More photos: Life in Shanghai Links

Here are a few more photos from around our compound. This afternoon we have a special visitor arriving, and I hope that she will explore the area just outside our compound with me so that you can see the contrasts!

The free shuttle that takes us into town. 

The Shanghai American School (on right) from the main road.

The community playground. There are also playgrounds at the school.

The smaller community pool. It is open until the end of October,
but it is already too cold to swim.

The compound store.It is small, but offers enough variety that I
 really have no excuse not to cook dinner each night.

Just beyond the fence are the high school sports fields.
Baseball, soccer and track.

The Shanghai Links Clubhouse. It has 2 restaurants and hotel
rooms. But like many things in China, it always feels eerily
empty. The golf course looks to do pretty good business, however.

The community club house. Work-out facilities, meeting room,
play area for kids. Foosball table, tennis courts.

The larger community outdoor pool, this one is favored by
aka The Works and The Paying Customer.

Cannot really tell from the photo, but the ocean is just
beyond this fence.

A typical street in the compound. Lots of wide open spaces.

A walk in the (dog) park

View of houses and school from dog trail. Sometimes smoke
stacks on passing ships are visible on the horizon to the right.

This looks like it was a nice garden when it was planted. Now
it is mostly left wild. 

Biscuit and I have a morning routine of taking a walk together when the boys leave for school. We like to take a service road that cuts through the golf course to an abandoned garden area that is commonly used by dog walkers.

The access road into our compounds is narrow, and all of the school buses (about 30) are made to wait after dropping off the children so that the bus traffic is moving only in one direction at a time. They park on the service road and wait for the all clear signal. Biscuit has a few Chinese friends that always try to call to her and pet her. She is much larger than a typical Chinese dog, and I've been asked if she is pregnant!

More photos of the neighborhood should be forthcoming.

Golf course view.

Cypress. Fun to look at and to smell. Many are
permanently bent from the wind.

Guard booths on many corners. Manned 24/7.

The American School. Each week the last 3 flags are changed
to reflect the nationalities of the students and staff.
 I am learning new flags every week! 

Our street just after the morning rush. Our house is at the curve
on the right. The school is on the left.

Biscuit's new bling.

We haven't missed you, Mr. Smog!

Yesterday we planned to explore a nearby island that has several wetlands and a forest. We packed a picnic lunch, and set off into the haze. As we drove toward our destination, the skies continued to darken, and we realized that it wasn't a cloudy/foggy day, but a return of the smog. In fact, this was the worst-looking smog we have seen in Shanghai, maybe even worse than the winter days we spent in Beijing. We have been blessed with so many clear days since our summer vacation and move to Pudong, that we forgot just how polluted the city can get! I remembered that the United States Consulate, located 36 km away, monitors the air quality at their location and tweets the reports on a regular basis. I tried to access the numbers from the car, but of course the Chinese Fire Wall thwarted my attempts. Later I was able to confirm our suspicions that the air in Shanghai had reached 'unhealthy levels' on the Air Quality Index and within hours it moved into the 'very unhealthy' range.

View of the 10 km bridge to the island

Soot from the windshield

The Little Dumplings (haha!) reported that the new school does not allow outside activities when the pollution levels reach the "very unhealthy" level, and we decided this was a sound policy. We'll return to Chongming Island on a clearer day!