Shanghai to Toronto – 31 March

Aftert the rain yesterday, the skies were clear and the sun poured down.  So I used my last few hours in Shanghai out and about taking pictures and checking out the shops.  It was hard to resist the opportunity since the rain had washed away the smog, so the city scape was much more visible. 

All went very well with our transfer to Shanghai Pudong International Airport and our non-stop flight home on Air Canada.  We were ever so briefly able to see the enormous Yangtze River from the plane as it disappeared in the smog all too quickly (amazing how quickly it returns after a good rain).  We took off from Shanghai at 5pm on March 31^st and after crossing the international date line, we touched down at Pearson Airport at 7pm on March 31^st.

It is nice to be home now in familiar and comfortable surroundings.  I appreciate more than ever being able to see as far as the eye can see (save for the few smog days of summer), for the most-part to drink safe tap water (unless you live in one of the hundred or so First Nation communities without that basic amenity), and enjoy the luxury of low population/ample space that Canada provides.  But our trip is far from a being a tucked-away memory subject to recall when triggered.  We continue to enjoy countless conversations about all the wonderful things we’ve seen and experienced, the amazing people we’ve met, and the breathtaking scenes we captured in photo and video.  I cannot tell you how many times I pinched myself on this adventure just to be certain it was really happening!

I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this blog as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing. 

many large intersections have pedestrian overpasses, it separates cars and pedestrians

okay maybe the ever-present multitude of cameras can be disconcerting 

in another month, the leaves will be out and this street look much different, so I guess you could say "missed it by that much"  ;-)

Shanghai – 30 March

The skies rained all day on the final tour of our Asian Adventure; Suzhou located about an hour or so outside of Shanghai.  With a population of 7 million, 3 million of whom live in Suzhou proper, it has one grand canal with many small canals.  In the past, the canal system connected Beijing with Zhangzhou (passing through Suzhou) but now is no longer navigable the entire way.  Suzhou accounts for 30% of China’s exported silk and all is spun here.  Suzhou is known for its water town district and impressive gardens.  The gardens were built by bright local scholars who left Suzhou for government administration jobs elsewhere and returned to build the gardens for their families.  This city is also known for its softness; buildings, silk, language (men's voices sound feminine), water, etc.  They also build a lot of electronics in this town and have many Singapore businesses.

Our first stop in Suzhou was the Humble Administrator’s Garden, built in 1509 by Imperial Inspector Wang Xianchen; one of those scholars who returned to Suzhou after retiring from public life.  He was inspired by a Pan Yue essay which said “to cultivate my garden and my vegetable crop… is the policy of a humble man”, hence the garden’s name.  At the entrance the sign says that after he died his “incapable son” gambled it away.  Can you imagine?  It is a spectacular garden filled with courts, halls, buildings walkways, gardens, ponds, etc.  In one of the ponds are 36 pairs of mandarin ducks with wings clipped so they cannot escape.  We noticed a couple of women walking along with a toddler who was just learning how to walk.  The toddler was wearing a pair of pants with and open crotch seam.  We had seen those types of pants before but never without panties or diapers.  It was so cute to see a toddler with a bare butt crack toddling along and it is a common method used for potty training here.

Being so close to the Humble Administrator’s Garden, Suzhou Museum needed to have a short visit at least.  There were lots of interesting items like a Ming vase from 1450 and an intricately carved elephant tusk with 100 figures on it.  The museum was built around Prince Zhong's mansion with its amazing throne room and living quarters.

Steps away from the museum, we ate at the Wumen Renjia restaurant which is very well known and popular with tourists.

Then off we went to the Suzhou No. 1 Silk Factory where we saw the whole process of sericulture (rearing of silk worms) and silk making.   From the basics of planting mulberry trees, to raising silkworms, reeling, weaving and quilt-making with silk.  The double cocoon and single cocoons are used for different purposes; silk spinning and quilt making respectively.  Of course, there is a huge silk shop where one can pick up a wide variety of products.

