Shanghai – March 21

On our second day in Shanghai Douglas and I went to the Bund to look around. It was our first subway ride by ourselves in China, but we had no problems getting there. The subway in Shanghai is easy to use. We only had one problem while we were there, but that is a story for another day.

The Bund is the downtown area of Shanghai along the river across from Pudong, where we had been the night before. We got some great pictures.

Unfortunately, the woman that we asked to take our picture was not a good photographer, so the pictures of us together in front of the river were not that good.

She got a better picture of us in front of the Bund.

Here are some other pictures of the Bund. There are Chinese flags on top of every building. This could be a result of the Western countries taking over this area after the Opium War and not allowing Chinese access. It makes sense that they now want to mark their territory.

Here are other pictures from along the Bulwark that abuts the river.

Living walls seem to be popular in Shanghai, we had seen on at the Luxun Museum and saw several more in the Bund.

 

There were many statues throughout the Bund.

I enjoyed watching all of the kids. There were several school groups, some of the children all in matching vests. There were a couple of kids with their parents. They did not seem to listen well and were not coming when called and running away when chased.

We saw brides and grooms being photographed here as well. I wonder if you are getting tired of these pictures, but I never do. It could be due to the fact that my grandfather was a photographer, and I used to love looking at the pictures he used to take at weddings.

We took a lot of pictures of each other taking pictures.

From the bulwark we walked up the Wusong River, crossing it twice.

From there we crossed the Bund along Middle Sichuan Road, walking back toward the metro station on E. Nanjing Road.

I also love the site of laundry hanging out to dry everywhere. I always try to dry our laundry outside, and I appreciate cultures where they do the same. I just cannot figure out how they get the poles through the shirts hanging out the windows.

Just before we were about to leave to meet up with the rest of the group, I started to panic because I could not find my guide book. I always buy a Lonely Planet Travel Guide for the country or city that I am traveling to. I use it to research the area before leaving and to navigate while I am in the country. As I go, I take notes, and later the book serves as a testament of my travels. I was devastated at the thought of losing that record of all that I had done. I accused Douglas of having put it down somewhere when I handed it to him. Being the wonderful husband he is, he ran back to try to find it. Meanwhile, I sat at this intersection waiting for him.

When he left, we had a half an hour before we absolutely had to leave to be back on time. As it grew closer and closer, I became more and more nervous that he was not going to make it. I was worried that I would be late and miss the group or that Douglas would be lost forever. Finally, I decided that I would have to trust that he would be able to find his own way back to the hotel. My first responsibility was to chaperone the students as that is my job. Luckily, about a minute before, I was about to leave, Douglas showed up. Unfortunately, despite retracing our path and running back and forth across the bulwark at the river’s edge four times, he was unable to find the book anywhere. As I went to put away my camera, I found the book in the camera bag. I thought that Douglas was going to kill me. Arg! If making him run for a half an hour in the heat and smog in China with pneumonia and an aching hip does not make him want to divorce me, I guess nothing will.

Once we met up with the students, we ate lunch and then headed for the Shanghai Museum. The architecture is interesting, at least it was for me.

The inside is really beautiful. I love how open it was in the center. To be honest, I enjoyed the architecture more than I did the collection inside. I think that I would have a more favorable rating had all of the exhibits been open. I was particularly sad that the salons with the paintings were closed.

Here are some random pictures of things that caught my eye.

I seemed to be drawn to sculptures of animals or objects adorned with animals, especially the insects. You have to appreciate a culture that takes time to create the likeness of a silkworm.

My favorite piece was this ancient sculpture of the Death Star. Do you think that Lucas came to this museum before making the movie.

The museum is located in the People’s Square. This park was once a British racetrack, and it is the park that is famed for having a sign that read “No dogs or Chinese.” Although it is controversial whether the actual sign ever existed, it is true that the Chinese were not welcome there during British rule. I would have liked to explore more, but once again, we were rushed on our way. The park is beautiful, however, and the architecture that surrounds it is spectacular.

That evening, we went to a cooking class. All of the students and Douglas were split into pairs and given a dish to prepare. I was excited for Douglas to learn how to cook a real Chinese dish and disappointed that he was given the most boring of dishes, egg with tomato. He did a good job, and everyone was impressed with his prep skills.

All of the students seem to enjoy the cooking.

I had the best job of all. I only had to take pictures and then enjoy the food once it came out. This was one of my favorite meals in China.

The cooking school was only a couple of miles from our hotel, so we walked back. This was the same walk that Douglas and I had taken home from our exploration the morning before. Everything looked very different in the dark. Even the Railroad Workers’ Memorial looks spooky at night.

So, that was our day at the Bund and the Shanghai Museum. If you would like to read about our other travels, visit the Travels tab under the heading or click here.

Happy Travels!