#751 Tea House Concert

Every Monday afternoon on the top floor of perhaps the most famous tea house in China, musicians gather to play traditional Chinese music. We joined them, thanks to Michael and Sheila.

We drank tea and ate exotic food.

For two delightful hours, we listened, enjoyed, and applauded their dedication and skill.

Yours in music appreciation,
Kelly

#750 The Friends Cafe

If you're a fan of the TV show 'Friends', then you know the coffee shop called Central Perk. We found this Central Perk duplicate in Shanghai.

It's called The Friends Cafe.

Ross and Rachel could walk through the door any minute and plop down on that big orange couch, it seemed.

We drank our coffee and reminisced about old Friends story lines. The Chinese baristas were intently focused on the endless Friends loop playing on the TV. They laughed at all the jokes. So did we!

As we were leaving, we found Monica's apartment door too.

Yours in remembering Friends,
Kelly

#749 Visiting a Chinese Slaughterhouse

Everywhere we go we find architecture. In Shanghai, we found slaughterhouse architecture.

In 1933, the Shanghai Municipal Council built the largest slaughterhouse in Shanghai.

A brutalist concrete building with Art Deco elements, the design included 26 "air bridges" connecting a rectangular outer building with a circular inner building.

The gap between outer and inner is open to the sky.

The bridges were designed with varying angles and widths to ease the movement of livestock.

Once the slaughterhouse closed, the building was abandoned, but has now been renovated for mixed use including among others a Starbucks, dance studio, doggie day care, drone store, restaurant, furniture store, and a rooftop garden shop.

The raw concrete, stark lighting, and Escher-like quality make the renovated building a magnet for architecture buffs and photographers. But the vision to see these possibilities beyond the filth and stench of an abandoned slaughterhouse is a miracle.

Yours in appreciating an architectural lemon turned into lemonade,
Kelly

#748 Finding Pho

In Ho Chi Minh City, we searched for Pho.

We found it served outdoors.

We found it served in bistros.

We even found it served in a rooftop not-so-Secret Garden.

Yours in finding Pho,

Kelly

#747 Exploring Yangon by Train

We love train trips! So we decided to explore Yangon, Myanmar by rail.

We met our train at the Yangon Central Railway Station, the largest station in Myanmar.

Using the ticket booth map, our excellent guide described the Yangon Circular Railway. It's the local commuter line, a 28-mile loop with 39 stations.

At 200 Kyats each, our tickets cost about 13 cents.

We rode in one of the newer train cars from China.

The rules: No smoking, littering, or public displays of affection.

We rode the west side of the loop from the central station and jumped off at a stop near a local fruit market where bananas were unloaded and young Buddhist monks stepped gingerly across the tracks.

Yours in riding the rails,
Kelly

#746 Renovating Myanmar

We first visited Yangon, Myanmar in 2006. We returned twelve years later.

In 2006, the gleaming Shwedagon Pagoda brightened a dark sky.

In 2018, the Schwedagon Pagoda, under renovation and covered in form-fitting bamboo scaffolding, still brightened a dark sky.

In 2006, the massive reclining Buddha had pink feet.

In 2018, the massive reclining Buddha, under renovation and covered in form-fitting bamboo scaffolding, had black feet.

In 2006, the clock tower was in serious need of renovation.

In 2018, the clock tower renovation was complete.

Yours in appreciating Myanmar's renovations,
Kelly

#745 A Day With Makers In India

India has a long tradition of skilled craftspeople making functional items with their own hands. We visited a village outside Kochi to learn more about their amazing skills.

Weavers make cotton fabric they sell to the government for schoolchildren's uniforms.

We boarded a shikara boat and headed into the backwaters.

There we met a toddy tapper. He climbs palm trees to collect the sap, makes a natural brew, and sells it to local toddy shops.

Fish farmers demonstrated catching their crop with handmade nets.

Local chefs made a traditional lunch, served to us on a banana leaf.

We saw palm fronds, in the hands of experts, woven into panels traditionally used in home construction.

Coconut husks, processed and expertly spun, make strong natural rope.

Locally harvested reeds are dried and woven into beautifully crafted smooth mats.

Our day with makers ended with milk-makers at a dairy farm where chopped local forage is the input and site-produced bio-gas fuels the operation.

Yours in appreciating those who make,

Kelly