A Stroll Back in Shanghai's History

The forecast for today called for rain.  Despite temperatures expected to be in the 80’s, we calculated that it would still be pretty cool because of the overcast skies.  After the busy day yesterday traveling to all the corners of Shanghai, we figured we would be taking it much easier today.  So we all eschewed the shorts and wore jeans for our visit to the famous tourist areas of Shanghai.

We grabbed a taxi that took us to the Yu Garden.  This huge area of Shanghai was first owned by a single family, known as the Pans, back in the 1500’s.  They built a huge scenic area with pagoda’s, koi-filled lakes, and intricate stone formations.  The area has been used by militants during the First Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion.  With its popularity as a tourist attraction, several shops have opened up nearby over the years.  These were eventually all merged into one management group and labelled as the YuyuanTourist Mart.  The Wife and I had been there about 7 years ago, but we wanted The Boy and The Girl to see this part of Shanghai.

Before going inside the complex, we scavenged the area for any food stalls to get some breakfast.

We had to pass through the maze of stores selling cheap trinkets.

Oba Mao.  Is it still funny if it is true?

Judging by what was selling at the food stalls, Chinese people must eat nothing but carbohydrates for breakfast.  

Fried dough

More fried dough

And even more fried dough

A Chinese cash register.

Little makeshift restaurants are set up in narrow alleys.

A pot of broth simmers away...

...for noodle soup.  Sigh...More carbs.

   

After finding an unoccupied place to eat, we headed to the shops of the Yuyuan Tourist Mart.

  This shopping center is decorated with traditional Chinese architecture...

...and lots of lanterns.  Chinese love lanterns.

There is every souvenir imaginable for a tourist visiting China.  Most of it is crap though.

The Girl had been begging for a silk fan, so we let her pick out one.

The Boy got a stuffed panda bear.

The Wife loaded up on some nice chopsticks for use back home.

We all enjoyed sweets from a pastry shop

As the morning went on, it got really hot.  The weather didn't cool down like we expected and it remained hot and muggy.  The backpack, big camera, and jeans that I carried didn't help either.  However, it did help me fit in with the locals.  They don’t seem to wear shorts even on the hottest of days. We ducked in and out of shops with air conditioning just to cool down.

Although the music store sells some interesting Chinese instruments, it attracted very little business.

Onlookers can watch people make colorful candy.

Turkish ice cream was perfect for a day like this because it doesn't melt in that heat.

Just in case you miss this Starbucks, there's ANOTHER one in this same shopping area.

A strip of kiosks called the Yuyuan Folk Handicrafts had some of the more interesting items.  Artists create many traditional crafts including dragon kites, paper cut silhouettes, straw woven dolls as well as more modern things such as caricatures.

The only problem is that all of the booths were outdoors meaning no air-conditioning.

Luckily, there was a climate-controlled dry goods store across the street.
I took refuge there while the family perused those handicrafts booths (right).

The Kids wanted their names written decoratively in Chinese.

The Wife was impressed with an artist who painted Chinese scenes
using his palm and fingernail.  He was proud that he spent 40 days
in Branson, Missouri back in 2009 plying his trade.

Hand-painted glass bottles can be found in nicer souvenir shops
throughout China.  The painting is applied meticulously on the
INSIDE of the bottle using an angled brush.

After we were done window shopping, we headed inside the gardens proper.  Admittance was 40 RMB per person.  The Girl got in for free since she is shorter than 1.3 meters.

We actually started our tour at the "exit" to the gardens.

The roofs of the pavilions are adorned with little statuettes. 

Most Chinese tiles are round.  These were more oddly shaped.

Dragons guard the fence around the compound.

This courtyard was used by the Pan family for Chinese opera and singing performances.

What's a garden without any trees and plants.

The lanterns give it that authentic
"Asian" flair.

The Pans...

...with oddly-shaped doors.

...must have been obsessed...

In addition, they...

...about weird rock formations.

...were also pretty keen...

The narrow passageways eventually led to an open courtyard.

No Asian garden is complete without a big pond...

...filled will koi.

