After seeing the Jade temple we went to the Bund also known as Waitan, a waterfront promenade with a raised platform ,it is a designated section of Shanghai’s port along the Huang Pu River ,the Bund stretched for a mile .
The flower displays on the walls of the river walk were beautiful
We could see the sparkling river Huang Pu and a long series of well preserved, century-old buildings, indeed it was an impressive sight to behold
The Huangpu River splits the city into two districts Pudong and Puxi. The Pudong skyline looked like an ultramodern woman decked up with differently designed modern buildings all proudly rising above the riverfront
As we walked across the Bund we could get a taste of old Shanghai architecture ranging from 1860’s to 1930’s on the Puxi side
The Bund houses 52 buildings of great and varied architectural styles predominantly Eclecticist, but with some buildings displaying Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival, Neo-Classical or Beaux-Arts styles, and a number in Art Deco style.
Our guide told us that Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world.
Walking on the Bund would be great at night with the beautifully illuminated architecture and the fabulous Pudong Skyline with the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Financial District buildings, whoever wants to walk along the Bund or take a ferry have to be aware the lights are turned off at 11pm
We were very lucky to have a sunny, clear day and as we had gone quite early there wasn’t much crowding by public.
As our time was short , we couldn’t go through the sightseeing Tunnel a fun way to travel between the Bund and Pudong.
We then went to the Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden located in the northeast of old city of Shanghai, it abuts Yuyuan Tourist Mart and Bazaar.
This was a traditional Chinese garden ,we as Indians are used to see green trees and lovely flowers and fruits in our gardens but there we found interaction of the main elements of Chinese gardens - buildings, rockeries, water and plants conveying hidden meanings.
Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying.
The Yu Gardens were first built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty by Pan Yunduan for his parents for their old age. Pan Yunduan’s appointment as governor of Sichuan postponed construction for nearly twenty years until 1577. The garden was the largest and most prestigious of its era in Shanghai, but eventually its expense helped ruin the Pans.
Pan Yunduan took 18 years to complete his ambitious garden, but it took only minutes to destroy it ,sadly again, and again. In the Taiping Rebellion and Opium War of 1842, the gardens sustained heavy bombardment, and the British army took over the garden and used the Huxinting teahouse as a base of operations.
After the destruction followed by the Small Sword Society rebellion, the whole of the grounds were essentially ruined. The gardens were once again rebuilt and renovated by the Shanghai government between 1956 and 1961, but were once more damaged during the catastrophic cultural revolution , the garden has now been restored again.
It had very pretty gardens, ponds, a rockery dating from the Ming Period and a dragon wall.
Just outside the entrance of the garden was a manmade lake, on which the beautiful Huxinting teahouse appears to float. Built in 1784, it is considered one of the oldest restaurants in Shanghai and is famous for hosting foreign dignitaries including the Queen of England.
It is also supposed to be built without using a single nail. To get there we came across a quaint bridge the Jiuqu Bridge (the Bridge of Nine Turnings) which had many turnings . According to Chinese myth, evil spirits would not be able to cross a bridge if it had so many angles. This bridge was indeed crowded with everyone trying to have a look .
The entire Yu Garden compound consists of more than 30 halls and is divided into six regions by tall white walls. Each region is separated by “dragon walls” iconic rolling gray-tiled ridges of scales ending with an ornate dragon’s head.
We found everyone clicking feverishly at a rock, a tall one riddled with holes and fissures. This was the Exquisite Jade Rock, Shanghai’s most famous stone.
As per the legend the Jade Rock was originally commissioned by the Huizong Emperor, However, the ship that the rock was traveling on reportedly sunk in Huangpu River and the rock was later retrieved by Pan Yunduan.
This stone is noted for its elegant edges and interesting facade, and its pockets of dents and crevices make it possible for incense lit at its bottom to send smoke flowing from every opening.
Pan Yunduan loved this rock so much that he built a study to look directly out onto it
On leaving Yu Gardens there was a huge Bazaar called the Yuyuan Tourist Mart covering many streets.
The shops were very colorful and sold the various types of touristy items.
In addition there were many different types of restaurants serving tea ,meat balls and dumplings made in front of our eyes and served hot, they were very delicious
By now we were very hungry and wanted to have a tasty Indian lunch . While going out from the bazaar we saw a dismal picture of a man sitting tiredly with a cat sleeping
As usual the streets were full of bicycles and e scooters
We were taken to an Indian restaurant where we had sumptuous Non vegetarian food , very well prepared.This gave us energy to go around once again
While going into the restaurant I noticed a small boy playing happily with the water sprays, I thought kids are the same everywhere
Near the restaurant there was statue of a person sitting in a pensive mood which impressed me a lot
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