THE BUND AND THE YU GARDEN - CHINA JOURNEY

 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 

The minute we walked up the bund, to our delight we saw a cute and young couple dressed in their wedding finery taking wedding pics with help of a photographer

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

JADE TEMPLE AND BAZAARS OF SHANGHAI,CHINA JOURNEY

 We woke up the next day much refreshed, I looked out of our window and could see that the city had already woken up and from our room the people appeared like ants busy hurrying to work.

Breakfast was a continental one with lot of varieties of soups, noodles and rice items ,we had eggs, yoghurt and fruits our saviour diet when out of India. At the allotted time all of us got into the 12 seater AC minivan which was very comfortable and roomy 

Shanghai, is China’s largest city and a global financial hub. It is one of the world's largest seaports and a major industrial and commercial centre of China.

The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu river flowing through it and splitting the city into two districts the Pudong and Puxi.

With a population of 24.28 million as of 2019, Shanghai is the most populous city in the entire world.

Though originally a fishing village and market town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to both domestic and foreign trade and its favorable port location

It has the largest metro network of any city in the world and the second highest number of billionaires of any city in the world as per research 

As our van swept through the Shanghai streets , the most remarkable thing we noticed were the vast number of sky scrapers .

China has the largest number of tall buildings ,more than 1400 skyscrapers above 292 ft of which 48 are

super tall ,  more than 984 ft which is a no mean feat for any country

The tallest tower in China is currently the Shanghai Tower standing at a height of 2,073 ft, it is the second tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa in Dubai being the tallest skyscraper in the world, with a height of 2,722 ft. 

The roads were very well laid and there was a smooth flow of traffic ,the side lanes were bustling with multiple types of cycles, scooters and E bikes .

The traffic junctions and roads were lined with beautiful greenery ,art works and flowering plants

We reached the famous jade Buddha temple nestled amidst the tall high rise buildings in the downtown, it had a Song-dynasty-style architecture with precise complex and harmonious structure.  

The temple was built in 1882 and has two famous Jade statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha and various ancient sculptures, rare paintings and Buddhist scriptures.

The 2 Jade buddhas were imported to Shanghai from Myanmar by sea, one reclining and one sitting upright, both could be found in different parts of the temple.

The reclining buddha was in white jade and smaller, the sitting buddha was in green jade,1.95 meters tall ,weighing 3 tons and kept in an airconditioned room where no photography is allowed.

 Jade Buddha was exquisitely carved, 1.95 meters tall with a well-rounded face, crescent-shaped eyebrows, half-opened eyes looking down, a straight nose, and a closed mouth with lips up. Left hand was on the left leg and right hand dropping down naturally.

We entered the Hall of Heavenly Kings and in front of the hall, there sat Maitreya Buddha with a smiling face, it is believed that he will appear on Earth in the future.

Behind the statue of Maitreya, there was statue of Skanda protector of the temple with vajra pestle 

On both sides of the hall were the Four Heavenly Kings representing favorable east ,west ,north and south.

Grand Hall was the main part of Jade Buddha Temple with three holy Buddha statues in sitting posture, Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, Amitabha on the left, and Medicine Guru Buddha on the right. 

All were about four meters tall with a very peaceful expression. Behind the Three Golden Buddha, there was the statue of Avalokitesvara a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddha.

There were Gods of the Twenty Heavens, covered in gold, lining the eastern and western sides of the Grand Hall. 18 unique golden arhats stood in two groups of nine outside of the hall.

I was particularly impressed by the peace prevailing and the clean surroundings I even saw a cat curled up and sleeping in front of Buddha on a small bench meant for the devotees to kneel and pray

People were lighting candles and incense sticks, praying and buying the good luck charms being sold in the stalls , alas no one knew what crisis year 2019 was going to bring to the world

 

While we were leaving the temple premises we found thorough cleaning being done by the workers who were busy in their work

We were then taken to a pearl factory where we were shown how pearls are extracted from the molluscs we being from the pearl city had to show our expertise by selecting a pearl strand for the others .

I had to use all my tact to tell my co travellers that the pearls were overpriced as they usually are in such outlets .

If we go to Charminar in Hyderabad, the street vendors sell a pearl strand for 10 rupees and shop keepers sell them for thousands to lakhs of rupees, it is very difficult to guess the worth of pearls ,not all of us can dare to perform the biting the pearl test .