The stonework on the buildings is covered...

...with intricate carvings.

The wood work also has...

...elaborate designs.

The Yu Gardens is beautiful.  The only thing that prevents it from being a quiet, relaxing park is the throng of tourists.  There are tons of them.  At every turn of the passageways are more and more people (myself included) trying to take photographs of every little funny-shaped rock or specially carved door.  There are a lot of specially named stones and pavilions throughout the garden.  However, we didn't bother discerning each one because the kids weren't very interested in any of it.  We ended up breezing through the Yu Gardens.

It's impossible to get that idyllic "Facebook" photo without being photobombed by other tourists.

The main entrance to the Yu Garden was even more packed with
tourists, making it difficult to appreciate the beautiful fountains.

Even the ducks had to share a small lily pond.

By midday, the Yuyuan Tourist Mart was just too busy to
navigate.  I guess people must really love Frappuccinos.

  

After leaving the Yuyuan complex, we walked several blocks east to the Huangpu River.  After reaching Zhongshan Road, we strolled north on the boardwalk to see the buildings on the Bund.  In the late 19th and early 20th century, this waterfront was developed as the British (and later international) concession site for trade into China.  Eventually, it developed into the central financial hub for East Asia.  All of the major banks in that era built grandiose buildings with different architectural styles along the Bund.  After several decades of disuse during the early communist regime, the Bund has become revitalized.  Major banks, luxury hotels, and high-end shopping centers have now taken over the use of these historic buildings.

The 1916 neo-Renaissance/baroque style Union Building is now the luxury shopping center "Three
on the Bund" containing haute cuisine from Jean George Vongerichten.  On the right, the Nishin
Navigation Building, built in 1925, features a blend of classical and modern Japanese architecture.

Built in 1897 (or maybe even 15 years earlier), this gothic-style building is the
oldest one on the Bund.  It used to be the premises of the Imperial Bank of China.

Constructed in 1907, this Renaissance-style building once housed several telegraph companies.

The 1901 China Merchants Steam Navigation Company Building was built in the neoclassical style
that was popular in Victorian era colonial architecture.  As one of the few colorful buildings
on the Bund, it now houses the Shiatzy Chen boutique store, labelled the 'Chanel of Taiwan'.

On the left. the neo-classical Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Building was the
second largest bank building in the world when it was built in 1923.  On the right, the
Customs House building has retained its original function since its inception in 1927.

The 1921 Renaissance-style North China News
Building is now the premises for American
International Assurances.  Oddly enough,
AIA is a Hong Kong company.

While the view from the boardwalk is great, tours of the harbor can also be done by boat.

Unfortunately, the visibility was poor because of all the haze (smog), 
so we couldn't get a good picturesque shot of Pudong across the river.

The Girl enjoyed the wide open
space along the boardwalk.

Thanks to the army of janitors, the boardwalk remained impeccably clean.

I'm sure this guy appreciated all of her hard work, keeping his sleeping area clean.

Kudos to the gardeners as the flowers were well maintained.

Sculptures of dead people can be found along the Bund.

The most famous hotel in Shanghai (and possibly in China itself) is the Peace Hotel.  Originally constructed in the early 20th century by the business and real-estate tycoon Victor Sassoon, the hotel was known prior to World War II for its Jazz band and rooftop restaurant.  Currently, the two buildings operate as separate businesses.  The larger north building is run by the Fairmont Hotels.  In the last few years, the Swatch company has run the south building as a boutique hotel.  We had considered staying at one of them, but the cost for a room with a riverside view was beyond our price point.  

The south building of the Peace Hotel was reconstructed
in 1906 and originally called the Palace Hotel.

The north building was constructed in 1929 and called
the Sassoon House and later the Cathay Hotel.

The Chinese are not known for their driving.  This wedding procession of five
Mercedes Benz's made U-turns in one of the busiest intersections in the city. 

At this point we were pretty hot and tired from all of the walking, so we decided to take a break.  We ducked into the Fairmont Peace Hotel for lunch.

The Fairmont Peace Hotel exuded luxury.

