The last day of the three day holiday of the New Year. Enjoyed the three relaxed day before putting all my effort back to my website. It is shining here in Shanghai. It snowed a little bit when I was in the Liangzhu 良渚 area in Hangzhou yesterday, and I heard it snowed this morning (I found some evidence on my car), but now, it is sunny and pleasant in Shanghai again.

Looking back, I just realized how age, or the arrival of Yifan changed the family routines so greatly. The two-person family is filled of party, movie, afternoon tea, and friends. The three-person family is more of staying at home, or family gathering. It is kid-centric. I feel I am far away from this city – whether I live in Shanghai or other small town does not matter that much for a family, as long as there is kindergarten, and parks.

New Expressways

Yesterday, we drove back from Hangzhou. The misleading signs (“To Shanghai”) led the cars to a new expressway, named S13 练杭高速 near Hangzhou. It turned out it connects with S12 (申嘉湖高速), and S32 in Shanghai. There are basically no traffic on the newly built expressway. I was always amazed by the newly addition of infrastructure in the Shanghai/Hangzhou area. I often run into roads that leads to sometimes seems “nowhere”.

Xinyang Market

The third day of the new year, Wendy and I went to the Xinyang Market under the Science and Technology Museum. It is the closest replica of once famous Xiangyang Market. We bought some cloths, and shoes for the kid – a fresh new year.

The Art of Travel

The new year also started with some reading. I started to re-read Alain De Botton’s The Art of Travel, the book I desperately fell in love in 2005. I appreciate the sensation it helped readers to build in themselves in daily life. Isn’t it pleasant to start a new year with some good books?

Again, Happy New Year! I am happy to have enjoyed the first 1% of the near year (or about 1/3 of the new week).