Last day in Shanghai, Yuyuan Gardens, boat tour

Our last day in Shanghai was jampacked with walking and sites. We started off the day trying to find a place for a good breakfast but instead went into a good croissant place and got one to go since they had no seating. We went to the Yuyuan Gardens first which were super super cool. Outside of the gardens and around the whole area is considered Old Shanghai and has very cool Chinese architecture. I think it might have been the original center of town. While walking around outside of the gardens this old Chinese man tried to talk to us. Normally we would just keep walking, but he seemed legit. He asked if we were American and where we were from. We said Virginia and he said he has a granddaughter at UVA and a granddaughter at Northwestern and he kept going on and on about them. He spoke really good English and then out of nowhere he asked if we were going into the gardens and if we could buy him a ticket. It was sort of awkward and I couldn't tell if he pulls this act on every American or what.

As we continued on we found a Dairy Queen! It repulsed me but I also was happy. It repulsed me that there was a Dairy Queen inside this old looking part of town, but I was happy to see a blizzard and had to get one. They had weird flavors too, like Green Tea blizzards.

We went into the Gardens and it was like a little paradise, I could hang out there all day every day and have picnics. I might need one of these when I get back to the states. I can't really explain it, so you will just have to look at the photos.

After the Gardens we walked down Old Shanghai Street and then walked up toward the Shanghai Museum. On the way to the museum I saw this little kid in front of us who kept looking back at me and my camera. Then he said in Chinese that we were American. All of a sudden he tried to touch Alex's chest and grab our bags. He followed us and pulled on our stuff for a couple blocks and we could not get rid of him. I am not one for child abuse, but I was ready to slap this kid. He grabbed my water bottle out of the side of my bag and thought he had stolen something of mine. Lucky for me it was empty and I didn't care. Then Alex and I split, she went into a store and I walked behind some gate. He followed her into the store and tried to steal from the woman at the counter who then proceeded to yell at him and kick him out. Alex and I found each other again and he was still there. He just kept laughing and so I turned around and took a picture of the little rat. I don't know how we eventually shook him off but we did.

We made it to the Shanghai Museum and saw a couple interesting exhibits although there were many areas that were closed down. There were some amazing furniture pieces and old dress pieces from the 1700s. After the museum we walked back down Nanjing Donglu and then to the Bund for a boat trip up the Huangpu River. It was slowly become more and more smoggy and cloudy, so the view from the river was not that great, but it was still nice to see the shipping yards and all the boats in the area.

Once we arrived back at the dock, we had to rush to get our bags from the hotel and get to the train station. In Shanghai and I suspect in most of the large cities in China, there are areas where you cannot cross the street but you have to go over or under. The road, or more like highway, that you have to cross to get to and from the Bund is one such road. I think it is eight lanes across. We were hoping to catch a cab but could not find any so we decided to wait for no traffic and then run across. Ofcourse there were two police officers maybe 20 feet away from us. So when the traffic let up, we started to run. The officers blew their whistles but Alex just yelled to keep running! As we were running across we saw a police car with flashing lights turn the corner and we freaked out but he was not coming after us. Anyway, we made it across and no one came after us. We just played the idiot American card.

We got our bags and took a cab to the Shanghai Train Station. It was getting dark and we passed Nanjing Donglu and got to see all the bright lights for a brief moment. At least I got to see it, even though I didn't get to take any photos of it.

So we got on the train and we knew it would not be as good as going down since we were going on a Sunday night. We got into our room and were the first ones. Then two older Chinese guys, probably in their 40s or 50s came in. I was very confused because I thought they would not put men and women in the same room. Apparently I was wrong. The worst part about it was that Alex and I were on the bottom bunks, which are considered to be couches for everyone until you sleep. So we were stuck sitting with these guys until they wanted to go to their beds and sleep. One of them spoke English but the other did not. The one who did not speak English thought I was an 18 year old Russian. I guess I am psyched that I passed for 18, but I am not Russian! It's funny because I look at Chinese girls and think they are all teenagers when they are in their 20s, so I assumed that a Chinese man looking at me would think I was much older than I am. Anyway, the ride was ok, considering we slept through most of it.

So that was the trip to Shanghai, sorry if it was wordy, I have been trying to remember everything at once. I have photos online but for some weird reason am having problems with my older albums. Will try and remedy that today.