So, I had booked a tour today called "Best of Shanghai Day Tour" so that I could kind of get a feeling for where stuff is. It was a fairly inexpensive tour that included things that I knew were tourist shopping traps (silk factory and the jade and pearl shop) but also included a few places that I wanted a quick overview of so that I could come back later and do more.
I got up early enough despite my day long nap yesterday. My driver was waiting in the courtyard in front of the building when I got downstairs, despite my getting there a couple of minutes early. I had planned to grab a bottle of water at the convenience store next door, but that never happened. Dehydrated anyone?
We then stopped at a nice, upscale hotel where we picked up the one other tourist on this tour, a lovely woman from California who was also traveling alone. She had just arrived from Beijing and was due to leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.
Our first stop was the Shanghai Museum. This was my favorite kind of museum, free and photos allowed! We only had an hour, but I wasn't too upset because I knew I would come back. They have 4 floors each with a theme and I decided to focus on the ceramics floor (shocking, right?). I am going to be good and not flood you with pottery photos...just a few.
This is an early celadon glazed tripot that dates back to somewhere between 475 - 221 BC. Gives you an idea of how far back Chinese culture goes, right? They don't yet have porcelain figured out here so the green of the celadon isn't that lovely creamy color yet.
This charming gentleman is a Heavenly Guardian all macho like stomping on his foes...
This is a pillow, yes, a pillow. People used to sleep on their back and have their head held up by hard objects (The Ancient Egyptians did it too). This one is in the shape of a child.
I got up early enough despite my day long nap yesterday. My driver was waiting in the courtyard in front of the building when I got downstairs, despite my getting there a couple of minutes early. I had planned to grab a bottle of water at the convenience store next door, but that never happened. Dehydrated anyone?
We then stopped at a nice, upscale hotel where we picked up the one other tourist on this tour, a lovely woman from California who was also traveling alone. She had just arrived from Beijing and was due to leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.
Our first stop was the Shanghai Museum. This was my favorite kind of museum, free and photos allowed! We only had an hour, but I wasn't too upset because I knew I would come back. They have 4 floors each with a theme and I decided to focus on the ceramics floor (shocking, right?). I am going to be good and not flood you with pottery photos...just a few.
This charming gentleman is a Heavenly Guardian all macho like stomping on his foes...
This is a pillow, yes, a pillow. People used to sleep on their back and have their head held up by hard objects (The Ancient Egyptians did it too). This one is in the shape of a child.
I like this one as it's kind of the reverse of what we think of when thinking of Chinese porcelain. White clay with blue images. In reverse, it's just as awesome.
A more familiar looking sort of piece with some awesome dragons.
And here is some celadon the way we're all more familiar with it. And more dragons. This piece was fairly large. I never was able to throw a pot this large...
A particularly lovely Buddha statue. I particularly like how the robes drape.
This, I think, was my favorite piece there. Look at how the bowl seems to glow from within. This is a extraordinary piece of porcelain.
Anyway, we met up with Tom, our guide, and set off for our next destination, the Jade Buddha Temple. This is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Shanghai and is always buzzing with visitors from all over. You can't actually take photos of THE Jade Buddha, which is the seated Jade Buddha. However there are many other Buddha in the temple, including two reclining Jade Buddha.
This is what you see when you enter the temple complex. The whole thing is comprised of several shrines, a monastery, and a school.
This is one of the many Buddha you will see at the temple. This one is Gautama Buddha, the one we all think of when we think of Buddha. There are other Buddha, and he's sitting beween two others in this part of the temple.
This is one of the two reclining Buddha. It's actually smaller, but older than the other (which I didn't get a good shot of). The first two statues (seated and reclining) were created and brought to China at the same time, the other reclining status was given as a gift much later. Yeah, this isn't the greatest shot either.
Then we were off again to the bund, which is an embankment along the Huangpu river. Basically, a wide walkway with a few vendors, lots of tourists, and a great view of the skyline on the other side of the river.
There you go, the famous Shanghai skyline...
We then did the shopping stuff...jade, pearls, and silk. Didn't buy a thing, believe it or not.
Next we were off to Old Shanghai and Yu (Yuyuan) Garden. This was an unexpected and awesome part of the tour.
Just a really pretty shot of the garden. This is a brief moment of tranquility as the whole garden complex was really bustling.
More garden lovelieness...
The Dragon Wall, which I thought was pretty cool, for obvious reasons.
The large pond in the garden is home to many enormous koi and not a few turtles as well.
The tall stone there is known as "The Exquisite Jade Rock" and is, apparently, centerpiece of the gardens. It is kind of cool...but I thought there were many things in the garden which were even more impressive. I'm chalking it up to cultural difference here.
The last thing we were shown in the gardens is a theater where Chinese Operas used to be performed. I may have to see one of those while I'm here...
Rolundia (my cohort in this adventure) and I were then set free to explore the Yuyan Tourist Mart and it's plethora of pushy vendors trying to get you to buy a watch or purse (genuine designer, I'm sure). I bought nothing, Rolundia bargained down an old women for some cool toys for her nieces, but she was unsuccessful in her quest for ice cream.
We then had a lightning tour of the French Concession before heading back to our accommodations. After exchanging Facebook info we parted ways. Well, we dropped her off and I got stuck in traffic a bit with our guide and driver...LOL!
I got back to the apartment and took a little break. I then headed out to conquer the Metro...which was surprisingly easy. It took a little to figure out the machine that tops up the Metro card I was loaned, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Metro signage and announcements are in both Mandarin and English.
I managed to navigate to Carrefour (the grocery store with lots of Western food) where I located cheese, milk, bread, and butter..yippee! I also got some more yogurt and pot noodle as well as some crazy flavors of potato chips. Cucumber chips anyone? Macha tea? I am kind of obsessed with the Mexican tomato ones that don't have anything to do with Mexico and taste more like pizza.
Heading back to the subway, another European tourist (I think he was Swiss or German) asked me for directions. I actually think I got him pointed in the right direction (with a disclaimer).
I had some fried tofu for dinner (with some soy sauce). I need to eat some veggies soon though.
All of my groceries (about a bagful) cost me 151.91 yuen. Know what that is in US Dollars? $24.19!
I then tried to blog this and felt myself drifting off halfway through. Full disclosure, this is being finished up in the morning.
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