for the insult), and I probably did, although I had been looking for one, and it was the only one I had seen. In the end, I still bought the bigger boat, even after the insult, although we did make him apologize. Maybe I am a Ben Dan!
After getting our fill of Antique Street, we headed over to Xintiandi for lunch. We ate at a restaurant called "Kabb," and I had a yummy red curry chicken dish with coconut rice. It was a fun day, and it was great to meet April. It's funny how many new Michigan friends I have made......IN CHINA!
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