In the lobby were photographs of famous celebrities who have stayed there in the past century.

We had lunch at the Dragon Phoenix restaurant on the 8th floor.Aside from a wedding
reception taking up half of the restaurant, we were the only other people dining there

There was a great view of the river from our table.

The Girl loved her princess "crown."

The Wife had rose tea.

I tried the osmanthus tea

We started with a cold dish of two types of bamboo.

Shelled river shrimp was served with a soy-based dipping sauce.

This classic Shanghai dish of braised eel was the best.

We finished with some pan-fried noodles.

We had debated whether we would leave a gratuity since it is not common in China.  The decision was made for us as a 15% gratuity was already added.  The price came out to a whopping 700+RMB.  It is quite expensive from both a Chinese and Western standpoint.  Now we remembered why we didn't stay at that hotel.

After lunch, we strolled down the pedestrian-only Nanjiang Road, famous since the 19th century for its shopping.

Stretching 5.5 km (3.4 miles), Nanjing Road is one of the longest shopping streets in the world.

So much for pedestrian-only.  Slow, yet annoying shuttles are
available to transport shoppers over longer distances.

This guy outside a department store looked
awfully similar to a plumber I once knew.

Opened in 1934, this ten-story department store (formerly known as Dai
Sun) used to be the biggest and the best in Shanghai, and hence Asia.

We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks.  They had a wide variety of fresh and packaged products, both local and international.

While not very appetizing in appearance, the different varieties of pork jerky were very good,

There were dozens of dried mushrooms, most of which I have never seen before.

Chinese sausages, salted pork bellies, and cured hams were sold in the charcuterie department.

All assortments of dried shrimp, scallops, and other seafood can be found here.

Alternatively, the dried shrimp and fish can be purchased already vacuum packedaged.

Food stalls serving pastries and huge cream puffs were available.

This shop sold all things durian--cakes, ice creams, cookies, etc.  Disgusting!

These macarons were imported from France.  As beautiful and enticing as they look, they are
a whopping 30 RMB ($5) each.  I think I will stick to my 50 cent ones from Restaurant Depot.

We ducked in and out of several other stores until the kids were thoroughly exhausted.  At the end of the street, we recognized that we were only a block away from our hotel.

After resting at the Yangtze Boutique Hotel for a few hours and finally changing back into shorts, we headed over to the Raffles City, a mall located almost adjacent to our hotel.  This is definitely a hipster place, with stores way too cool for me.  There were lots of young, fashionably-dressed people there.

The 8 floor shopping center culminates with a fitness center where
gym rats can see and be seen by shoppers several floors below.

Political correctness is not the forte of the Hong Kong store Devil Nut.

This rabbit was dressed curiously like a clown I once knew.

We wandered around looking for a place to eat.  For those with an American fast food craving, there is a Papa John’s, a Subway, and a Carl Jr.’s in the basement.  Because The Wife wanted to try a couple of their dishes that she saw on their menu, we settled on a Hong Kong-style restaurant called Charme.  Their comprehensive menu covers foods from different parts of Asia to Western foods.  It was a bit of a hodgepodge of everything.  Unfortunately for us, that was to be an issue for us because 3 out of the 6 dishes we ordered were unavailable, including the vegetable one they were prominently advertising.

Tofu with hairy crab sauce

Fried chicken wings stuffed with shrimp served with a sweet and spicy sauce

A Hong Kong specialty – baked honey bread loaf with vanilla ice cream

Cold creamy corn and pumpkin
drink with caramel corn on top

The kids were so exhausted...

...that they barely wanted to eat.

The food that we DID get was really good.  The decent wait time and the fact that the place was packed will attest to its quality.  I just think they should probably trim the menu down.  That will help prevent them from running out of ingredients for the entrees on the menu.  Altogether we spent about 170 RMB there and were still hungry.

We paid another 50 RMB at the Food Republic food court getting some dim sum items.  

On the way out of the mall, the kids loaded up on sundae drinks at the Hershey’s Chocolate store.

 

Finally back at the hotel, we all got some much needed rest.
The day had turned out much busier than we had planned.