Saturday April 9th

This morning, the breakfast was very nice.  I decided to skip the ‘Danish Pastries’ which had custard AND bacon on them (what?!) and had cereal, 2 croissants and a yoghurt.



Yu Gardens

First off this morning, we went to Yu Gardens and Bazaar.  The Gardens are divided by walls into 6 areas and is a little like a maze – a typical Chinese garden.  It has a large rockery – apparently one of the best and largest Ming rockeries.  It is said to “recall the peaks, caves and gorges of southern China”.

We were allowed some ‘free time’ with which Mathew and I explored the Garden for a few more minutes (as Jane had taken us around already), and then we spent the rest of the time exploring the Bazaar – a close collection of modern shops in old style buildings (the buildings weren’t old, they had just been built in traditional style), and lots of market stalls.  There was certainly a range of things to buy, and there was an equal range of quality too!  Everything is sold here from snacks to souvenirs, genuine overpriced jewellery and probably some fakes, and I am sure we didn’t manage to explore the Bazaar in its entirety, but it was certainly fun wandering among the stalls.



Yu Bazaar



I bought a Jade necklace – actually I’m not totally sure it’s real Jade or not.  The assistant put a flame underneath it and then rubbed it on the glass counter – I’m not sure if it was supposed to scratch it or not....!  Well anyway, she told me it was priced at around 850 Yuan, but she asked for 450.  I did like it, so I decided to haggle – I suggested 200, she came down to 400.  I said 225, she said 350.  I said 250, she said 300 and as I was about to walk away, she stopped me and said “Ok, Ok, 250!” SOLD!  This was the moment I realised I actually enjoyed haggling much more than I thought I would!  I also bought 5 Chinese knot tassels at another stall for 40 Yuan instead of 50, although I wish I’d stuck at 35.  Well 40 Yuan is only £4 so that’s not too bad, especially as I saw the same tassels priced at 58 Yuan each further down the street!  I also bought a pack of postcards for 15 Yuan instead of 20, but we had been told the packs are actually worth 15 and some try to tell at 20 or 25.  And I still have no real idea if my Jade necklace is genuine Jade, but I really like it and I know it is definitely a stone.  If it isn’t Jade, it’s probably Agate.



Chinese instruments



We then had an interesting lunch where the desserts came first, followed by Chow Mein and other savoury dishes, then one more dessert.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to eat much Chow Mein as I was the last to get the bowl, and I couldn’t eat the beef dish because it was just gristle and I could hardly make a dent in it.  I wasn’t fond of the dumplings or the last dessert either, so I ended up eating much less than usual for lunch.  While we ate there were two musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments – a zither (played horizontal) and a lute-like instrument called a pipa.

Everyone gave the ladies toilets here a 5 star rating, for being Western, having paper, being clean and having individual sinks and mirrors, paper to dry your hands, driers to dry your hands AND lids on the bins in the cubicles!  Wow!



The Bund, Shanghai



Next, we took a walk along the river promenade by “The Bund”, also known as Zhongshan Dong Yi Road, it was the old heart of colonial Shanghai and most of the old buildings are still in place.  After the Bund area, we got back onto the coach and headed to Nanjing Road, which is the main shopping area.  We had one hour here and as Mathew and I didn’t really need any retail therapy, we wandered around and then found a park to sit in.  There was some sort of show on in the main square of the area promoting tourism, lots of (INCREDIBLY LOUD!!!) singing and dancing.

Eventually we boarded the bus again and headed back to the hotel.  We went out in the evening to a Cantonese restaurant and I think it was everyone’s favourite meal so far, and I have to say that I definitely made up for not eating much at lunchtime today!

On the bus back to the hotel after dinner, Jane told us about our flight to Guilin tomorrow afternoon.  She told us ‘absolutely NO liquid on the plane!’ and she said to take valuables and jewellery with you in the hand luggage.  Do people steal from the suitcases in the airports?  Jane also told us that when we go onto the train, people COULD break into our suitcases regardless of locks.  Well, I thought that by then I could put my dirty socks in the front pockets, that should deter them! Haha!

Mathew and I also decided to begin taking our anti-malarials tomorrow evening, we thought it was probably best just in case we had any immediate side effects.