Old City Shanghai is Older Than Old Town Alexandria

Our last full day in China started with a trip to Yu Gardens and Old City Shanghai, also called Old Town Shanghai.

The bus dropped us a few blocks outside of that area, and we walked through a run-down area that undoubtedly is slated for demolition and rebuild in the near future.  The land is too valuable and too close to downtown Shanghai to not be rebuilt.  

As we passed by some food shops on the road, Andrew suggested I go take a sniff of one of the large fruits -- Durian.  It stinks.  Like a 12 year old boy's room (I was one once, I know the smell).  I made a face, and a Chinese woman laughed and "tastes good."  I passed on the opportunity to taste it.  

We came to a spot where a Chinese couple were posing in garish red outfits for wedding photos.  Apparently at wedding receptions, the couple changes multiple times into different, often matching outfits. Seems like more trouble than it is worth, but hey, I'm old. 

Diving into Old Town, we passed by many shops, through narrow streets, until we came to an open, crowded square.  There were beautiful old buildings, and a large pond with many huge koi fish.  The main feature was the zig zag bridge, which was so crowded we could barely get across.  I'm not sure why, but I was reminded of the Charles Bridge in Prague -- even though the bridges were nothing alike.  I guess it was the crowds and festive atmosphere that brought that memory back.

The gardens are stunningly beautiful.  Started in 1559, the expense of the garden ended up financially ruining the Pan family that built and owned it.  It is five acres in size, and is divided into six main areas.  It features rockeries, gardens, pavilions, ponds, towers, rounded gates, and dragon walls separating each area. 

At one point, I told Andrew that "if you told me to draw a Chinese garden, well, it would be pretty bad because I can't draw, but THIS is what I would try to draw."

After the garden, we were back into Old City Shanghai, and given an hour or so to shop and wander.  After Carol and I stopped at Dairy Queen (apparently "two small chocolate cones" means two VERY small vanilla cones dipped in chocolate).  But it was good.

We then wandered around the small streets, including some very cool alleys.  The place is packed with small shops, some selling nice souvenirs, and others selling typical souvenirs.  Some shops encouraged haggling, while others were set price places.  You could tell the difference between haggle shops and set price shops just by looking at the shops from outside.

We also had been warned that we would be approached by shysters and told to follow them for deals.  We were able to fob off the grifters pretty easily, and "no, we did not want to buy a watch" was a phrase we employed often. 

Carol was particularly proud of her haggling to buy a tea set for Torie.  Leo had suggested offering half the initial asking price from the merchant. The woman asked 300 yuan for the tea set.  Carol countered with 150. The woman pointed to herself and made the universal hand motion of slitting her own throat, which was a commentary that she would be doing if she accepted that price.   The merchant countered with 250.   Carol countered with 200.  The woman went with 225. 

All of the negotiations were written down on a piece of cardboard.  At 225, Carol turned to me and said, "let's go."  I was surprised she was giving up that easily, but when the woman said okay to 200, I realized leaving was part of Carol's haggling.  For a woman who doesn't like to haggle, Carol got good at it really quickly. 

As faithful readers of this blog know, I'm not big on shopping, but wandering around this part of Shanghai was enjoyable.

We had lunch at an American restaurant in Shanghai, with a menu of a tasty kale salad, steak from Australia, and dessert.  Here, we could both drink water and another drink.  (When I would ask at most restaurants for both beer AND water, I received strange looks.  Apparently you get one type of drink, not a drink AND water at Chinese restaurants).  As much as I enjoyed all the Chinese food we were eating, it was nice to have a break from it with this meal.