It seems we saved the best for last; Zhouzhuang Watertown in Suzhou.  There are two sections, one authentic and one built up for tourists.  We visited both.  In the authentic section, despite the rain, it was busy with local people purchasing food and trinkets from merchants.  We weren’t very tempted by the duck stomach or duck tongue, but the rice wine and fresh produce were very tasty looking indeed.  After crossing a bridge over the canal and walking through the small streets, we found our way over to the touristy area and spent some time on Shantang Street which is filled with souvenir shops, photography stores, restaurants, and dozens of tourist boats.

We ran into a bit of traffic on the drive back to Shanghai along the toll route, but all in all it was a great rainy day.  Ben jokingly said that it was only fitting that the sky would be crying on our last day in China.

Later that evening we ate at the Bi Feng Tang restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.  It’s quite a popular chain restaurant with line ups down the street during peak meal times.  Lucky for us it was late and we got a seat right away. 

entranceway to the Humble Administrator’s Garden

the Humble Administrator' Garden



potty training approach, awesome!



Ming vase at the Suzhou Museum

elephant's tusk carving

Prince Zhong's mansion - throne room

don't you just want to buy the whole cart?

spinning silk threads from the cocoon

stretching the double cocoons to make silk comforters 

Zhouzhuang Watertown; the authentic section

duck stomach for sale at the authentic section

Zhouzhuang Watertown - tShantang Street ourist section

Shanghai – 29 March

While Greg visited Fudan University, I went on a mini walking tour in the city.  Ben and I walked through a food market located in a longtang (similar to the hutongs in Beijing) neighbourhood where I saw some unusual items for sale such as turtles, pig’s lungs, snake fish, baby eels, and toads.  There were also plenty of vegetables, noodles, wine, and such.  Steps away was an interesting animal/pet market on Xizang Lu, where fighting crickets, or noisy crickets (used by Chinese people to lull them to sleep with all that buzzing) can be purchased.  Other pets such as dogs, cats, birds, turtles, mice and such were also available.   Then a few steps away from Xizang Lu was the antique market on Dongtai Lu, where multitudes of stalls packed with Mao memorabilia, clothing, and oodles of interesting knick knacks.  In contrast, the next area we strolled through a very trendy area was the XinTianDi with a numerous international restaurants (French, French, American, German, British, Brazilian, Italian, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong… sorry no Canadian cuisine).  Aside from eating, there are high-end boutiques, accessory shops, a food court, a movie cinema, a one-stop fitness centre, and an Executive Residence.  All in all, we covered a lot in our short 1 ½ hour walk.

Just after 4pm, Shi Zhun, one of Jianmin Chen’s students  picked me up at the hotel and we both travelled by cab to the university where Greg and Jianmin were just finishing up.  We walked for a bit through the campus past the “White House” which is the mathematics building, countless blooming magnolia trees, lengthy bike stand, pond, stadium, and of course the Mobile Real-Time Haze Monitoring Platform, before flagging cabs to take the whole crew to dinner.  The whole crew consisted of Shi Zhun, Jianmin, Roeland from Netherlands (first ever foreign PhD student), and Shi Yang who took us to the Bund later.

We ate at one of the American Academy’s Five Star Diamond Award winning restaurants; the Star Restaurant.  Again, we enjoyed our dining experience in a beautifully decorated private room.  Several other professors and researchers also joined us for a tasty meal including fish, salad, Peking duck, mushrooms, salad, veggies, and tofu.

After the dinner, Shi Yang and Roeland , escorted us by cab back to the Bund so we could marvel at its evening splendor with all the lights.  It really is quite spectacular.  And if that was not enough, they took us to the Brown Sugar bar at Xin Tian Di area where we enjoyed an awesome live cover band.

pig's liver

snake fish

baby eel



toads



longtang neighbourhood

Dongtai Lu antique market

XinTianDi trendy area, former longtang neighbourhood

bicycles at Fudan University

our dining room at Star Restaurant

the Bund at night

the Bund at night

Qingdao to Shanghai – 28 March

Go drove us to the Qingdao Liuting International Airport.  Everything went quite smoothly and before you knew it we were at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.  Our Guide, Ben and Driver, Mr. Wu, were there to meet us. 

