18 September 2009
We missed posting our first day blog entry... so here it is!...
We were picked up promptly at 10am by Jack from Bravo Tours at the Zhao An Hotel. Jack was a very enthusiastic middle aged guy. En route to our first stop, Jade Buddha Temple, we were given a brief history. The jade Buddha's were brought over from India in the 1800s and were carved from a single piece of jade. The monk who brought them over originally had 5, which he was taking to an island off of Shanghai. However, the officials in Shanghai made him leave behind two. This turned out to be a lucky thing in the end though. A temple was erected in the honor of the jade carvings. During the cultural revolution (1950s?) when the old religion was banned, temples were destroyed. No one knows what happened to the other 3 jade Buddhas but the ones in the Jade Buddha Temple, along with hundreds of statues, were saved by a very crafty monk. He placed pictures of Chairman Mao over every single statue. Nobody dared to desecrate the picture of Mao and so the statues were saved.
The jade Buddhas were beautiful. The color of the jade was a light mocha, a hue I had never seen in jade or if I have not in that quantity. Of course we were not allowed to take pictures of the two statues, so no pictures for you to enjoy. Along the way we purchased a scroll with our "names" in calligraphy for the not so low "donation" of 150Y (nearly $20). I, of course, ended up leaving the scroll in Jack's van never to be seen again.
The next stop was Yu Gardens, which required crossing through the old Shanghai city. We were enveloped with people and Scott was haggled constantly - "Watch! Bag! T-shirt! Sir! Come look!" With my authentic Chinese appearance, I was never bothered. The Gardens were peaceful compared to outside and we toured the grounds. They were built to bring the forests and the mountains into Shanghai, which had neither. In fact, before the big buildings were around, a bunch of rocks in the garden piled maybe 15 feet high was the highest point in Shanghai.
We were hungry at this point and so we visited the infamous Nanxiang Restaurant where we had our first taste of dumplings and steamed buns. We had a set course of steamed buns with crab meat stuffing, steam buns with vegetable stuffing, dumplings with gammon stuffing, cake (not American style cake) with sweat bean powder, shrimp balls with crab roe soup, spring roll with crab roe stuffing, dumpling with curry meat stuffing, egg soup, fruit, and chinese tea. It was 88 Yuan each ($12) for each of us. Jack had lunch with us and it was nice to have someone explain what things were and how to eat certain things. He was impressed by Scott's chopstick skills.
We then headed to the Bund, which I had been looking forward to. However, due to the World Expo being held in Shanghai next year, everything was under construction. None of the beautiful waterfront walkways existed and instead we were presented with a maze of walls, construction noise, and dirt. We walked across a bridge to see the cityscape of New Shanghai and then boarded back into the van.
We were then dropped off at the Old French Concession where we walked around by ourselves. The main shopping area was built by the french in a blend of european and chinese architecture. The area had been converted into an upscale shopping district that was very glitzy and built for western tourists and well to do Chinese people. We walked a little ways off the main shopping area and found street vendors hawking dusty old "antiques." We followed one guy up to his house to see his porcelain bowls and "antique" scrolls. We had to go down some back alley and then up very steep and narrow stairs to a room that doubled as his bedroom. They were very nice though and not pushy. We then went back onto the street and Scott looked at almost every vendor stall, which consisted of exactly the same items. Scott got to practice saying "bu yao" (don't want), which he enjoys saying.
Heading down more small side streets we passed by people playing cards or taking naps in chairs on the side walks. While Scott got an hour long foot massage, I explored the streets more, watched a mahjong game, stepped on dog poo, and hung out at the park listening to Mandarin phrases on my IPod. Then we headed back to meet with Jack and go to an acrobat show.
We were more than impressed with the acrobatics and even more impressed that they allowed us to take pictures. My favorite was the last act where they fit 5 Chinese men on motorcycles in a cage. It was very nerve racking to see them ride around like that. However, judging by the way people drive here I guess it's probably not that scary for them. After the show, I had to do my own acrobatics while using my first squat toilet. Holding my camera bag and daypack balancing squarely over the hole and then having to grab the toilet paper was a feat in of itself.
