Shanghai

April 10-12, 2018

Shanghai

After an arduous 14 hour non-stop flight that left Detroit at 3:50 on Monday, we arrived in Shanghai at 6:00 on Tuesday evening.  By the time we collected luggage and cleared customs, it was after 8:00 when we checked into our hotel.  The only upside of this situation was the beautiful light display as we came into Shanghai from the airport.  On our previous trip to the Orient two years ago we discovered that the major metropolitan cities had spectacular light displays on many of the skyscrapers in the city.  Shanghai was no different.  It was a nice welcoming sight.

Tuesday morning our first excursion of the day started at 8:00 in the morning.  One of us was not happy! Our first stop was the Yuyuan Jade Garden. Your first thought was probably “how can a gem stone be a garden” which you would be correct in thinking.  However, in China, Jade is also a word that refers to the emotion of happiness and/or tranquility.  Similar to a Japanese garden we visited in Seattle, this garden was a serene combination of flora, fauna, and stone.  We, unfortunately missed the magnolias in full bloom but were thrilled to find the azaleas in their “cacophony of color.”  Hopefully we will be able to post some pictures because we can’t begin to describe the beauty that we saw.

The Yuyuan Jade Garden was situated in Old Shanghai so once we left the garden we were given an hour of free time to wander around Old Shanghai. Old Shanghai consisted of a plethora of shops, mostly jewelry, women’s clothing and souvenir shops. We also happened on a Taoist Temple.  In the courtyard outside the Temple there were several kiosks that contained burning incense.  As people entered this courtyard they were offered sticks, approximately 12 inches long, which they lit at the incense kiosks, and then bowed in all four directions before extinguishing the sticks in a large container of sand.  As this was occurring, there was a women on a balcony overlooking the courtyard singing songs. Because she was singing in Chinese, we have no idea what the lyrics were. The combination of the incense and musical entertainment created quite a unique atmosphere.  From the courtyard we entered the Temple which consisted of an altar surrounded by many statues, some of which were very Buddha-like.  One had to be specifically looking for this temple because it blended very unobtrusively into all of the surrounding shops.

Our third stop was at a silk gallery.  We assumed that we would be seeing garments of varying styles as well as household items; place mats, napkins, runners, etc., made out of silk. This was not the case. There were amazing framed works created with very thin silk thread, some of which looked like photographs on display, and, of course, for sale.  Before walking through the gallery, we were given a short demonstration on how these “paintings” were created.  They really were quite impressive.  Some of the works took 6 to 8 months to complete.  As we walked through the gallery there were many sales people ready to give you the best price on any item in which you may have shown mild interest.  There was, in fact, one picture that piqued our interest but we ultimately decided that we “didn’t HAVE to have it.”

Our last stop was lunch at a restaurant that presented a typical Chinese buffet.  There was dim sum, spring rolls, pot stickers, several different meats, rice and fried noodles.  All of the food was placed on a large lazy Suzan from which we served ourselves.  Many of us thought this relatively “simple” buffet was much better then the dinner we had later in our hotel restaurant.

The last event of the day was an amazing performance in the evening by a troupe of acrobats. The show consisted of one jaw dropping acrobatic number after another.  Several of the individual performances reminded us of acts that we had seen on the old “Ed Sullivan Show.”  Those of you reading this that are our age may remember those acts.

Tuesday morning we spent two hours at the Shanghai Museum containing displays of old Chinese costumes, as well as historical artwork, ceramics, furniture and currency.  The building itself was as impressive architecturally as the items on display inside the building.  From the museum we were bused to the airport for an hour and half flight to Wuhan where we embarked our river boat, the Viking Emerald.  It was 5:30 by the time we boarded the boat which gave us just enough time to unpack our luggage before dinner.

It is Thursday night as we write this blog post.  Several observations.  As we told many of you before the trip, internet access has been difficult as China blocks many sites, all things Google being one of them. Interestingly, we have been able to receive and read gmails, but unable to answer them. Our ability to post pictures on Facebook has also been spotty at best. We thought we would be able to communicate through the application WhatsApp but that has not been the case.  However, we have been able to text via our cell phone.  Our next six days will be on the Yangtze River. Because we are going through some mountains, our ability to use smartphones in any way will be severely limited. That means we have no idea when we will be able to post our next blog.  Before leaving Michigan we encouraged you to leave comments on our blogsite.  Unfortunately, we discovered that we can not access our blog from here in China so we will not be able to read any comments or answer any questions you may have. Finally, we are 12 hours ahead of those of you in Michigan.  Lynda has adjusted quickly to the time change; Tim not so much.

Until next time, goodnight.