Friday, February 16th
Alright, today I had pencilled in a wander in Shanghai's Old Town, including the Yuyuan Gardens, and a couple of antique markets.
Setting off at around 10:30 this morning, I took the train to People's Square, then walked down to the Old Town. Now, my impression of this area were that it would be a kind of untouched look into the city's past, and while this is true in part (narrow streets of old-style houses, roadside vegetable markets etc), there's clearly change afoot in the Old Town. While the whole region has been set aside by the Shanghai municipal council as a heritage area, there's still various types of development kinda nibbling away at the edges - apartment blocks, new roads being built, houses being knocked down (as I was walking past, which was interesting, but a little bit sad - watching an old place without a front wall, people inside going at it with sledgehammers).
Yuyuan Gardens, my first stop, took a bit of finding - I found the traditional chinese palatial architecture (you know the type - white walls, black tiled roofs curved up at the edges etc) easily enough (it kinda dominates over the surrounding warren of streets and alleyways), but then had trouble finding my way in. I walked almost right the way around the base of the walls before eventually finding the main entrance to the Yuyuan Gardens.
And boy are they a stunner! originally laid out in the 14th century for a Ming Dynasty official (though damaged and refurbished a number of times since), these 2 hectares of traditional Chinese gardens are really quite astounding. The place is a bit of a tourist haven, and there were a few tour guides with coloured flags leading their groups around, but it's easy to find a bit of peace and quiet in a place like this. Full of ornamental lakes, Koi ponds, traditional pavilions (pavilia? :p) and rock gardens, it's everything you'd imagine from a Chinese garden. Unfortunately, the overcast sky and a bit of drizzle meant that what pictures I took didn't come out to well, but it really is an astonishingly beautiful place, and I spent well over an hour exploring the various nooks and crannies.
Once I was done in the gardens, I made my way out to the real tourist joint - in the area around the gardens, they've built a whole complex of modern buildings in the traditional Ming Dynasty style, and filled them to the brim with souvenir merchants, jewellery shops and food stores (there's even a McDonalds - and a Starbucks). But not all is lost in this land of expensive trinkets - I did have a very good lunch. Again with the dumplings, but this time smaller and steamed. My Lonely Planet guide recommended this place, but I hadn't particularly planned on going there - but after seeing the line for take-away (long line = a good thing) and the prices (Y10 for 16 (16!) little steamed dumplings), I figured why not. After a bit of a wait, I got my hands on a very cheap, very delicious, very warming lunch (especially good in the drizzle).
Next stop was a couple of antuque markets, which I headed off to, haggled a little bit, bought a couple of souvenirs, realised how much I hate haggling, and figured out that 'antique' is pretty much a euphemism for 'new stuff that looks old'. At any rate, I headed back to the old town via the fish, bird and insect market (crickets in a box, 5 yuan! - don't worry mum, I didn't buy one - I promise not to bring any live animals home with me) and what appeared to be the electronics, whitegoods and leather shoes market, did a bit more poking around in souvenier shops, then headed back to the hostel.
I'm gonna go down to Nanjing Rd again tonight to pick up a couple of things, but I just wanted to give y'all a heads up - Blog updates will be a bit iffy between now and when I get back on the 20th - I leave Shanghai late tomorrow, and arrive very early in the morning of the 18th in HK. I'll probably update sometime that day (Sunday), and then possibly not at all until I get back.
so 'til next time.
Jono
Alright, today I had pencilled in a wander in Shanghai's Old Town, including the Yuyuan Gardens, and a couple of antique markets.
Setting off at around 10:30 this morning, I took the train to People's Square, then walked down to the Old Town. Now, my impression of this area were that it would be a kind of untouched look into the city's past, and while this is true in part (narrow streets of old-style houses, roadside vegetable markets etc), there's clearly change afoot in the Old Town. While the whole region has been set aside by the Shanghai municipal council as a heritage area, there's still various types of development kinda nibbling away at the edges - apartment blocks, new roads being built, houses being knocked down (as I was walking past, which was interesting, but a little bit sad - watching an old place without a front wall, people inside going at it with sledgehammers).
