Sunday May 14th, 2017 to Monday, May 15th - Shanghai - A Magnificent Surprise (Part 2)

Jessie and Rod were visiting other friends, so Sunday saw me relying on my own resources to get myself going. Following Ian and Norman's suggestions, my itinerary for the day was first to visit an old Shanghai neighborhood called Tianzifang, then the Jing'an Temple and finally to see the night lights of Yuyuan, near the Yu Garden.

Tianzifang is close to the French Concession and is now an arts and crafts enclave. It was very touristy and crowded, as QiBao had been, but the lane ways were much narrower and I never managed to find a space to step back and view the whole area.  There was a sign at the entry, telling a little about what Tianzifang represents. The best way to convey this is to just share the picture!

This is actually one of the only translation 'fails' I encountered here, so generally they do a pretty good job of helping us English speakers understand what's going on. I think one of the key words it uses is 'shikumen', which is apparently a style of architecture unique to Shanghai, a style that combines western row-houses with eastern guarded gates.

The upshot of this is that the photographic opportunities were of details and small spaces. If one wanted to drop some money, it would be a delightful place to shop, but perhaps a weekday would be less crowded?

After seeing this choice of cones in an ice cream store here, I decided the Chinese are doing a better job of Western decadence than we are!

But there is little that speaks 'Orient' more than paper umbrellas and fans.

There was quirky stuff - this was above an art store.

And who doesn't love potted plants and flowers.........

..........or perhaps a little hookah........

.................and even in this high-end neighborhood, the laundry must be dried.

By contrast the Jing'an Temple was a soaring delight of roof-lines and cityscapes. 

It has a pretty interesting history. It was first built in 247 AD, at a different location. It was moved to the present site in 1216, but rebuilt during the 1880's. During the Cultural Revolution it was converted into a plastics factory which seems a rather symbolic event given the role of plastics in China's impact on the modern world! One website says it was 'burnt to ruins' during this time, but it seems there were three core buildings that formed the basis of reconstruction to its present state when it was reverted back to a temple in 1983. Additional major construction was finished in 2010.

It is a significant Buddhist and Daoist temple and it houses the largest Jade Buddha in China. Notice again that the jade is not green! The name of the temple means tranquil and peaceful temple. 

Immersed in the high rise buildings surrounding it, I agreed with the name; that it created a most beautiful and tranquil space with exquisite Burmese teak woodwork......

........ and soaring eaves. Some articles I researched question it's place as a religious site, as distinct from 'theme park and shopping mall'. Happily, I did not see overt commercialism. 

The only items for sale were things like incense for worshipers. However, it was interesting to discover that it was the first stop on the city's first tram line built in 1908, and today the Metro station of the same name is built into a corner of the structure.

I noticed that the monks wore robes of various colors - from grey, pale blue, black or mustard. I'm not sure what the colors signified. Unlike the monks of south-east Asia, the garments were stitched - not the rolls of fabric draped around the body. They also wore cloth shes and leggings. Many of them were on their phones, as you see here! 

When I saw that Wu Garden closed at 5 pm, I knew I was too late to enter, so was conflicted about going to the nearby neighborhood - Yuyuan Old Street. Thanks to Ian telling me about the lights at night, I ventured out in spite of my tiredness. How pleased I was! When I arrived it was still light......

....... and when I left it was dark! Both photos were taken in the same spot.

Quite different from the narrow lanes of Tianzifang these old building were all Chinese - dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). It is an old business street that held the city's earliest bank, gold shop, jewelers store, wine shop and tea shop. I saw a preponderance of jewelers, restaurants and other stores selling tourist wares. I arrived just as sun set and wanted a decent meal. 

When I found a restaurant with a picture of both Queen Elizabeth and Hillary Clinton eating as guests, I knew this was the place and prepared to use my credit card. It was called Lu Bo Lang Restaurant. Happily, the bill came to less than $10, so plastic was not needed.

I had baked, peppered, duck and boiled asparagus, gingko and lily. It was delicious.

The cacophony of lights was truly magnificent!

Monday, my flight home was not until 4:30 pm, so I had time for some last minute 'tourism'. I met up with Jessie and Rod for the last time to wander through a nearby neighborhood recommended by their Lonely Planet guidebook.........

............. which is being torn down for new development.

It was surprisingly poignant to see the old buildings disappearing and I was not impressed with the attractiveness of the replacements. 

From some of the advertising posters, it looks as if it might just feel like an upscale neighborhood at home. Sad also that the people pictured in the poster are all Caucasian.

My last outing was back to Yuyan (only one stop on the Metro) to go to the Yu Garden this time. What a magical place it was. 

It is a smallish property (only 5 acres) with beautiful pavilions, walls, doorways, plants, rocks, hills etc that was first built in 1559.

It had doorways that came in a variety of shapes.... this one like a vase......

........or perhaps a tear-drop......

........................and numerous hobbit-like round doorways.

There was dramatic statuary....

.........beautiful stone gardens.......

.....and a wall that's called a dragon wall because of its scale-like tiles and undulating curves.

I was very pleased to have explored this space, but it was time to head to the airport and make my way home.

The final treat Shanghai offered me was a ride to the airport on the maglev train. The word is a contraction of magnetic and levitation, which means that the train doesn't actually touch the track you see here. It uses the magnetism to create a repulsion between the train and the rail, allowing for friction-less travel.

As a result it goes very fast. It is the fastest commercial high-speed electric train in the world, according to Wikipedia. A journey that would have taken 45 minutes by taxi, took about 10 minutes and the ride was very quiet, smooth and comfortable, with lovely banked turns. I was disappointed that the maximum speed we got to was only 301 km/hr  (187 mph), as the train will go up to 431 km/h (268 mph). It was a great way to finish my time in China!