Day 7 - Shanghai

Today is a day of play. First stop. Shanghai’s famous bund. This is where, after the opium war in the beginning of last century, the French, German, British, American, and Spanish all set up buildings here to work as embassies. One of the concessions the Chinese were forced to make were tax free imports in 5 different ports. I don’t remember all of them, but Shanghai was a main port at the time. After the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty by the Nationalist and the end of the World Wars, the Communists took over under Mao Ze Dong.  After his time, and the Cultural Revolution, the City began to be built up. After Mao passed away, Deng Xiao Ping, took the reigns of the Communist Party and began to truly develop Shanghai. In 20 years, they managed to build the other side of the bund to its spectacular view that we all know about today. The view is definitely postcard material and I did take those kinds of photos. 

After the bund, we went to the Yu Yuan garden and market. The Garden was stunning. It was surrounded by old Chinese architectural styled buildings and was so green. There was one area in which they created the image of a vase by carving a door frame in the shape of a vase and putting landscaping behind it. Additionally, there were several rocks that helped make the garden famous. Unfortunately, it poured rain like no one’s business at one point. People were slipping all over the place, one even scrapped his elbow he hit the ground so hard.

In the market, Mauricio, Pablo and I went to find some of the best deals. This was a true test of not only my Chinese, but my bargaining skills.  I think I made out ok; I purchased quite a few things for myself as well as co-workers. Landscape Paintings, a tea set, and several other miscellaneous things.

We were supposed to go to 2 other shopping areas; however the rain put a damper on that. The ran would come down with monsoonal strength at different intervals. Instead, the group came back to the hotel for the rest of the night. I walked around the block to the Jing’An temple to take some picture and offer up some prayers to the Buddha. They had a 40-foot statue of Shakyamuni Buddha as well as 3 other types. The patron Budhha was covered in gold, and a silk scarf. That concluded my cultural day in Shanghai. Hopefully I can take the bargaining skills and use them in the future, and I just hope that my Chinese is getting better. Sometimes I feel like I’m making a complete fool of myself but that's the best teacher sometimes. =)