The old man is snoring. And Wandudas.

We’re only going to be in Shanghai for two full days, and as luck would have it, weather.com informs me that there’s a good chance of thunderstorms almost every daylight hour of our visit.

Ugh.

I woke up this morning to a foggy, grey view from our 6th floor window. I was pretty grumpy, as my mom and dad both snored last night. The incessant rolling thunder echoing in my ears actually woke me up at about 3 a.m. This is pretty scary considering that I’ve slept through a whip being cracked over my head. (Thank you, YPU Independent Party.)

Rain wouldn’t have been an issue if I had my hiking shoes with me. However, due to the weight restrictions described earlier, I only had two pairs of shoes in my suitcase: (1) green suede Pumas and (2) my trusty leather loafers. In other words, I had no rain-friendly footwear. I looked up the weather ahead of time, thought a bit, and decided to wear my leather loafers. (I’d already worn them in the rain about 20 times in New Haven.)

Even though it drizzled continually throughout the morning, my umbrella was sufficient to keep me reasonably dry throughout a visit to the Yu Gardens. However, at about noon, the sky began to fall, especially when we reached the shore of the Huangpu River. It was raining; it was pouring.

We ran inside an underground crosswalk, but by the time we got there, my feet were completely soaked.

My parents are troopers, so we waited a bit and proceeded towards Nanjing Road, the classic commercial center of Shanghai. Upon arriving, my feet were gross enough to warrant returning to the hotel or buying another pair of shoes. Because of the favorable exchange rate, we decided on the latter option. I bought a pair of Wandus, which I will hereafter call Wandudas. See anything familiar about the logo?... The shoes are actually pieces of crap, but they were dry pieces of crap. Also, they only cost me about $8 USD, which was all that I could muster paying for my bad planning.
My poor leather loafers were laid to rest in the Wandudas box, and they’re currently drying in the corner of the hotel room. (The now-sopping memory foam pads inside my loafers cost twice as much as my new Wandudas.) Since the forecast calls more even more thunderstorms, I may get even more use out of my 8-dollar investment.