By "sizzling" I mean, hot. Chinese summers are hot and humid. Shanghai is the farthest south we went this year and although places like Guilin look absolutely breathtaking, there is no way I'm going to visit there in the heat of summer. It will have to wait for some fall or spring when I'm not teaching, if that ever happens at all.
Anyway, I spent another day and a half in Shanghai solo after seeing Ross off to Canada for an extended home visit. By then I had picked up some tourist brochures and found all sorts of places I wanted to see but didn't have time for. I chose Yuyuan Gardens, which was easy to reach on the subway. I took my sunglasses and an umbrella, which ladies use here as parasols. I was also wearing the water-absorbent gel-filled neck cooler things I'd bought in Weihai and slapped sunscreen on the back of my neck.
Anyway, I spent another day and a half in Shanghai solo after seeing Ross off to Canada for an extended home visit. By then I had picked up some tourist brochures and found all sorts of places I wanted to see but didn't have time for. I chose Yuyuan Gardens, which was easy to reach on the subway. I took my sunglasses and an umbrella, which ladies use here as parasols. I was also wearing the water-absorbent gel-filled neck cooler things I'd bought in Weihai and slapped sunscreen on the back of my neck.
The plaza around the gardens is a lots of fun to stroll through; its filled with little shops and restaurants. Ross is always convinced that souvenirs are cheaper somewhere else, as in "never buy souvenirs outside of a major tourist attraction." But I've found prices to be pretty reasonable here. 90% of the stuff I wouldn't want, anyway. This outside section, including the bridge, is free. To walk through the shady inner gardens, you pay a small fee. I had a bit of a set-too with the clerk because I laid down a 100 yuan note for my ticket, another clerk picked it up and disappeared, and the first clerk asked me for my 30 yuan fee. I insisted that I'd already handed over some money and she disappeared for a good five minutes while I sweltered in the sun and increasingly pissed-off tourists waited in a line behind me. I was beginning to doubt myself -- had I really handed over the money? -- when she reappeared, apologized, and gave me my change and a ticket. I don't know if it was an honest mistake or if they still think I didn't pay but decided to humor me. Was it just another example of "foreigner privilege?" I'll never know.
There were lots of crowds that day but you can see the beauty of the nine zig zag bridge, set in a pond with water lilies. Above left, dragons perch above some of the high garden walls.
I happened to overhear a tour guide talking about a pair of bronze lions that marked the entrance to the gardens. These lions, she said, had been grabbed by the Japanese and taken to Japan to be melted down for armaments during the war. I suppose that the war ended before the lions were destroyed and they were fortunately returned to their place to continue their watch. The gardens date from 1577.
Most Chinese gardens are not about mass plantings of colorful annuals. They emphasize greenery, artistic (that is, contorted) large rocks, peace and serenity. Peace and serenity enjoyed in the company of hundreds of other jostling tourists, that is. If this is your thing, take in Yuyuan gardens. If not, you can just enjoy the free area outside.
I happened to overhear a tour guide talking about a pair of bronze lions that marked the entrance to the gardens. These lions, she said, had been grabbed by the Japanese and taken to Japan to be melted down for armaments during the war. I suppose that the war ended before the lions were destroyed and they were fortunately returned to their place to continue their watch. The gardens date from 1577.
Most Chinese gardens are not about mass plantings of colorful annuals. They emphasize greenery, artistic (that is, contorted) large rocks, peace and serenity. Peace and serenity enjoyed in the company of hundreds of other jostling tourists, that is. If this is your thing, take in Yuyuan gardens. If not, you can just enjoy the free area outside.
Nanjing Street I went back to the hotel to rest in the afternoon and tired as I was from the heat and the walking, had to force myself to go out again in the evening, to see as much Shanghai as possible before leaving on the morning train for Zibo. The night before I never got out at all, just rested on the bed watching tv and eating the second-worst package of instant noodles I'd ever tasted. The worst instant noodles were ones on the train going down to Shanghai. I guess that's another travel tip: beware of dehydrated train station instant pot o' noodles.
