Shanghai Part 2 (8-10)

Saturday was my second and last day in Shanghai. I’m not much of a city person unless there are a lot of interesting places to see, and, for me, Shanghai didn’t have that. My plan was to go to the history museum. Since it was raining fairly heavily in the morning, I delayed leaving the hotel and did a few things to get ready to apply for my new China visa. When I left, I decided to walk to People’s Square and the museum. Since I didn’t know there was a more direct way, I took the long way to Nanjing Road West, which turned out to be OK because I found the metro station I could use to get to the airport without having to change lines.

On the way to People’s Square, I came across People’s Park, which is bigger than the one in Chengdu. Like Chengdu’s People’s Park, there are people advertising for partners, often older people with ads for grandchildren. The ads were posted on umbrellas.

People’s Square is what it usually is in Chinese cities—the area in front of the municipal government building, which is usually called People’s Hall. The museum is opposite People’s Hall. Although the museum is free and there are no tickets, the line to go through security took 45 minutes. It has four floors with exhibits about pottery, ceramics, bronzes, and jade. 

Ceramic pillow

It also has an exhibit about the minorities that has costumes of many of the 54 minorities. Although I intended to go fairly quickly, since I’d just been to the museum in Xi’an, I got caught up in my museum mode and ended out spending three hours wandering through the exhibits.

After leaving the museum, I walked down Nanjing Road East, which I had read is one of the world’s busiest shopping streets. It’s a pedestrian street that has a tram for those who don’t want to walk or don’t want to walk both ways. 

Shortly after entering the pedestrian street, I was greeted by a young man who asked me to take a photo of him and his cousin, and he took a photo of me, too. Then he began chatting more in quite good English. After a few minutes, he invited me to join them for a tea ceremony they were going to. I did, since I was interested in the tea ceremony and they were pleasant to chat with. I enjoyed the ceremony and learned a lot through the man’s interpretation. 

We tasted six different kinds of tea. One has flowers sewn inside a ball of green tea. When it sits in hot water, the ball opens and the flowers are displayed. Another was a fruit tea. Three were types of green tea, and one was black tea. Each was prepared in a different pot. One had special paint that changed color when it was hot. I learned that the teacup with a lid and a saucer has three parts to represent the sky/heaven, earth, and the people/life between them. After the ceremony, they, of course, tried to sell tea. The special was a set of three teas for 600 RMB/$100. This seemed high, but I have seen some expensive teas. Then the man got pushy about my buying the set of three because there was some special deal where if two people bought the set, then one would be free. Or something like that. All his chatter was getting overwhelming. I didn’t have that much money with me, but I considered buying one kind of tea. He offered to pay what I couldn’t so they could take advantage of the special deal. Finally, I said I couldn’t do it. It was then that I realized that the whole thing was a scam. I’d read about this scam and Paul had told about his experience getting caught in it in Beijing. I had been wary on Friday and when I met someone earlier on Saturday, but I was seduced by the friendliness and my interest in the tea ceremony and I was tired from the museum and didn’t think about it. I picked up my money, stood up, and walked past the young woman. Then the man said I could buy one kind of tea. I informed him that this was one of those scams I’d read about where they take advantage of tourists. I thought about giving them no money but decided to leave 100 RMB because I did enjoy the tea and the ceremony and chatting with them. At that point, the man, like Simon in Tongkou, quickly changed from being very friendly to speaking rudely, telling me to just get out. I liked the flowers in a ball tea enough that I bought some at the airport. It was expensive but less than they were charging. I really can’t compare accurately because I don’t know how many balls were in their container, but I don’t think there would have been more than I bought.

After that experience, I continued walking down Nanjing Road. It was pretty crowded but not too bad. It was still possible to walk easily if one was aware. I went to a restaurant on a side street for dinner and bought a few custard tarts that were the best I’ve had. When I returned to the street, it was dusk and the lights were on, adding to the atmosphere. 

