Actually I intended to write this article about a month ago, but feeling daring that day, my friend and I ventured further north on line eight to Huanggong Park, a vapid place where some villain meticulously filed through our bags while we dozed under a tree. He/she nicked a digital camera, subway card, and some cash, but left a Japanese passport and several credit cards. North Shanghai hoods don't play.

So today, via line four to line three, Hongkou Football Stadium station, I spent a few hours in Shanghai's best park, without getting jacked. Best park in Shanghai? Why?

Lu Xun Park teems with that Chinese feeling so difficult to find in the line one/line two global-meets-local corridor. Elderly folk parked on benches chatting, badminton abound, card games like whoa, tai chi, and those yellow and purple outdoor gyms with pull-up bars and quasi-eleptical machines. Not to mention mature trees that don't feel precisely planted by an urban design robot a la Century Park. Everyone smiles at Hongkou park, not because they just copped some new gear at Plaza 66, but because the sun beams down through the foliage onto a plastic bucket an old man bangs with a wooden spoon and/or tambourine while his crew dances about singing on a ghettofied karaoke speakerbox. So fresh. No breakdancing, yet.

So roll up on a Sunday around 11 a.m. with time to chill. Definitely get lost wandering around the alleys throughout the Hongkou district, mad character and snacks throughout. Don't forget to check out Lu Xun, the revolutionary writer's grave. If you have to transfer at Baoshan Lu Station, they've got the best ice cream cone four RMB can buy (pwns McDonald's) near the ticket machines.

By Ian Louisell, The Large Professor