At 1:00am on a Thursday morning, the streets of Shanghai are rather desolate and quiet. Rubbish from the day can be seen scattered about near a 24HR supermarket. This little angel of a girl with pale ivory skin and thick strong thighs played happily along the dimly lit road lined by closed shops. The neon lights bounced outside the small Western-looking place slicing through the window. Just in front of the market, that looked strikingly similar to an American 7-Eleven, a food vendor parked his barbacoa-like grill with wheels. Meat choices were plentiful and skewered up ready to be cooked. There was a variety of fresh vegetables - mushrooms, onions, bok choy, tofu, baby corn - and fish - large sardine-looking silvers, crayfish, eel - and so many other unrecognizable options.
A vendor just next to Mr. 'Food on a Stick' Chan had two large woks with bright orange flames jetting around from below the metal. Mr. Chan offered late night prowlers a choice of various thin and thick noodles, and rice, to be tossed in a selection of sauces with veggies and meat. At that hour fresh wok-seared noodles and veggies sounded best to me. After ordering, 'juh' and 'nay', or this and that, and admired the gastronomic skill of this mobile-chef, we found a spot to sit down between the store and street where little 'tables and chairs' had been set up using plastic beverage crates.
With a touch of black bean sauce and spicy, thinly sliced red peppers, the thick al dente strands evened out the vodka inbalance in my head. The only brand that looked interesting in the store was called Chiznick! from the Czech Republic. I mixed the stiff white liquor with a peach flavored juice while the others sipped on local beers, or píjiu (pee-gee-oh) like Tsingtao or Suntory, owned by a Japanese firm that established a local brewery in Shanghai and is now one of the city's most popular brands.
The smell of the flavors lingered through the desolate streets luring even the most prepared-for-bed out of their apartment for a late night snack.
One of the guys sharing the table with us had ordered this very dark tofu that had been flamed to look crispy on the outside. My friend, who had lived in Beijing for some time, told me it was stinky tofu which is fermented in a variety of ways tracing back to the Qing Dynasty. 'Right,' I said. 'I'll try one of those.'
The tofu was crunchy on the outside and a bit tough to break off of the wooden stick. It tasted like it had been seasoned with Jamaican jerk, a bit spicy even for me, and I can put Sriracha on most everything; I really enjoyed it.
This wondrous little lady played happily on her own while adults wandered in, out and around drinking, eating and chatting. She had one of those toys that works like a helicopter's blades. She'd pull the string and the blades launched the toy high into the night air, two stories at least.
She was my favorite street act, keeping herself so busy with this simple toy. And, over and over again, she caught the blade nearly every time it soared down again to her from its peak. Her skills were impressive.
And her independence and confidence too - these qualities shone brightly from within her. I really wanted some nice photos of this little cutie, so one of my friends figured out who her father was and asked if we could introduce ourselves. Surprisingly he happily obliged. Maybe he knew we were harmless visitors jubilant and comfortable with lounging amongst the locals at this hangout. We had been there laughing, shooting the shit (well me mostly with my hands) and people watching for a couple of hours by that point.
Shy at first, Bao, 'precious' in Chinese, quickly let her guard down and listened to my English with curiosity. She understood my actions best and liked mimicking me with my index finger pointing to my bicep saying, 'See, I'm strong.'
We told her to practice English and to stay on course for her destiny to become a powerful leader in whatever she chooses to take-on in this world.
No doubt Bao had no idea what the meaning of our words were. Still, I am sure that this young lady will perform well for her country in the future. As sunrise's hour drew closer, with a swollen heart, head and belly, we bid our adieu to our new Shanghainese friends, never to forget how special an encounter in the streets can be.
