Sometimes called China Town or Old Town, the older section of Shanghai is a place tourists go to see more traditional buildings and the market.There is also a garden nearby—the Yu Yuan (The You garden), and it as using the Chinese characters for this place that I managed to catch a taxi to the right place.
I use a card from the hotel, written in the Chinese language and show it to the taxi driver to get home again.
This was a fair jaunt from my hotel, so I had a chance once again to see some of the scenery---a myriad of skyscrapers and tons of construction. All quite amazing architecture. I don’t know
the names of most of them, but just seeing them was interesting to me, especially when they were juxtaposed next to some of the old ones, where there are obvious European influences, as well as ancient Asian ones.
The colours were magnificent and bright, and the architecture decorative and more what one would expect in the Orient. The market was a varied mix of food stalls and shops, which sold beautiful silk rugs, jade jewellery, paint brushes, clothing (kimonos) and everything in between.
I was especially accosted many times by young entrepreneurs who were either trying to sell their art, or selling watches and purses. They do not like taking no for an answer and for a while I thought I was back in Egypt or Mexico. Walking through the indoor markets was a distasteful experience of everyone calling at you to come inside their shops to see what they had, so I departed as quickly as I could. Some got quite angry if you walked out.
I was happy to leave and get back to the peacefulness of my hotel. Tomorrow afternoon I fly to Guangzhou (GZ), and I am ready to leave. Shanghai has been a good learning experience and so I will know what to watch for when I get to GZ. It will be interesting to look for a place to live too.
