Mandarin ducks are all different
Trip Start
May 06, 2007
1
130
166
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Shanghai,
China
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Mom and Dad, Laura's ghost writers, agreed to write the entries for Shanghai, YangShou (near Guilin), Xi'an, and Beijing (actually it was Dad that agreed and Mom will do the proofreading). We joined up with Laura in Shanghai, China so that we could spend 2 weeks with her during her world travels. On the way from Chicago to Shanghai, our plane traveled north coming within about 300 miles west of the North Pole.
We arrived first at the hotel from the airport after taking the maglev train (magnetic levitation), a high speed connection between the airport and the subway. We could have taken the bus from the airport to the subway but that would have taken more than an hour. The maglev hit a top speed of 431 km per hour (268 miles per hour) and took about 10 minutes to get to the subway. We took the subway into the city and then walked over to the hotel with our backpacks. [I also took the maglev in and have to say that I was not so impressed. It really didn't feel any faster or different than any other nice train. But it did get a long distance in a short time, so I'm not complaining.]
We stayed at the Renaissance Shanghai Yuyuan Hotel, just west of Yu Garden and south of the Bund, Shanghai's original financial district. It's a newer hotel and was a great place to spend some time. The Renaissance was selected because Dad had collected lots of Marriott points when he worked down in Louisiana doing hurricane relief after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the gulf coast in August and September 2005. [This hotel was awesome!!!!!! Way nicer digs than where I've been staying throughout my travels. It also helped that they gave us a free upgrade on our free room so we were on the 'Club Level' and had access to a special lounge area with free food.]
While waiting for Laura to arrive, we walked around the Yu Garden bazaar area and then a little up along the HaungPu River towards the Bund. Laura arrived later in the evening and we all had a nice visit catching up on things since we had last talked. [Although it wasn't my fault, the hour delay of my flight had my parents a bit nervous that something had happened to me en-route to the hotel. I knew that I was fine. :)]
During the first day we walked and walked and walked around Shanghai to see the different areas of the city and find a vegetarian restaurant for lunch. We found many different things to see including a Buddhist Temple, parks, card games, shops and even a "rock band". Laura and Mom took their turn at singing backup for the band. We also came across what we called "The Taste of Shanghai" where local vendors set up in the courtyards at the Yu Garden Bazaar and you could go from one to the other watching them prepare their fare and sample all kinds of different foods from the area.
The next day was also spent walking around and riding the subway. We went over to the train station to buy our tickets for Suzhou and saw a new area of the city. We then made our way over to the Ohel Moishe Synagogue. This synagogue was formed by immigrants leaving Europe during the time of the Holocaust. The original building serves as a museum with services being held at another location. There is a park nearby that has a memorial to those that escaped Nazi persecution coming to Shanghai. We then worked our way over to the Shanghai Museum and viewed exhibits about the history of the Chinese people in Shanghai [including a massive collection of china (did you know that china got its name because it was brought along the silk road to be traded and everyone started to associate it with where it came from?) and costumes from the different indigenous groups]. It was most fascinating to see the various neighborhoods and get a feel for how the Chinese live. It was also a challenge to see if we could get through the time in China without using the squat toilets. Some of us were successful.
On Monday, we went to spend the day in Suzhou, a town outside of Shanghai that is known as the "Venice of the East" because of its series of canals that were originally used to transfer goods throughout the city. [I've never been to Venice, but I have to say that if Venice is anything like Suzhou, Venice's canals must not be very impressive.] It's also known for the public and private gardens that have been created throughout the city. While there, we visited a silk factory and learned, through a hands-on tour, about how silk is made. Not surprisingly, there was a store attached to the factory and Dad bought some really nice and inexpensive (cheap) silk ties.
After the silk factory, we went on an adventure to find the Pingtan Museum because at 1:30 pm every afternoon, there is a live performance by local entertainers. Even though we were the only westerners in the theater we were welcomed with open arms by the local people and enjoyed a wonderful show. [Plus a rather entertaining sub-show of a man peeling an apple very, very slowly.] We then went next door to the Kunqu Opera Museum to see displays of past performers and performances along with the costumes and props used in the operas. The museum hosts current performances and we even watched a couple rehearsing roles from a past opera.
After lunch at a very good Indian restaurant [surprisingly enough, Mom was even able to handle the spice], we proceeded to the Lion Grove Garden. There were numerous displays of furniture from the original facility with what appear to be random sayings in the descriptions and dolls collected by the owners over many years. The gardens are built around rock outcroppings that you can actually climb through and on. The twelve-year-old Laura had a great time making sure she made it to the top of each rock area. Take a look at the photos of Laura on top of some rocks and quickly click from one to the other and back. [I think one can have fun climbing on rocks at any age even long after 12.]
The next morning we left Shanghai for Guilin and YangShou.
General observation: We were told to be careful when crossing the streets. In China there is a traffic pecking order with the pedestrian the lowest on the food chain. Next up the chain are people on bicycles, then motorized bicycles, scooters, motorcycles (the largest being 125 cc's), cars, buses, and, highest on the food chain, trucks. What we came to realize is that getting around from point A (anywhere) to point B (anywhere that you weren't) was basically one big game of "chicken." For those of you who have never played chicken before the easiest way to describe it is when two cars are heading straight at each other at high speeds, the first person to veer away and avoid the accident is the "chicken". [But the easiest way to cross the street was to find a Chinese person crossing where you want to and just follow them across. It never failed me.]
