Happy new year 2014!! We had a great time on our whirlwind holiday trip back in the US, hitting ND, MN and MI in two weeks. But there's no rest for the wicked. After arriving in Hong Kong just in time for New Years and working for three days, we headed up into the friendly skies again. This time for a long weekend to Shanghai and nearby Suzhou to visit MN friends, Chuck and Caryn. Chuck works for Seagate like Paul and is currently working for Seagate in Suzhou for a couple of years. His wife Caryn visits in four week chunks of time every three months or so. The kids stayed behind with Jelyn, which made them happy, as long as we brought back presents.
We arrived in Shanghai late in the evening, in time to head to our hotel and get some good sleep for all our sightseeing the next day. As you can see below, we started off the day with masks. The air pollution indicators were at "extremely unhealthy" that day. Even if you don't believe climate change is real, can we all agree that it might be better for all of us if we stop polluting so much? My vanity can't take wearing a mask in all of my vacation photos.
We enjoyed some souvenir shopping in the Yu Yuan Bazaar and a nice walk through the Yu Yuan Garden (Garden of Contentment). The garden was created in 1577, but the buildings are "period style", so not that old, but have the look. The architecture is beautiful and amazing.
Paul thinks it's better for photos when he wears a mask and he doesn't have to pretend to smile.
Here are some decorations in place in advance of the Chinese New Year holiday that started at the end of January.
Next stop on our chilly, gray day was a walk along the Bund, the famous riverfront area in Shanghai. There are nice views of the river and the skyline along the way.
After being outside all morning, it was time for a pretty tea break to warm up at a coffee shop in the M50 Creative Park. It's an area of art galleries and Chuck and Caryn are considering going in on a new one with an artist friend so we stopped to meet her and check out the space.
We refreshed ourselves back at the hotel and then had a delicious dinner at Yunnan, a restaurant with northwestern Chinese/Tibetan cuisine. Loved the plate toppers.
The next day was a little warmer, a little sunnier and less polluted. We took a stroll through Fuxing Park, which was designed by the French (it's in the so-called French Concession area of Shanghai, settled by the French in 1849 for almost a hundred years). It was fun to see everyone out enjoying the day, participating in a wide variety of activities from karaoke performances, couples dancing, kite flying, kids playing, and one of my favorites is this old guy doing calligraphy on the sidewalk with water. We're guessing he was telling a story to the group.
I loved the trees in this park and around the neighborhood, so pretty and felt very European. Even though Shanghai has three times the population of Hong Kong (21 million), it's not sandwiched by water, mountains and the China border so there is more room to spread out, so it felt a bit roomier with bigger sidewalks, more greenery and trees. Here 's a Tai Chi lesson going on below.
Birthplace of Chinese Communism anyone?
Time for more shopping and eating in a quaint network of alleyways that I can't remember the name of or find on Trip Advisor. Paul warmed us up with hot chocolate with tapioca pearls and hot milk tea with red rice (was kind of like barley, not as tasty as tapioca pearls).
After two days in Shanghai, we continued on to Chuck and Caryn's place in Suzhou for two more days, but that will be separate post. For my parting shot of this post, I'll take you back to Fuxing Park for a fun sight... little kid playing in the dirt wearing easy toilet access split pants (common in China) completely oblivious to the cold air on his bum (and to the dumb foreigner gawking and trying to get it on camera).
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