A tour was scheduled for today and it started in a must-see Shanghai attraction, the Bund.  Basically, it is a riverfront walk along the west bank of the Huangpu River.  There are buildings of more classic design on the west side and an amazing skyline of modern and impressive skyscrapers across the river.  At the northern most point is a gun-shaped Monument to the People’s Heros and that’s where it intersects with the Suzhou River.  Most people have seen pictures of the Bund which is famous for brilliant light displays on the buildings after dark and it is noteworthy to know that the Bund was only open to tourists as of May 2010 (I think that may have coincided with the Expo).

We stopped for lunch at Din Tai Fung restaurant which was not included in the tour, so we got to order from the menu and have just enough food to satisfy our appetites.  The complex in which the restaurant is located is actually a collection of 10 restaurants.

Literally right across the street was the Shanghai Old Cheng Huang Temple Snack Square, another very popular tourist attraction.  The 1,500 square meters is filled with traditional specialty snacks from all over China as well as tea houses, and souvenir shops.  At one location we enjoyed watching a young fellow making cookies using a tradition method; hot iron pan in which a lid filled with hot coals created an oven-like environment when placed on the pan.  Many cookies were handily coated with seeds using a tricky flipping method in a large shallow basket before finding their way into the pot.  That was the only snack we enjoyed because we really weren’t too hungry after just eating lunch.

On the same grounds is the Yuyuan Garden, a 400 year old classical Chinese garden with many hall, chambers, gates, goldfish filled ponds, and really interesting doorways.  One feature is a gigantic dragon perched along a long stone wall and another is a lion statue marred with WW2 gunshots.  We enjoyed walking around this wonderful garden despite the crowds.  I can’t imagine how crazy it is during peak tourist season.

By 2pm we were checking in to the JinJiang Hotel which was located in a very trendy area full of high end shops, kind of like Yorkville.  This hotel was host to many global leaders when they first came to visit China after it opened up a few decades ago.  We had some time to settle in and relax before our evening adventure.

In the evening we went to the “ERA Intersection of Time show” at the Shanghai Circus World.  The building was completed in 1999 and is one of the top 10 Shanghai attractions combining circus, acrobatic, magic, dancing and music performances.  Our driver got to park right outside the front doors and we had excellent seats.  Acrobats simultaneously jump through small and large hoops, some of which are impossibly high, a motorcyclist enters a large metal cage and goes round-and-round, and upside down before more and more motorcyclists join in until there are 8 motorcyclists racing at high speed in that small space.  What precise timing they must have!  Of course, there was much more, but I don’t want to spoil all the fun in case you find yourself at the show one day.  Another interesting point is that the show was developed by a Cirque expert from Canada, so that’s our claim to fame!

view from the Bund; building with two sphere-shaped section is call "the Pearl" and the tallest building in Shanghai (so far) is the one that looks like a bottle opener.  Currently the new building under construction will dwarf it.

the "Big Ben" of Shanghai

Monument to the People’s Heros

buildings at Shanghai Old Cheng Huang Temple Snack Square (notice how the corners of the roof are much more curvy than in Beijing)

traditional cooking making

see the hot coal on the lid and how the cookies bake inside the pan

cookie maker paying attention his young female customers, me I had to take a number and stand in line!  ;-)

famoust Tea House in the Snack Square

amazing gargoyle in Yuyuan Garden

a famous doorway in Yuyuan Garden, difficult to get a shot without the tourists in it

can you see the WW2 gunshots on this poor lion statue?

one of many detailed and delicate carvings

Greg and Ben, our Shanghai Guide

an impressive dragon wall

now that's a teapot!