Yin and Yang on the Yangtze, Part Two
Shanghai, The ‘Asian Paris’
We arrived at our hotel, the Shanghai Hilton, about 8 PM and after a quick visit to our room, dined with five of our tour friends at Leonardo’s, an elegant Mediterranean restaurant in the hotel. The food was a welcome change from the Chinese and, although tasty, generic Western- style food we had eaten so far. Later, when we had time to survey our room, we found it to be very nicely appointed and comfortable with a high view of all the city lights.
Because Shanghai has access to inexpensive electricity from the Yangtze Dam project, it lights up many of its tall buildings with lovely, innovative lighting. This city was by far the most modern one we had seen so far in China. Some of its architecture is quite breathtaking.
The next day’s morning activities included a walking tour of the Old City and the Yu Yan Garden, a classic Chinese garden. A walking tour of the Bund, a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years, followed. Since the National Holiday festivities, which began October 1, were now in their fourth day, the crowds in the city were daunting, and since the daytime temperatures were very warm, I opted to miss the walking tour. Don later told me that if anyone had tripped, he would have been kept upright by the shoulder to shoulder crowd!
Later in the morning I took a taxi to the elegant fusion restaurant, Laris on the Bund to join our group. Because of the heavy traffic, the going was slow and I had a chance to view the sights along the way, including the modernistic skyline. Following a perfect meal, we returned to the hotel for a free afternoon to shop or relax and get ready for an early supper and the famous Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe. From our second row seats we felt like we were a part of the show as the aerialists flew over our heads.
After breakfast the next morning, our bus traveled outside the city to an ancient water town called Zhu Jia Jiao where we took a walking tour of the town and traveled by small boats back to the bus. Since, again, the boats were not too stable, I let the bus driver show me the sights and passed up the boats. We visited a silk factory where we watched women do the tedious job of weaving beautiful rugs and were shown the process of making silk duvets. Of course, the rugs and duvets were for sale, but I managed to escape without purchasing anything, not that I wasn’t tempted. We returned to the Hilton for lunch and an afternoon at leisure.
While walking in Shanghai and Guilin, our next stop, we were told to watch out for any young person posing as a student who approached us wanting to speak English with us. These young people are actually touts who would want us to go with them to their “Professor’s” art shop or some other over-priced shop
That evening we extended our adventures into the Chinese schools of cuisine by dining in the Sichuan Court restaurant on the 39 th floor where there are great Shanghai views. October was the season for hairy crab, a Chinese delicacy and our waiter strongly encouraged us to try one. They are only fist sized, so we had it for an appetizer. After 15 minutes of cleaning out every little piece of meat in each tiny claw, our server presented each of us with about two tablespoons of crabmeat. I guess it was tasty, but compared to any crab from the Atlantic seaboard of the USA where I come from, it hardly rated one star. But the wonderful lobster main course rated a five.
The next morning we had the option of sleeping in or visiting the Shanghai Museum, considered one of the finest collections of art in China . Don visited, I slept. We departed the hotel around 12:30 PM for the airport with box lunches supplied by the hotel. Our two-hour flight left at 2:10PM for Guilin. Our hotel for the next two nights was the Sheraton Guilin. The hotel had two restaurants at which we could dine, but one was closed to us because of a wedding. So, with no reservations, we all had to dine buffet style at the more casual one. This restaurant, the Atrium Coffee Shop, was also the breakfast place. Although the hotel had elevators, in order to get to the Atrium, we had to go up a set of steps from the elevator and then down a long, winding staircase to the dining area. There was no accommodation for anyone who had problems with steps or was in a wheelchair.
