Awoke to another great day although it is a little overcast. All of our visit to China has been overcast or it more likely is just smog. We started the day by taking a taxi. We had to use our vast knowledge of the Chinese language in order to get us to where we wanted to go. This consisted of pointing frantically to the Chinese characters on a piece of paper our ship had provided us that translated to "kindly take these two idiots to the Yu Yuan Gardens." Well, it worked!
The Yu Gardens and Bazaar have old-style buildings and fanciful roofs but are not really that old. The shops in the innumerable stalls sell tourist souvenirs and is a very hectic place. After you make your way through all the stalls, you end up at a series of fantastic Chinese gardens. It was quite breathtaking but tempered with fighting through the immense crowds.
We then navigated the metro (once we found the entrance, which is much harder than it sounds) and came up out of the ground at an antique market that spanned several blocks. Jeff was able to find a treasure at a little six foot by six foot store. We then went to sit in a beautiful park to rest our feet before our trek over to the site of the first national congress of the Chinese Communist party. The house is in the French Concession and is where representatives of communist cells met to form a national party on July 23, 1921. One of the representatives was Mao Zedong.
Once we got there, the outside of the building was very unimpressive and tons of Chinese were trying to get inside, so we passed a visit. Surrounding this site, is a beautiful outdoor mall with every imaginable restaurant with patio dining. We had a beneto box at a Japanese establishment. Mao would probably be rolling over in his grave if he saw all this capitalism so near a historic communist site.
We caught the metro to head over to the Pudong financial area to get a closer look at the Oriental Peal TV Tower. By the time we surfaced, we were getting tired. We took a few photos and then headed toward the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel which would bring us back to our ship. Part high-tech, computer controlled subway ride, part low-tech, fairground haunted house, the tunnel ride puts you into a glass bubble and slowly whisks you under the river while giving you a light show. Kind of ridiculous but now we never have to do it again.
Our sailaway out of Shanghai was an awesome experience. All the river traffic, the tall buildings lighted up, it is something not to be missed to be able to sail down the river and out to sea taking it all in.
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