Wednesday, 28 September: Shanghai

 Our local guide, Daisy, got us rolling by shortly after 8:30, on our way to the Jade Buddha Temple.

First stop, though, was a silk rug factory, where we saw rugs being hand knotted. Many of us bought a variety of things in the store. The prize goes to Jane who bought a room-sized rug shipped home. It's gorgeous! We arrived at the Temple in time to see a family's car being blessed in the courtyard.  Although it was not one of the two worship days this month, there were many worshipers there and very many tourists. The statues of Buddha are wonderful, including two made of jade and many covered in gold leaf. Daisy is Buddhist so she was able to tell us a great deal about what was going on. There were wish ribbons all over the temple and we asked about them.

Larry realized that he had left the camera's memory card at the hotel, so set off on a fruitless search for one which caused a little alarm when he didn't appear on schedule at the bus. [Larry: not entirely fruitless as I covered a km or so immersed in Shanghai shopping streets and saw lots of interesting sights. I was alarmed when I discovered the group had left the rendezvous site, and was confused about where the bus was actually parked. Visions of being "Shanghaied".] He ran up just as we were starting to think he'd really gone missing.

We spent a bit of time walking around the Bund promenade and Larry actually was able to buy a new memory card there.    

  

 

 

There are many impressive modern buildings across the river, and old attractive ones [ built by other countries who controlled sections during the early part of 20th century ] . When we got to the vicinity of the Yu Yuan Garden, Daisy warned us of the danger of pickpockets and also of the maze of streets we were entering, telling us to move like "a bunch of bananas."  

We went through streets of small shops and street vendors to the Garden, which is tranquil and beautiful, with many buildings. Kathy and David dressed in costumes for photos,  

followed by Maria Angelica and Gray and Esme. The dragon walls in the complex are astonishing. When we emerged we spent some time in the market area. Several of us couldn't face more bargaining, so we retired to Starbucks for Frappucinos. We hope the ice was safe! From there we went to a

performance of the famous China Acrobatic Troupe.      It was quite spectacular with everything from contortionists to motorbike acts. The jugglers and straight acrobatic acts were great fun. The 5 motorcyclists inside the steel mesh ball were just plain scary! After dinner we returned to the hotel and had drinks with M-E, Dave, Sal, Pepper, Susan and George.

Photos 28 Sep Shanghai