I continued on to the Bund, arriving shortly before 7:00. It was crowded—very crowded. People were standing looking at the skyline across the river. So I joined them and was lucky to be in the third row. 

At 7:00 the lights on some of the buildings went on. We waited. Since the people around me waited, I did, too, thinking about the display in Hong Kong and thinking more lights would come on. 7:30 came and went. As a few people left, I moved to the front and waited longer. 8:00 came and went. At 8:30 the people who had been in front of me and were now beside me left. I decided to wait until 9:00. I’m not sure why. But it was a pleasant evening to be out and I was content standing there. No more lights came on.

Sunday I left Shanghai—and China. On the way to the metro, I passed a wall outside a construction site that was covered with potted flowers. What a nice way to block the construction site. Taking the metro was great. When the train stopped after half an hour, I noticed that a lot of people were getting off. I didn’t think we had gone far enough, but a woman told me that it was the terminal stop. It was the terminal stop for that train and passengers got onto another train (no new ticket needed) for the rest of the trip. Interesting. This was a really good way to go to the airport.

As we flew south of Shanghai, the clouds and sky were magnificent. It was the “sea of clouds” that has eluded me at the mountains.

Shanghai Part 1 (8-9)

Thursday was travel to Shanghai day. The bus from Xidi to Tunxi/Huangshan city took an hour. I was lucky and got a ticket on the next bus to Shanghai that left in an hour and a half. The trip to Shanghai took five hours. I’ve been on more comfortable buses, but it was OK. When the bus stopped for a break, I asked the young woman next to me—in Chinese—how long it was; she responded in English. When we were returning to the bus, she started to chat in English. She had worked in Shanghai for four years and recently quit and moved back to her hometown near Tunxi. She thinks she would like to stay there now. When we reached Shanghai, she asked about my hotel and then told me to get off when she did. It was a metro stop. She took me in, looked up my hotel on her phone, took me to the correct metro line and told me which stop I needed to get off at. That was so nice of her.

With further assistance, I reached the hotel. First, I got on the metro the wrong way. I knew we were at the railway exit but didn’t realize that there are two railways and had planned my trip from the wrong station. When the train reached the last stop, which happened to be four stops—the number I needed to go to my exit, I asked a young woman if that was my exit. She shook her head, not understanding. When we got off, she asked where I wanted to go and then took me to the train the other way. There were eleven stops until the one I needed, and the train didn’t have lights to indicate which stop we were at or approaching. Since I couldn’t always hear or understand the announcements, I had a hard time keeping track of where we were. So, as we got close, I asked the middle-aged men near me if it was my stop. They indicated that it was two more stops away. One of the men got off at the same stop. When I got out my hotel address to ask which way to go, he came over, looked at it, and walked me to the street. Then he checked to see which way I should go on the street before heading back to wherever he was going. Since that took several minutes, it was really nice of him. I don’t think I could have gotten there on my own even with others pointing the way as it wasn’t really close to the exit.  So I really appreciated his help.

Friday morning I headed back to the metro. On the way I noticed a line at a small shop selling steamed buns. So I joined the line and purchased breakfast. I understand why there was a line because they were some of the best I’ve had. This became my breakfast every day. On the way to the metro, I enjoyed the parks we had walked through Thursday evening. They are small but nice to have in the midst of the city. And people use them. On the metro I learned tickets are good only for one line, unlike in Chengdu where you can buy a ticket and change lines; so you have to purchase a separate ticket when you change lines. Shanghai has 13 metro lines.

My destination was Yuyuan Garden because I wanted to visit the Ming dynasty (16^th century) garden there. Mostly the area is a tourist mart full of shops. It was OK but I really wasn’t interested in shopping or looking. I did enjoy looking at the buildings for a while, though. 

I also enjoyed one of the back residential streets 

where vendors deliver their good via tricycle and houses are not renovated. 

The Shanghai City Temple is in the area. 

Also a monastery at which nuns and women were starting a chanting ceremony; so I enjoyed listening to that for several minutes.