-- Julia
We missed posting our first day blog entry... so here it is!...
We were picked up promptly at 10am by Jack from Bravo Tours at the Zhao An Hotel. Jack was a very enthusiastic middle aged guy. En route to our first stop, Jade Buddha Temple, we were given a brief history. The jade Buddha's were brought over from India in the 1800s and were carved from a single piece of jade. The monk who brought them over originally had 5, which he was taking to an island off of Shanghai. However, the officials in Shanghai made him leave behind two. This turned out to be a lucky thing in the end though. A temple was erected in the honor of the jade carvings. During the cultural revolution (1950s?) when the old religion was banned, temples were destroyed. No one knows what happened to the other 3 jade Buddhas but the ones in the Jade Buddha Temple, along with hundreds of statues, were saved by a very crafty monk. He placed pictures of Chairman Mao over every single statue. Nobody dared to desecrate the picture of Mao and so the statues were saved.
The jade Buddhas were beautiful. The color of the jade was a light mocha, a hue I had never seen in jade or if I have not in that quantity. Of course we were not allowed to take pictures of the two statues, so no pictures for you to enjoy. Along the way we purchased a scroll with our "names" in calligraphy for the not so low "donation" of 150Y (nearly $20). I, of course, ended up leaving the scroll in Jack's van never to be seen again.
The next stop was Yu Gardens, which required crossing through the old Shanghai city. We were enveloped with people and Scott was haggled constantly - "Watch! Bag! T-shirt! Sir! Come look!" With my authentic Chinese appearance, I was never bothered. The Gardens were peaceful compared to outside and we toured the grounds. They were built to bring the forests and the mountains into Shanghai, which had neither. In fact, before the big buildings were around, a bunch of rocks in the garden piled maybe 15 feet high was the highest point in Shanghai.
We were hungry at this point and so we visited the infamous Nanxiang Restaurant where we had our first taste of dumplings and steamed buns. We had a set course of steamed buns with crab meat stuffing, steam buns with vegetable stuffing, dumplings with gammon stuffing, cake (not American style cake) with sweat bean powder, shrimp balls with crab roe soup, spring roll with crab roe stuffing, dumpling with curry meat stuffing, egg soup, fruit, and chinese tea. It was 88 Yuan each ($12) for each of us. Jack had lunch with us and it was nice to have someone explain what things were and how to eat certain things. He was impressed by Scott's chopstick skills.
We then headed to the Bund, which I had been looking forward to. However, due to the World Expo being held in Shanghai next year, everything was under construction. None of the beautiful waterfront walkways existed and instead we were presented with a maze of walls, construction noise, and dirt. We walked across a bridge to see the cityscape of New Shanghai and then boarded back into the van.
We were then dropped off at the Old French Concession where we walked around by ourselves. The main shopping area was built by the french in a blend of european and chinese architecture. The area had been converted into an upscale shopping district that was very glitzy and built for western tourists and well to do Chinese people. We walked a little ways off the main shopping area and found street vendors hawking dusty old "antiques." We followed one guy up to his house to see his porcelain bowls and "antique" scrolls. We had to go down some back alley and then up very steep and narrow stairs to a room that doubled as his bedroom. They were very nice though and not pushy. We then went back onto the street and Scott looked at almost every vendor stall, which consisted of exactly the same items. Scott got to practice saying "bu yao" (don't want), which he enjoys saying.
Heading down more small side streets we passed by people playing cards or taking naps in chairs on the side walks. While Scott got an hour long foot massage, I explored the streets more, watched a mahjong game, stepped on dog poo, and hung out at the park listening to Mandarin phrases on my IPod. Then we headed back to meet with Jack and go to an acrobat show.
We were more than impressed with the acrobatics and even more impressed that they allowed us to take pictures. My favorite was the last act where they fit 5 Chinese men on motorcycles in a cage. It was very nerve racking to see them ride around like that. However, judging by the way people drive here I guess it's probably not that scary for them. After the show, I had to do my own acrobatics while using my first squat toilet. Holding my camera bag and daypack balancing squarely over the hole and then having to grab the toilet paper was a feat in of itself.
-- Julia