Shanghai and Beyond

I have been crazy busy the past few weeks in China.  Fighting air pollution and making travel plans all at the same time. The pollution here has been unreal. Digits near 800. The air is soo hazy and smells really bad. Many of my friends have taken ill because of pollution. Old asthma comes flaring up and I even have friends that have stuff growing on their lungs! Its really scary actually. 

But aside from the talk of pollution I have been having adventures in China! (hence the title of the blog!) I most recently went to Shanghai for two days. I took the bullet train to Shanghai and got to see the country side of China. ( Countryside full of shabby houses and polluted air...nothing shocking). When I got to Shanghai I met up with some of my dad's coworkers. They had plans for me in Shanghai.

 I spent the afternoon at the Golden Temple. (Jing'an Temple) It was quite beautiful. Everything there was made out of Teak wood from Cameron. There were prayer rooms full of Giant Buddha statues. I learned that the entrance ways are often raised to keep snakes out. And that in India there was one Buddha but when the religion moved to China Buddha on took on the forms of the Gods to appease the people. The temple had a 15 ton silver Buddha.(or I was told it was 15 ton of silver..)

Silver Buddha





Main courtyard area. The thing with the smoke coming out is where they were burning the incense. On the side are Buddhist monks performing a ceremony.

Front building of the Temple. I love the fact that you can see city sky scrappers in the background!









After the temple I meet up with my uncle. He was in town on a business trip. For dinner we went to the Bund. A beautiful area where you can see the city skyscrapers light up the night. Too bad the pollution followed me from Beijing. But the sight was remarkable!

  

Despite the pollution that night, the sight was still amazing. In the left hand corner is the pearl tower! I want to go back on a night where the pollution isn't covering the buildings.

The next day I got the tour of Shanghai! I went first to the classical streets of YuYuan. They were buildings created to look old. It had all kinds of shops and at the back of the street was a historic sight YuGarden. The area was quite a maze. There was the bridge with nine bends in it as well as a tea house that apparently Bill Clinton had tea in with Chelsea and Hillary.  After exploring the area we ducked into the pearl market to see the pearls for a few minutes and then I was whisked off to lunch at this delicious dumpling place. I can't remember the name of the dumpling place but it was very delicious!

 After dumplings I went and explore YuGarden. It was beautiful. It was the homes of the emperors. It had all these different sitting rooms and wonderful gardens throughout. Truly though one could get lost going through it. (I did!)  The architecture throughout the land was amazing. The grounds were amazing. It was a palace in of itself. When one thinks of castles and palaces they don't think of this. But this beautiful Chinese garden with various rooms and buildings throughout is a palace.

After exploring YuGarden, my tour was not finished. They wanted to take me to the Jewish Refugee Museum. But we ran out of time. By the time we got there the place was closing soon and I was going to be meeting my uncle. But apparently China was one of the very few places that allowed the Jewish people to enter during WW11. So the Jewish people are very appreciative towards the Chinese. (or so I was told!) 

After a wonderful day of sightseeing I went back to my uncle's hotel and waited for him to arrive. When he came we went shopping in the markets. He needed to buy things for my cousins and my aunt. And then we had a wonderful Italian dinner! 

Overall Shanghai is a very nice city. Its much different than Beijing. Beijing is older, has a lot more history and more culture. Shanghai is modern and much more western friendly. I encountered more westerns in my two days in Shanghai then I would encounter here in two days. Beijing is my home though and I am content to stay here for the time being!