At noon I came to a dumpling restaurant and decided that would be a good lunch spot. The huge crab pieces—with shells—looked delicious. They were.

The restaurant is in the square, a popular area. One side of the square is a pond over which there is a zig zag bridge that is a popular for walking across and photos.

After lunch I finally found Yu garden. As I had read, it is a huge rock garden with rocks that have interesting formations. 

The garden has many paths that go around; so it was challenging to make sure I saw everything. There are a couple pools, many trees, and many pavilions. 

One wall is called the dragon wall, as it has dragon heads over the gate and the wall is their long tails. 

Interestingly shaped doorways are also common in the garden.

Before leaving the area, I returned to the dumpling place for a dish of fruit, as it had looked good when I ate lunch and I needed to sit and rest a bit. When I finished, it was 3:30 and the area was packed, as usual. I was glad I’d been there earlier. 

On the way out I came to a section of stalls where people were demonstrating and/or selling traditional crafts. I ended out purchasing a picture of Huangshan painted with the artist’s fingers. I’d seen these before and they are amazing.

Next I headed for the Bund, since it isn’t far from Yuyuan Garden. It’s the historical area along the river. The street is lined with old buildings—classical European in style. 

The other side of the river has modern buildings. One wouldn’t know you are in China walking along this area. I was surprised to learn that the Bund is only about a mile long, as I had thought it was much longer before I walked its length. 

It wasn’t very crowded when I was there, but it was early.

Walking around, I encountered more foreign tourists than I’ve seen and a multitude of languages. It rained lightly most of the day. It wasn’t a problem for walking around, but dealing with all the umbrellas can be challenging.

Xidi and Hongcun (8-6)

Monday was travel day from Wuyuan to Xidi. When I arrived in Huangshan city and went to purchase a ticket to Xidi, the bus was leaving in five minutes. Good timing, but I didn’t have time to stretch or recover from the 2.5 hour ride. The next bus was not a smooth ride. So, when I arrived in Xidi an hour later, I was ready to be off buses and to rest. The time from waking up to arriving in my new room was six hours, and I was tired. I’ve realized that my concession to being older is that after traveling I often need to rest; whereas in younger years I was always ready to go out and scout out the new place. It’s good that I allowed full travel days even when the journey wouldn’t take a full day. Of course, night person that I am, by 7 or 8 in the evening I’m full of energy and ready to go. But I don’t.

My hotel in Xidi was one I splurged on a bit. It’s a group of old houses linked together to make the hotel. The reception area is an old mansion. The restaurant is also a former mansion. Entering both parts of the complex is like entering the historical mansions that I visited in the village and in other villages.

After relaxing in my room for a couple hours, I went out to explore the hotel. In back of the hotel there is a garden with a path along the stream behind it. The path goes up a hill to “the best shooting spot.” It didn’t take much to figure out the sign means the best spot for shooting photos. I enjoyed sitting there looking at the view.

After returning to the hotel, I decided to have a drink and read in the tea house garden. Afterwards, on my way out the front door, I met Joseph, the hotel manager, who speaks English fluently. It was a pleasure to talk with a fluent speaker again, as it had been a couple weeks since I’d met a fluent speaker. Joseph is originally from Hong Kong and worked for a number of years in Macau. He explained how Xidi is a village in which residents live in the old houses and take care of them. Like Little Likeng, the front of the bottom level is often a shop.

By this time, it was 4:00, which is a good time to walk around these villages because the tour groups are usually gone and things are fairly quiet. It’s also not as hot, and the sunlight isn’t as bright; so it’s a good time for taking photos. 

One hotel invited people to go, for a small fee, to their rooftop to take bird’s eye views of the village. Since that’s always fun, I did it.

One special feature in the village is a series of old stone lions. When I walked down one of the side streets, which are residential streets, a man at the end of one street invited me to look inside his house. It is magnificent—just like the old houses on display on the main street except that it has their personal things instead of historical ones. Inside the door is a garden area. Behind that there is a table where two women were sitting. To the side is a library with lots of books along the wall. A beautiful place to live, but I wonder if it’s expensive to maintain.