Yuyuan Gardens, my first stop, took a bit of finding - I found the traditional chinese palatial architecture (you know the type - white walls, black tiled roofs curved up at the edges etc) easily enough (it kinda dominates over the surrounding warren of streets and alleyways), but then had trouble finding my way in. I walked almost right the way around the base of the walls before eventually finding the main entrance to the Yuyuan Gardens.
And boy are they a stunner! originally laid out in the 14th century for a Ming Dynasty official (though damaged and refurbished a number of times since), these 2 hectares of traditional Chinese gardens are really quite astounding. The place is a bit of a tourist haven, and there were a few tour guides with coloured flags leading their groups around, but it's easy to find a bit of peace and quiet in a place like this. Full of ornamental lakes, Koi ponds, traditional pavilions (pavilia? :p) and rock gardens, it's everything you'd imagine from a Chinese garden. Unfortunately, the overcast sky and a bit of drizzle meant that what pictures I took didn't come out to well, but it really is an astonishingly beautiful place, and I spent well over an hour exploring the various nooks and crannies.
Once I was done in the gardens, I made my way out to the real tourist joint - in the area around the gardens, they've built a whole complex of modern buildings in the traditional Ming Dynasty style, and filled them to the brim with souvenir merchants, jewellery shops and food stores (there's even a McDonalds - and a Starbucks). But not all is lost in this land of expensive trinkets - I did have a very good lunch. Again with the dumplings, but this time smaller and steamed. My Lonely Planet guide recommended this place, but I hadn't particularly planned on going there - but after seeing the line for take-away (long line = a good thing) and the prices (Y10 for 16 (16!) little steamed dumplings), I figured why not. After a bit of a wait, I got my hands on a very cheap, very delicious, very warming lunch (especially good in the drizzle).
Next stop was a couple of antuque markets, which I headed off to, haggled a little bit, bought a couple of souvenirs, realised how much I hate haggling, and figured out that 'antique' is pretty much a euphemism for 'new stuff that looks old'. At any rate, I headed back to the old town via the fish, bird and insect market (crickets in a box, 5 yuan! - don't worry mum, I didn't buy one - I promise not to bring any live animals home with me) and what appeared to be the electronics, whitegoods and leather shoes market, did a bit more poking around in souvenier shops, then headed back to the hostel.
I'm gonna go down to Nanjing Rd again tonight to pick up a couple of things, but I just wanted to give y'all a heads up - Blog updates will be a bit iffy between now and when I get back on the 20th - I leave Shanghai late tomorrow, and arrive very early in the morning of the 18th in HK. I'll probably update sometime that day (Sunday), and then possibly not at all until I get back.
so 'til next time.
Jono
posted by Jono Russell at 1:37 AM
2 Comments:
hello dearest...well there's a crazy rumor going round that you can get DVDs for like 7 yuan (what is that even a currency? i need to start listening better) whatever that means...lol but apparently it's cheap? SOOO if you see TV series around i would love you forever if u could get any and all of the Gilmore Girls series and GREYS ANATOMY one and two.... you kno me and TV, you might just make my life...apart from that of course as soon as we sat down to make a list we couldnt think of anything!! so anything random you think we might like if you have a DVD buying spree...thanks and speak to you tomorrow!!
well.. its 3 in the morning here and im still packing... gotta shift all my stuff to uftg tomorrow at 7.30am :P i know, i know.. i promise its a once off for these hols! but yes, decided i needed a blog fix to get through the night, and i've had my first taste of V!
this is me trying to share the crazy time you're having...? i wish! sounds amazing! hope you're enjoying the cold, because it seems you'll come back to just the opposite.. we've been enjoying some 38 degree days, hot even for me! keep at the haggling, at least you're probably getting better even if you're not thoroughly enjoying the experience, a necessary skill, so i've been told :P anyways... i shall leave my crazy talk for the small dog trying to sleep in the kitchen and continue my packing! till your next post!
Cass :)
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