When I was first in Shanghai I used to do these cellphone photo posts where I would dump all of my cellphone pics onto the computer and describe each one. Now that it's summer and I have time again...

The other day after Jodi's classes I took Charlotte downtown to go out to dinner with Jodi and some classmates. We got there first, so we had some time to walk around the Jing'an Temple area. I knew there was a Baskin Robbins up the road, so we stopped to spoil our dinner. It was the first Rainbow Sherbet I've had in years, and it was delicious. Charlotte agreed.


This was our dinner. Lisa, one of Jodi's classmates that we both know from back when we worked together, is from Lanzhou and insisted on taking us out for Western food. When we reached the Jing'an branch, we found it closed, so we taxied over to the shopping center at Xietu Rd and Tianyaoqiao Rd and dined at 敦煌小停. Lisa ordered some snacks and the rest of us ordered main dishes, and it was delicious. Instead of making nebulous statements about the quality of restaurants, Jodi and I always phrase our judgments in terms of "would we go back again?" and the answer for this place is a resounding yes. Jodi had the Lanzhou lamian, I had lamb paomo, and we snacked on fried spiced potato slices, spicy cummin lamb sandwiches 羊肉夹馍, lamb skewers, doughy corn nuggets, and white translucent wheat noodles in peanut sauce and chili oil 凉皮. Prices were reasonable, too, probably about RMB 40 pp.


The 张江环线, one of two buses we can take from our house to the nearest subway station, just got a makeover. The "yellow bus" is now the "blue and white bus", with seats that feel a bit cleaner and wider, but otherwise about the same as the old buses: same layout, same station announcements, same saucy drivers.