Rainy day in Shanghai

Feb 20, 2015

Our final day in China and our family was back together. Turns out April and I were the only 2 who didn't take the optional tour the day before, but that our whole "family" had decided to take the tour and CRUISE for our last day. While we had been fortunate with beautiful weather for the past few days, our streak had run out, and the forecast for the day was rain :( Being the good travelers we are, we had planned ahead with boots and raincoats, but we were hopeful we wouldn't need them until the evening.

We started out morning with a visit to the Jade Buddha Temple and so did half the city. Being only 2 days after the New Year, it seemed like everyone and their mother…and grandmother…and grandfather…decided to visit the temple to pray for prosperity and health in the new year of the Sheep…or Ram…or Goat (in China the zodiac for this new year is the Yen, which symbolizes a small, meek, ruminant animal and therefore doesn't specify which of those animals it would be). The temple was very crowded and we often lost sight of our guide, so it was good we were all a close family at this point and kept an eye on each other. There were several depictions of Buddha in the temple and the most famous was the statue carved out of a single piece of jade. We weren't allowed to take pictures, not sure why, but there were lots of locals buying oil, saying a prayer with the bottle and then giving it back to the temple to be used in the lanterns around the statue. While Buddhism started in India, it made quite the splash in China. Originally all Buddha statues had a European face, but after centuries in China, he is now depicted with an Asian one. Xu Jin joked that if Christianity had been in China for as long, at eventually Jesus would look Asian too haha. There wasn't much room for our large-ish group, so we pushed our way back to the bus to head to the oldest market town in Shanghai.

This was the classic street market scene-lots of vendors selling goods and food, harassing you on the street and CROWDS of people. April said THIS was the China she expected, but we both agreed had all our stops been this crowded, we would have gotten overwhelmed long ago. We had 2 hours of free time to walk and explore, and April and I finished the last of our souvenir shopping. In most stores it was acceptable to bargain a lower price on your purchase, but a few were solid in their asking price. The new year acted in our favor because a lot of things were on sale. Still feeling burnt out on Chinese food, we were TERRIBLE international travelers (and I hate to admit this), but we caved and went to KFC for lunch haha. While the food items were the same as the states, we still had no idea how to order anything from an all Chinese menu; as soon as we got to the front of the line, the cashier gave us an English menu which was considerably more helpful. We wondered the market more and tried to explore each section, but were often met with police officers guarding entrances and trying to control the flow of pedestrian traffic. I'm not sure if this was a normal practice, or something they anticipated due to the after holiday crowds. When we met our group again at 2pm, we were all on time except 3 and while we waited for the whole group to arrive, April and I snuck away to run across the street for Dairy Queen Blizzards 0:-) Satisfied by our American food fix, we walked back to the bus in the rain (and of course it wasn't raining when we got off the bus, so I'd left my raincoat behind) and were kind of dreading our next stop-the Shanghai Museum.

When we got to the Museum, the line to get in stretched around the corner. By the time we'd waited in the cold rain to get inside, we would have had no time to see any of the exhibits. We took a group vote and the whole "family" decided we'd rather go to the mall. So, to the mall we went! While Xu Jin didn't like straying from the original program, we were convincing enough that he decided to accommodated us on our "optional tour" day. The near by mall was similar to that in the states with it's type of stores, but the layout of the mall was much more compact. Stores were almost one on top of the other and there were only narrow hallways separating the sides of the hall. While most items were on sale for the new year, things were still a little too rich for my travel budget, and we left empty handed.

An early dinner, and thankfully our last family style Chinese meal. Not to say I haven't been enjoying the food, but let's just say I won't be ordering Chinese takeout for a while haha. Between the saucy mystery meats and squatting toilets with no paper and disgusting hygiene, I was kinda feeling "over" China. Guess that's a sign of a good vacation…just enough time away for you to miss home. The highlight of our time in Shanghai was our after dinner river cruise. Xu Jin described Shanghai in the day time as "black and white tv" and the skyline at night as "color tv", and he was definitely right. The entire skyline was bright with colorfully lit buildings and LED displays facing the Huangpu River. The "old school" and the "new school" aka Pudong side of the rivers were even more beautiful at night, and despite the weather it was still enjoyable to see the sights and have one last visit with our family.

Back to the hotel for hugs goodbye to those flying to SFO in the morning (most of us were leaving for LAX) and back upstairs to pack. Departure time for the airport is 5:30am for our 7:30am flight from Shanghai to Beijing. Then Beijing to LAX at 1:30pm for 13hrs. Then LAX to Charlotte for 4hrs before our 1hr flight to Norfolk making our arrival time 12am Saturday. We've heard there's snow waiting for us at home and I’m definitely planning on spending the night at April's before my 4hr drive back home to MD.