Pearls are formed when irritants like sand finds its way into the shell of a mollusc which starts producing layers of nacre around the irritant.

In natural pearls the irritant generally comes from the water it is surrounded by and most natural pearls are found in the Persian Gulf and as the majority of them have already been harvested, natural pearls are tremendously rare

Cultured Pearls are grown in a pearl farm both in salt and fresh water. Molluscs are farm raised and once they are old enough, a technician implants a mother-of-pearl bead. 

The molluscs are then returned to the water and cared for while the pearls are allowed to form, however not all molluscs produce uniform good quality pearls 

The factory also had different jades, the Chinese treasure jade and it has evolved into an artistic tradition that has flourished for more than 3,000 years 

The name jade comes from the Spanish expression piedra de ijada literally “stone of the pain in the side.” Early Spanish explorers named it after they saw natives holding pieces of the stone to their sides to cure or relieve various aches and pains.

Jade is basically of two types ,Jadeite jade and Nephrite jade which has its cultural roots in the smoke-dimmed caves and huts that sheltered prehistoric humans

Jadeite also symbolizes prosperity, success, and good luck.

The most popular kind of jade in Chinese culture is green jade, which has an emerald hue. 

Jade is important to Chinese culture because of its beauty, practical use, and social value, other colors of jade are yellow and white

The most expensive type of jade, known as imperial jade, comes from Myanmar, but some can be found in parts of Mexico and Russia. It’s cost starts from $1,000 per carat , has a deep green color and is very rare.

SHANGHAI HERE WE COME ! CHINA JOURNEY

 In first week of June 2019 we started for China by Malaysian Airlines, we would be first going to Kuala Lumpur and taking the connecting flight to Shanghai. As is usual in an international travel we chose Asian Vegetarian Meal to be safe. 

I notice that each time we fly abroad we usually are very busy arranging our household affairs, packing necessary things and have to reach the airport at least 3 hours before departure which is pretty taxing and leaves us drained even before the holiday starts.

After our flight for Kuala Lumpur started at Rajiv Gandhi International airport , we settled down in our seats and fell asleep in exhaustion . Suddenly we heard tinkling of glasses and soft voices of air hostesses calling out names of passengers who ordered special meal .

Sometimes I really wonder should we just put on a don’t disturb eye pad and sleep our way through the entire flight or yield to temptation and accept the trays and taste some of the dishes served

So after duly yielding to the allurement of Paisa Vasool concept, we tasted some of the dishes and tried to take a nap. In 4 and a half hours we reached Kuala Lumpur popularly called K.L ,  local time there was 2 and half hours ahead ,so what should have been 4.30 am as per our watches was nearly 7 am .

Indeed these changing time zones are very confusing and exhausting, my husband and I decided early in our overseas journeys that he would keep changing his watch timings as per local time and I would stick to Mera Bharath Mahaan one ,I am sure my watch is having the last laugh ,LOL !

I feel we grow fonder of our mother country when we fly out of it. Sometimes I wonder aloud as to what was happening in our city and how our children were faring ,only to be chided by my practical hubby that heavens were not going to fall on our place in this short duration of our absence 

We went to our final terminal after taking the aero train, being restrained by the luggage limitations and the 15 day stay ahead in the two countries I reluctantly put my shopping soul to sleep and was content doing only window shopping .By then my brain was feeling wooly and wanted me to curl up in a seat and sleep but I convinced it that we had many miles to travel before we slept !

Finally we were in our flight heading to Shanghai and the rigmarole of meals continued , we were in a state of slumber due to jet lag and the journey now took us 5 and half hours to reach Shanghai.

As we had booked aisle seats in both the flight we didn’t have the inconvenience of making others get up and I somehow always manage to while away my time by seeing as many movies as possible irrespective of the language.

As is usually seen in any long flight we had some actively crying babies and few elderly men trying to achieve a walkathon medal

On arrival at Shanghai , before going to the immigration counter we were directed to scanning machines where we scanned our Passports first and did finger scan and thumb scan, while scanning, the fingers had to be placed in between the blue square given on the scanner.

After the scanning, the machines gave an ok slip to be shown at immigration counter along with the passport. There were volunteers waiting to help the needy with the procedure

There was a separate counter at Shanghai for group visa and we had to stand in the sequence as per the list and go one by one to the counter holding our individual passports. My husband gave our original copy to the immigration officer and I followed him and collected the original copy

While exiting from China , officers will collect the group visa from us ,till we were in China we were to take great care of this important document precisely as much as our passports 

After this procedure as informed by our SOTC agent, our guide Mr. Vincent Britto was waiting for us at the notified spot .