A Chinese breakfast was included at the hotel. Western breakfast—ham and eggs—was also available at an extra cost. So I went to the breakfast buffet, which is what is usually offered at hotels. Not here. I was taken to a small room with a table and my personal breakfast was served there: rice porridge with three types of pickled vegetables and peanuts to add to it along with a boiled egg and dumpling with red rice filling. On the third morning, the breakfast was a buffet, as there were many more guests.

Tuesday’s sightseeing destination was Hongcun, another ancient village that is half an hour from Xidi. Since I wasn’t going far, I sat on a swing in the courtyard and read for a while before leaving. When I was waiting for the bus, a man with a car taxi invited me to go in his car; so I joined the three boys who were already there. One has a scholarship to a university in CA study computer science for four years.

The buildings and streets in Hongcun are similar to those in Xidi. The main features of Hongcun that are different from Xidi are a lake and a pool. 

The pool was created in the 15^th century and is called Moon Pool because it is shaped like a half moon. It is quite lovely, especially the reflections on the crescent side. Hongcun also has water trenches along the sides of the buildings, usually on one side of the sidewalk. These are used for washing, similar to the stream in Little Likeng. 

Another difference is that Hongcun has dried meat hanging on many buildings. I was intrigued by the pig legs hanging to dry in various places.

Joseph had told me that Hongcun has been taken over by a corporation and is, therefore, different in style and has more tourism as a result of the publicity. I noticed that more of the shops carry general China goods rather than mainly locally produced items. This goes with being a tourist destination ancient village. There were also a lot of tour groups. When I arrived at 11:30, I encountered several tour groups, but the main influx was after 2:00. Then four groups in sequence would come into the main buildings with hardly a break between them. But I’m good at waiting for them to leave so I can enjoy the beauty peacefully and take photos without a mob of people.

Houses in both villages are stucco with elaborate decorations above the doors and  wood interiors. 

They feature openings in the roofs with a sunken area below them to drain rain water. I’ve seen this elsewhere but can’t remember where. One sign explained it as natural air conditioning. I think a previous explanation I had was that it opens the home/temple to connect heaven and earth.

I succumbed to purchasing more tea. The first was from a woman who spoke to me in good English and invited me into her shop. I almost always respond to good English, especially from women. She then explained the various kinds of tea in good English. So I bought a kind that is special to this area. The next person was a man who invited me to sit down and drink some tea at a moment when I needed to sit down and have a drink. He was also very nice although he didn’t speak English; so I bought some chrysanthemum tea, which he said is good for something related to coughing. It is also a specialty of the area. When I left the area on a bus, I noticed several fields of chrysanthemums.

Both towns are known as places where students and others come to paint. In Hongcun I saw a few painters painting the trees along the lake. There is a sign at Moon Pool instructing people not to paint there as it could be dangerous for painters and tourists. In Xidi, the students arrive at about 3:00 and leave at 6:00. Small groups go to different places and set up their easels.

Wednesday was an extra day. When I was planning, I knew 1.5 days would be adequate for Xidi, but I didn’t want to move to another place for one day; so I decided to hang out in Xidi instead of moving on. So it was a quiet, relaxing day. In the morning I read on the courtyard swing. Then I decided to take my computer to the lobby to use the wifi, as there was no Internet connection in my room. At 2:00 I went for a walk in the village to see the sections I hadn’t seen on Monday. Like visiting a sequence of many cathedrals in Europe, the buildings start to look the same after a while; so I didn’t anticipate anything different. But then I found the stream on the back side of the village where houses are on one side with slate slab bridges to the walking path on the other side. 

When I was on my way out, the painting students were arriving. I chatted a little with a couple girls and learned that they are high school students. Then the teacher set up his easel, and they all gathered around to watch. In an hour he painted the street scene. I was mesmerized as I watched the paper transform from a few lines to a painting of the street ahead. It was a good day.