It was too late to visit a museum, so I wandered up and down Nanjing Street, a premier shopping destination, and thought the usual amazed thoughts about commerce and the change that a few decades had wrought in China. I ended up at People's Square, where little kids were gathering around a fountain water park, waiting for it to turn on with an evening light show. I was sitting and resting my tired feet, not sure what to do next and starting to feel hungry, when an elderly gentlemen appeared at my elbow and started talking to me in English.
From his conversation, it was clear that he took an interest in world events, history and politics. At first I just chatted with him politely and tried to watch the kids laughing and jumping around in the fountain, but then it occurred to me, how often have I said that I wished I could talk to an elderly Chinese person who has lived through it all? And here he is. So I started asking him about his life. He was a retired electrical engineer, and without getting into details, his family life was impacted by the Tienanmen Square incident. He lived alone.
It was too late to visit a museum, so I wandered up and down Nanjing Street, a premier shopping destination, and thought the usual amazed thoughts about commerce and the change that a few decades had wrought in China. I ended up at People's Square, where little kids were gathering around a fountain water park, waiting for it to turn on with an evening light show. I was sitting and resting my tired feet, not sure what to do next and starting to feel hungry, when an elderly gentlemen appeared at my elbow and started talking to me in English.
From his conversation, it was clear that he took an interest in world events, history and politics. At first I just chatted with him politely and tried to watch the kids laughing and jumping around in the fountain, but then it occurred to me, how often have I said that I wished I could talk to an elderly Chinese person who has lived through it all? And here he is. So I started asking him about his life. He was a retired electrical engineer, and without getting into details, his family life was impacted by the Tienanmen Square incident. He lived alone.
He hadn't said anything to arouse my suspicions, that is, he hadn't tried to sell me anything or offer to show me where I could get bargains or anything like that. He just wanted to talk. I asked myself, what would my Dad do? And the answer clearly was, invite him to dinner. So I proposed that I would take him for dinner, if he could recommend a good restaurant. He led me just a block away from the expensive tourist places on Nanjing Street to a simple restaurant not far from The Bund and he ordered, and I bought, a bang-up fish dinner. My guest drank tea, I had one last Tiger beer.
Tofu, black fungus, collard greens, and fish It turned out that he had grown up in Shanghai, and he was fortunate enough (in my opinion, anyway), to have gone to a school run by missionaries, so he learned English as a child.
He lived through it all, the Japanese occupation and the years under Mao and he was keenly aware that a man in his profession in the West would be retired on a comfortable pension, able to afford dental care, dinners out, vacations and new clothes, while he could not.
His greatest source of entertainment was his inexpensive subway pass, which meant he could travel around and talk to people.
He gave me some more tourist advice for the Shanghai area and asked me to contact him again should I return to Shanghai. And I do look forward to my next trip, hopefully soon. He carefully scraped all the leftovers into doggie bags to take home and we both went our separate ways, me for a few hours' sleep before getting up early for the train, and he to a no doubt small apartment, among hundreds of thousands of small apartments, on the outskirts of the enormous city.
He lived through it all, the Japanese occupation and the years under Mao and he was keenly aware that a man in his profession in the West would be retired on a comfortable pension, able to afford dental care, dinners out, vacations and new clothes, while he could not.
His greatest source of entertainment was his inexpensive subway pass, which meant he could travel around and talk to people.
He gave me some more tourist advice for the Shanghai area and asked me to contact him again should I return to Shanghai. And I do look forward to my next trip, hopefully soon. He carefully scraped all the leftovers into doggie bags to take home and we both went our separate ways, me for a few hours' sleep before getting up early for the train, and he to a no doubt small apartment, among hundreds of thousands of small apartments, on the outskirts of the enormous city.
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