Umbrellas

Some things are already old hat after nine days in China.  All thirty of us deftly navigate narrow streets with vendors on either side.  We stretch out and become a thin line and quickly reform our glob of teenage interaction; why be by yourself when you can talk to someone else? 

Today the old hat became new.  Rain yields umbrellas that crowd the narrow streets.  Where once six or seven could walk abreast, three or four  becomes the max.  Umbrella wielders and rain jacket clad travelers have to enter an intricate negotiation of whose umbrella will go up and whose will go down in order to pass.  Those only in jackets try to avoid getting poked by the spokes of each passing umbrella.

We have learned to know each others backs.  All trip we have followed the group by finding a distinct backpack or hair style.  Rain and the opening of umbrellas changes that as well.  A five foot tall member of the group can appear six foot seven holding their umbrellas high.  Hair and backpack color we know.  Umbrella color, however, we do not know with the same sub-conscience confidence that has guided us all trip.  Five of us, including three adults, were briefly dislodged from the group having followed the wrong set of umbrellas.

Rain and umbrellas, though, have several distinct advantages.  Cool temperatures is the most obvious; we have rarely raced back to the air conditioned bus seeking reprieve from the heat.  As a photographer the rain has been a blessing.  The gray skies act as a giant soft box providing soft light without harsh shadows.  While umbrellas confuse navigation, they provide a great graphical element to photographs.  The narrow street shot, interesting only in the top half when dry, engages the eye from top to bottom.

The rain did not hold us back from enjoying the Yu Gardens and surrounding gardens today.  We also escaped the wet in the Shanghai Museum and the Jade Buddha Temple.  Hopefully the photos will be proof of the positives of rain.

Andrew