Bach's Chinese Rail Tour : May 26, 2013 Shanghai

May 26, 2013

Shanghai – Yu Yuan Garden

We had the morning free to take it easy and catch up on things. Our guide, Harry picked us up at 11.30 AM and took us to an interesting restaurant where we sat around the grill that the cook was preparing meals. We watched how meals were prepared, the Chinese way and Dorothy said that she wanted some of the utensils that the cook was using to do her cooking at home. I told her that I will buy them as long as she was prepared to pack them in her own luggage and carry them home.

After lunch we went to the famous Yu Yuan Gardens where we saw how a large beautiful garden was made by a rich rice merchant 400 years ago. Adjoining these gardens was an old shopping area with narrow streets and buildings that were of a typically old Chinese style. Then we went to the Nanjing Pedestrian Road where the street was wide and buildings were of the modern style. Here there were many large department stores and familiar eating places like McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The street was made into a pedestrian walkway where the large numbers of people could move fairly freely instead of being crowded on a narrow sidewalk. Unfortunately, it started to rain heavily and this sort of curbed the enjoyment of our 2 hours of free time there for shopping.

Before dinner our guide, Harry wanted to show us the Huangpu River that was near the restaurant that we were going to but the rain was so heavy we decided to delay this till after dinner. After dinner, the rail had stopped but the wind was blowing so hard that after a few minutes of looking at the river we decided to delay our appreciation of the river till another day. We then went to the Ritz Carlton Hotel that had a large theater to seat the Aerobatic Show. This show was just fantastic and to make it even better to appreciate we had seats in the second row from the front so we had an excellent view of the show. We were amazed how these young athletes could perform these acts. We had a great day in spite of the rain at the end of the day and evening.

Chef making our lunch in front of where we sat.

Shopping street in the Yu Yuan Garden

Dorothy and Con in the shopping area in the Yu Yuan Garden

Dorothy and Con before a very decorative building in the Yu Yuan Garden.

Interesting buildings in the Yu Yuan Garden

The Shanghai Tower that is under construction is framed by the older buildings in the Yu Yuan Garden. The Shanghai Tower will be 632 meters or 2074 feet tall and will be the highest building in Asia.

The restaurant besides a lagoon in the Yu Yuan Garden.

Water fowl on the steps to the lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A very old building next to the lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

The crooked bridge across lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

The garden built by the rich rice merchant at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A decorative building by a lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

An interesting rock garden at the Yu Yuan Garden.

The dragon on the wall at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A very pretty building at the end of a lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

Fish in a lagoon at the . Yu Yuan Garden.

Fish fighting for the food given by our Guide, Harry at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A rock garden by a lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A covered bridge over the lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

An interesting building by a lagoon at the Yu Yuan Garden.

Another interesting looking building at the Yu Yuan Garden.

The theater at the Yu Yuan Garden.

Dorothy happy shopping at the Yu Yuan Garden.

A narrow shopping street at the Yu Yuan Garden.

An decorative entrance gate at the Yu Yuan Garden.

Two of the many sky scrapers that are all over Shanghai.

A section of the pedestrian only road on Nanjing Road. With the heavy rain it was not a pleasant day for shopping in an area lined on both sides of the street with large department stores and smaller stores.