Shanghai is a very unique city. Shanghai is a city that lives in about 4 time periods. Ancient, really stinkin' old, modern and future. In Shanghai you can find ancient street quarters, old French and English concessions, and "futuresque" architecture. Like Hong Kong, Shanghai was somewhat a product of the British and French. During the Opium Wars, the British opened their first concession in 1842, and the French followed in 1847. By the 1930's Shanghai was the busiest ports in all of Asia. Opium, silk and tea were the main exports that drew people from distant lands to Shanghai. Business was a boomin' (and still is). The Western influence is very evident here. There is one very unique area called "The Bund" which epitomizes this influence.
Along the strip of "The Bund". Here you can see some European architecture along the road.
More along The Bund.
"The Bund is symbolic of old China."
During our first day of our stay in Shanghai, we first went to the Shanghai World Financial Observatory (see Part 1.) Following our stellar observations from the only building in the world that can achieve such a view, we galavanted throughout the city (with our Lonely Planet in hand) with hopes of running into the Jade Buddha Temple. This task proved more difficult than originally intended, but we prevailed and found the place.
This temple was interesting, offering different perspectives on the Buddhist religion. We were unaware of the different gods involved with the Chinese variant of Buddhism.
A plethora of incense was burnt on this day. They burn insense and offer prayers in all four directions.
Inside of the main temple.
One thing that has not gone unnoticed by the Freeburgs while living in Asia is the ever present cicada, locust and other type of insect that flies, lives in trees and bellows their penetrating sound into the depths of the ear canal. Korea is full of them and reaches the decible level some doctors would consider harmful to the human ear. Here in Shanghai we find that they enjoy making little homes for these insects so they can rub their legs and make their peculiar mating call all night long.
Following our visit to the Jade Buddha Temple, we attempted yet again to trek across Shanghai with our Lonely Planet book and serious inhibited sense of direction (that place is a labrynth once you get off the main streets) to the Shanghai Museum. Once we realized we were lost, we hired another taxi to take us to the museum. While we have no picutres of the museum, all I can offer is a picture of us kissing in front of the city center, after all, love was in the air.
The next day, Kelly and I decided to take the grueling subway ride to the ends of outer Shanghai to Qibao Ancient Town (it's really only 11 miles, but that is pretty far outside of a city on a subway). After we concluded the subway portion, we then hired a taxi for a 20 minute excursion to finally reach Qibao. Prior to visiting the ancient town, however, we decided to take a walk through a PORTION of the French Concession. Here we were able to see how an entire district was influenced by the West. Above we can see an old, yet still functioning Catholic church.
Back alleys of Qibao Ancient Town.
The center of the ancient town.
This ancient town was very interesting. It took a long time to get out there, but I think we would do it again with different intentions. We aren't exactly sure what those intentions would entail, but we would have a different game plan upon arrival (we really didn't have any expectations before getting there). One thing we did enjoy, however, was watching Kelly figure out that drinking Coconut Milk out of a coconut that has been sitting in the sun is not very good.
Post ancient town, Kelly and I, after a journey that only Sam and Frodo can rival, made our way to "Old Town" in Shanghai. Old Town is exactly what it sounds like. Old. It is a very large market with amazing renovated, old architecture. While we did not buy many things at this market, because we were ballers on budgets, we did however buy a very nice tea set.
We spent some significant time in a tea shop prior to buying our tea set. We sat down for 30-40 minutes while this very nice woman gave us a lesson on different types of loose leaf teas. We sampled several different teas and had a great time getting to know the owner of the shop.
Samples.
This type of tea can be used for display or drinking. The tea leaf literally bloomed in the hot water and there was a flower. It was one of the best samples we had.
The tea set served on a bamboo coaster. Of course we bought the coasters with the set. Who wouldn't want an authentic Chinese tea set with bamboo serving coasters? What made us more comfortable with buying the tea set was that we knew it was a credible store with quality products. There is a large difference between buying a tea set on the side of the road for $5 and buying from a shop who spends 30-40 minutes educating you on differing types of tea and differing types of tea sets. We're happy with our purchase.
Kelly: happy with our buy in Old Town.
We had to cross this bridge everyday to get to the Astor House Hotel. It had some sort of significant but we never thought to look into it.
Downtown Shanghai from the bridge.
The rest of Shanghai is history. We only spent about 3 days there. A full evaluation and comparison of Shanghai to Hong Kong and other cities will come on China Chronicles: Part 5, so expect to see that then. After our three days in Shanghai, and a very long delay in the airport, we spent the remaing duration of our vacation in Hong Kong. Until next time...
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