Cherry Blossom Adventures

We survived our train ride to Shanghai….We shared our room with a dutch couple who were lovely (and experienced with train travel across china!)…and while I slept Ok, I have decided that I am just one of those people that do not deal well with overnight sleeper trains.

We arrived in Shanghai and it wasn`t that we were tired, we just really wanted to have showers and lay down for awhile so after lunch our guide took us back to our hotel and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Shanghai was much like any big city….I guess to me it seemed a lot like Tokyo or Sydney…lots of big buildings, traffic and lots of people. Compared to other places we visited in China, Shanghai was a lot younger so history wise there wasn`t as much to see.

On our second day in Shanghai we headed to Old China Town which is also where Yu Garden was. I really liked this area…with its traditional looking buildings and Chinese tea and Chinese sweet shops everywhere. We also visited the Yu Garden which was apparently built in 1559 by a private citizen although it is now owned by the government. It was amazing to see such a nice little garden in a big city like Shanghai…I loved how all the bridges were zigzagged…this is because Chinese people believe that the devil can only go straight…it can not go left or right. They also believe the devil can not jump which is why that many openings to temples have quite a large step to step over to get in. It is similar in Japan.

We also went to the Jin Mao Building…which I think is the third tallest building in the world (Or maybe it is northern Hemisphere)…The view, while a little bit smoggy, was great. I could see the river that flows through Shanghai and the different areas North and South of the river.

We walked along The Bund which runs along the Huangpu river. It is near a lot of banking buildings. From the bund we walked along Nanjing Road, a famous shopping street in Shanghai. It was actually hard to shop in China I found…maybe it was the heat (or lack of money on my part!) but I didn`t think the shopping was all that great….we went to a market in Beijing and I just can`t handle having people grabbing me and yelling at me to look at their handbags, shoes or whatever it is they are selling. I like to just walk around and look but most of the time it was impossible!

At night we saw an acrobatic show…Some of the people in this were really young…maybe the youngest person was 5 or so. I have no idea how they manage some of the stuff they did but it was definitely interesting to watch. I love watching people juggle too, there is something about it that makes me want to giggle.

Our last day in Shanghai was a bit of a rush…we ate breakfast and headed back to Old China Town to do some last minute gift shopping and then we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. I had read about this before visiting china and it wasn`t in our tour schedule but I was determined to see it since it isn`t everyday you get to see a Buddha made completely out of Jade.

I had no idea that the grounds were so extensive and we didn`t have time to see it all. But what we did see was awesome. I couldn`t take any photos of the most famous Jade Buddha (The sitting one) but I did get some other great photos of some other sections of the temple and its grounds. I don`t really know the history behind this Buddhist temple but from what I saw I am sure

The big reclining Buddha statue was actually a gift to china from Singapore…like I said I couldn`t get photos of the original sitting Buddha but I did see it. There were quite a few monks around the grounds too, and it was quite busy but I am glad I got to see it.

We got back to our hotel and got a call from our tour guide who had been trying to reach us since 9am. He was ringing to say our flight was delayed and that if we didn`t catch an earlier flight mum would miss her transfer in Tokyo so we had half an hour to have showers, pack (and we hadn`t done any at this stage) and get ready and rush out the airport. It was really rushed and we were running around and our plane was boarding by the time we got to the gate. It was kind of a stressful last day but overall our trip in China was amazing…I am not sure If I would ever get a chance to go back, but if I got the chance I wouldn`t say no!!!

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