Day 75 – Shanghai

Nov 11th

Shanghai is the seventh largest city in the world with a population over 20 million, however, the government considers only 13.5 million permanent residents. Since 1986, contemporary metal and glass hotels and office towers have sprung up, replacing solid grey granite buildings and transforming the waterfront skyline. It is an absolutely beautiful city that is fully modernized and developed beyond anything I expected, but I guess it is a financial center of the world.

Jade Buddha Temple
To start our day, Brit, Goldie, Jonah and I headed to the Jade Buddha Temple, which is a famous monastery in the area south of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. The temple was founded in 1882 in the southern outskirts of Shanghai and was literally moved to a more central point in the city. The temple is famous for two rare statues of Buddha, each carved out of a single piece of white Burmese jade. One depicts Buddha at the moment of his enlightenment, and the other as he is passing into Nirvana. The complex had various alter rooms and galleries to visit. It almost looked like it was snowing outside, since the ashes of incense floated down form tall dings. On our way out we noticed a Chinese couple throwing dollar coins into the large ding at the center of the square. Of course, we all had a go at it. And, what to all tourists do when they see other tourists doing things? They do it too! So, by the end we had this large group of Europeans gathered around the ding throwing coins at it and hitting each other. Not one of them (or us) knew why we were doing it.

Cheng Huang Mio “Temple”
Just a few minuets away, we found the Cheng Huang Mio “Temple,” which isn’t really a temple at all, but a large shopping area also known as the Yu Yuan Bazaar. The present Yu Yuan Bazaar has been gradually formed through reorganizing and merging of stalls and small stores that existed in the "City of God Temple" area before 1949. Comprising 122 stores, the bazaar receives on the average some 100,000 customers a day. The stores had everything ranging form silk scarves, woven bags, chopsticks, various teas, make-your-own stamps and calligraphy. We spent a great deal of time wandering from store to store. A few men held up pictures of bags, shoes and clothes and asked if we wanted Gucci, Prada or Chanel. Britney wanted some Polos, so we obliged one of them who proceeded to bring us to a back alley shop that was triple bolted from the inside. A few other European couples were there shopping for goods. After realizing the prices, we more than double what Polos are in Malaysia, we left empty handed. While walking back to the main streets, Jonah stopped to get some unmarked fresh noodles from a street stall. The men were literally kneading the dough and stretching it by hand right in front of it. When we finally got a bite, it was the most amazing soft, doughy noodles I have ever have. Clearly, when they are freshly cooked noodles take on a whole new idea of delicious.

Lunch Buffet
We wandered about some more looking at the Chinese architecture of the Bazaar and admiring various shops, before heading to lunch at buffet shop. All you had to do was walk down this line, pulling plates of dished you wanted to try and then pay on the way out. Seeing as we wanted to try everything, we each grabbed three or four dished to split. We tried pork dim sum, whole fried crabs, veggie dumplings, steamed bok choy, veggie strewn noodles, pork dumplings, seasoned edamame and about two other dumpling like things that we didn’t know what they were. Some things were good, some were not so good, but we really got to try a whole selection of dishes. We had so much food left over, that we gave it all to a group of SAS girls who walked in after us. They didn’t even have to pay for a meal because we had so much left over.

Yu Yuan Gardens
In order to escape into a tranquil oasis, we headed to the Yu Yuan Gardens that is dotted by teahouses, pavilions, rockeries, koi fish ponds and knolls. This famous classical garden was laid out between 1559 and 1577 during the Ming Dynasty and is hidden behind high, carved brick walls decorated with huge stone dragons. Inside there is a small lake spanned by a magnificent zigzag bridge and the gardens around it. It is one of the most famous gardens in South China and is especially popular with the people of Shanghai which makes it very crowded. About 100 years ago, a part of the garden was sold to merchants and is now the 98-shop Yu Yuan Market. We found shops selling dress-making patterns and novelties, while vendors hand made Chinese dumplings and pastries. The area was absolutely beautiful. Jonah and I stopped to visit the Feng Hui Pearls Museum and wholesale pearl market. We got to touch raw oysters that still had pearls lodged in their gooeyness. The owner explained how pearls are made, the difference between pink and white and how you can tell what a real pearl is. We looked over their beautiful selection of rings, necklaces and bracelets, before thanking them and heading downstairs. There Jonah and I found Goldie and Brit exchanging emails with a new friend. Together again, we grabbed Dairy Queen blizzards and sat in the nearby park to enjoy our snack.

The Bund
Goldie, Brit and I decided to walk down the Bund, which is a wide avenue that curves along the western bank of the Huangpu River, toward the ship that was docked in the harbor. Originally, called the Waitan by the Chinese, the Bund began life as a muddy tow-path, but later became the focal point of the city. It was both a hectic waterfront and one of Shanghai's main streets. As we walked along we watched kites flying in the sky, smelled the aromas of fresh street food and boat watched as they sailed down the river. I bought a pair of what can best be described as “heel blades” since they are not full rollerblades. I practiced shooting down the Bund on them, and caused a little bit of a commotion as I ended up wiping out quite a few times. While in the process of practicing (with Goldie and Brit laughing hysterically at me), three Chinese University students approached us to chat. Toby, Fiona and another quiet kid told us they were art students and wanted to show us their gallery, so we went with them to see what they had. They showed us their professor’s work and their own, all of which was done in a very traditional style of Chinese artwork. They explained the meaning behind all the symbolism and why different marks are made on the paper. In the end, Goldie and Brit both bought paintings for their ship rooms. Toby and Fiona also presented us with intricate paper cut outs of a peacock and a roster as gifts for coming to see them. After that, we went back to the boat to relax before dinner when we could share our Chinese adventures with others.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was being the reason for the “coin rain” at the Jade Buddha Temple. My “low” was only getting one day in Shanghai.