Shanghai, China Part VI

Thursday, March 28, 2019    Shanghai, China

After breakfast with goodbyes to Sam and Suzanne, the five remaining travelers, Larry and I, Ahmad and Farida, and Irene boarded the local bus to go to the Yu Garden.

 We decided to go by the hop On Hop Off Bus Red Line once we arrived into the Bund. We hopped off at the 11^th stop and found our way into this massive shopping area where Larry and Ahmad met a local who spoke English.

Someone always seemed to be sweeping the streets and sidewalks everywhere we went.

He led us into the Yu Garden area, but said we must come see his shop. Larry and I knew we were being led off course and sure enough we ended in a Pearl Shop. 

The owner showed us how the pearls were farmed and then proceeded to try to sell us some lovely merchandise.  The owner cracked open a palm sized clam shell that was six years old, and proceeded to count 25 pearls inside. It was an unbelievable sight! He places tiny pieces of meat inside the shell and lets it sit. The longer they sit, the larger the pearls. He said he gets too anxious to wait much longer than six years.

Eighteen years ago, Larry bought me some beautiful pearl earrings, necklace, and bracelet in Beijing. I still have them today and cherish them dearly. I held my ground and said that I do not need more. Irene bought black and white strands with earrings. Farida, our shop till you drop traveler, surprisingly decided to not purchase a pair of everyday earrings.

We crossed a weaving bridge to get to the gardens ticket counter with lots and lots of people. It was very crowded.

So off we went into the Gardens paying 30 yuan (less than $5.00US) to enter. Seniors, the age of 60 or more with appropriate ID, can enter for half price.

                                                                 The gardens were gorgeous.

                                             Lots of coral and oriental architecture. 

Flowing streams with goldfish, finely carved furniture, sculptures and photographs; it really was quite beautiful!

     Inside the buildings there was lots of heavy wooden furnishings...sometimes intricately carved.

 

                                                                  Lots of Chinese Lanterns

                       This intricate flat stone walkway gave an optical illusion of being uneven. 

                                                            What  intricate rooflines!

                                         Irene was enjoying all the beauty of the gardens.

                                              Farida and Ahmed leaving the gardens.

We crossed back over the curvy bridge and had an all American Starbucks lunch….Great coffee and a chicken wrap as the rain started to sprinkle around us.

After lunch we all caught the Red Hop On Bus Line to continue our adventure until we got to the Green Line Junction. Ahmed, Farida, and Irene decided to take the Green Line while Larry and I rode the rest of the Red Line back to the Bund.

                          A line in the rain is  always a  positive indication of a good place to eat.

Back at the Bund

 Larry and I walked back to the city bus and came back to the hotel arriving around 5:00pm.  Another GREAT day in Shanghai!

We enjoyed a nice  light fruit dinner and a couple of  iced teas as well as having some great “shut eye” while the rain hit our window pane in the room.

Friday, March 29, 2019           Shanghai, China

After breakfast our little group decided to take a Huangpu River Cruise. We caught  bus 100 to the Bund area. Brides and grooms were posing for wedding pictures on the Garden Bridge….We have  seen so many brides and grooms on this bridge that Larry  has renamed the bridge, "The Love
Bridge".

From there we scurried to the other end of the Bund to catch a noon boat.

I had to stop to take a look at what the artist was painting.

We got to the boat just in time for the boarding.  It sailed smoothly down the river with sights of old Shanghai and the new technological side of Shanghai. The weather was perfect.

The city views were magnificent….I wonder if they have this boat ride at night. The city lights would be spectacular from the water.

After the boat docked at the port area and Ahmad and Farida headed for the Moslem Market while Irene, Larry and I walked to the People’s Square. Larry wanted to return to the underground shopping mall for some lunch at the Hot Pot.

            We maneuvered through many back streets enjoying all kinds of sights along the way.

We finally found the People’s Square Metro entrance and found the little restaurant that we had enjoyed many weeks earlier.

The owner greeted us with a big smile as we made a big bowl of broccoli, celery, bean sprouts, peanuts, cilantro, mushrooms, chicken, and beef. The cook has the right combination of seasonings to make the bowl a delicious mixture…not spicy. After lunch we wandered through the underground shopping mall and found our way to number 10 metro line and switching to number 3 line to arrive back at our hotel at 5:00pm.  My how the hours slip by so quickly when you are having a good time!

Saturday, March 30, 2019               Shanghai, China                       Boarding the Celebrity Millennium

During our final hotel morning, Larry and I enjoyed a few slow leisure moments calling some folks back home. It was fun to talk with family and friends and hear the familiar accents of the USA. Over the past few weeks we had lived around Scottish, Irish, British, Indian, and Chinese accents…it tickled us to hear the southern accents of Virginia. It reminded us of some co-travelers who said, “I want an accent too”…. not realizing, they do have a unique accent to the foreigners. How do so many accents exist all over the world. It is simply amazing!

We had a taxi planned for 3:00pm to take us to the Cruise Terminal. Our trip was much quicker (half an hour) since we were on the east side of Shanghai. We dropped off our bags and headed for the immigration check. By the time we got into our room it was about 4:15…pretty quick arrival.

We had an early dinner and fell peacefully to sleep as the ship left the dock late that evening. We were really happy to unpack our clothes for a two week stay after our two and three day jaunts all over China’s interior lands.