Shanghai

We spent about two days in Shanghai. The first day, we toured the city with a tour guide and Andy's aunt and uncle. We went to Yu Gardens where there's an old tea house, shopping plaza and a garden area. It was really pretty, but we must have arrived during a lunch break or something because there were tons of people there! We also spent some time admiring the skyline along the "Bund" (an English term for the area that used to be occupied by the English and French many years ago and which still has a European feel). I felt very much as if we were in Hong Kong. We took a cruise up the river to see the skyline.

On our second day in Shanghai, Andy and I were on our own. We went to two Buddhist temples--two too many, if you ask Andy. We also went to a very cool art district where there were several free galleries (unfortunately the gallery we had read about that had posters from the Cultural Revolution, had a totally different display when we got there). Then we went to the former residence of Sun Yat Sen--the 'father of modern China'. He played a critical role in trying to unite China after the fall of the last Chinese emperor and attempted to establish democracy. He also studied in Hawaii for a time, so I was interested in learning more about him.

It was fun to be on our own for a little while because we got to eat some real local foods (Simon, Andy's pet fish, was ordered by our tour guide--not me!) and we were able to get around on our own with the help of various taxi drivers and my limited Chinese. Andy and I also had a great time exploring everything from scary-looking alleys to nearby parks where people would come and do taiqi, dance and play badminton.