Seeing our Indian guide who was fluently conversant in the local language made us feel that he was our angel on earth and we were literally following him like Mary’s little lambs as long as we were in China  

By the time we reached there, a couple from Mumbai had arrived and we waited till the other 4 people arrived from Chennai .

It is the policy of the travel agency to collect and drop all the passengers together , luckily we didn’t have to wait long and we were taken to our hotel Ramada .

We were given time to freshen up and taken to an Indian restaurant which was filled with customers , we had amchi Indian food to our enormous relief and finally rested after a long journey.

WHY I WANTED TO VISIT CHINA ? CHINA JOURNEY

 My husband and I love to see new places and we plan an international trip once in 4 or 5 years. This time we planned on going to China . usually we travel by ourselves and book the trips through a travel agent but we discovered that as we were becoming older, trying out local cuisine and experimenting was becoming risky for our palates and guts, so we selected a travel agent this time for a group tour after much research. We found S.O.T.C very customer friendly and luckily their office was within walking distance from our residence.

As we were proceeding on our travel plans, our agent told us that there was a group tour to China and Japan planned for 15 days. As middle class people usually are , we are also very budget conscious and seeing China and Japan on a single shot sounded very attractive for us

My husband has a patient who is running a Dosa restaurant in Japan and had heard a lot about that country from him. I had my own reasons to visit China . Ever since my childhood I am an avid reader , Pearl.S.Buck is my favorite author and I have read almost all her books .

She lived most of her life in China and it is through her vivid writing I became very fascinated by China which is very similar to our country in its vastness , population and culture

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973), also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu was an American writer and novelist. As the daughter of missionaries to China, and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 there. The family spent their summers in a villa in Kuling town, Mountain Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that she decided to become a writer. 

Her book The Good Earth was the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"; she was the first American woman to win the prize. The novel is about a Chinese family who lives in a village on the cusp of World War I. The book experienced a revival in popularity when Oprah Winfrey brought it to the attention of readers in 2004.

When I asked the SOTC agents about China they had a smile on their face , they said China has changed a lot now and we would be seeing only the tourist spots popularly shown , I thought it doesn’t matter, let me see China personally and form an opinion myself

As I usually do a lot of research into any place before we visit it ,I went through many sites about China 

 Ever since China has opened its doors to the world in the 70’s, it has experienced rapid growth and change. More and more tourists from around the world are flocking to the country to experience its rich history and culture

China has entered its digital era literally with a bang with its highly developed shared transport, high-speed rail, mobile communication and payment and Internet shopping.

Most essential for the China trip is a passport and visa, enough money or a card . Cash is mostly preferred, though hotels and restaurants accept Visa and Mastercard

When traveling in China we may need to pay with cash, official currency of China is the yuan, otherwise known as RMB or colloquially as ‘quai’.

Notes are available for 1RMB, 10RMB, 20RMB, 50RMB, and 100RMB. There are also 1RMB coins available, as well as smaller fraction known as ‘Mao’ for the Chinese leader who adorns them.

We packed clothes as per the weather which was early summer and took our medication too . Our phones we equipped with a VPN as many websites such as Facebook, Google, and Instagram are blocked in China and some applications on access to emails require a VPN connection

We took an adapter for our phones and laptops as China uses 2 or 3 thin-pin sockets at 220V , this we feel is the most important item to pack for any international travel , otherwise we have to hectically search for adapters as soon as we land in that country 

Though in India we have plenty of Chinese restaurants and we love Chinese fried rice and noodles , it has region wise other special dishes like Beijing roast duck, Shanghainese soup dumplings, spicy hotpot rice noodles and dim sum.

The Chinese do not tip and the tourists aren’t expected to either which again is very important to know as in some countries it is rude not to tip

Other than the chain stores and boutiques, we can practice our bargaining skills and not accept the marked price or first price offered.

Finally the D day arrived and we were all set to go , having completed all the formalities of visas for both the countries and insurance ,as we went just before the Covid struck, we were comparatively comfortable, further to our delight we were informed that instead of the big group which we had expected we were going to be in a smaller group of 3 couples and a father and son from Mumbai, Chennai, my husband and me from Hyderabad.

All of us were flying from different cities , enroute touching Kuala Lampur , Singapore and Hongkong