Day 11; Hangzhou / Shanghai (Tues; 8 Apr)

 Tour 1; Day 7

Today's schedule:

• Chinese Silk Museum
• Bus to Shanghai (hotel change)
• Shanghai Library
• French Concession 

We were awake at 4 AM, so even 11 days in we're not on Chinese time. It'll probably happen the day before we head home... Breakfast was somewhat more limited than the day before, not really sure why but it was buffet style (as all breakfasts have been) and there has always been (to date) something I can find.  Generally, maybe every time, there has been Chinese jook and/or congee, so Donna was happy.

There is no note of the tour bus departure time in my journal so I'll assume it was 9-ish. The first stop today was the Chinese Silk Museum, which was a bust. It looks like it could have been quite interesting, particularly the technical aspects of extracting strands of silk from the silkworm cocoon, but 3 of the 4 buildings were undergoing renovation.  The one that was open focused on mainly finished goods; primarily women's dresses displayed on headless mannequins, which most of us Y-chromo types found only mildly interesting. Too bad, I was looking forward to learning just how silk thread is made, then and now. The grounds of the museum were nice though, so we spent an hour or so in the one building and wandering around then back on to the bus pointed towards Shanghai.  

Note: Now as I look through my (no, mostly Donna's) pictures to pick out a few from the Silk Museum to post I have to admit some of the silk gowns are stunning - even on headless mannequins...

We stopped for lunch on the way at what might be described as a super rest stop. It was actually a 2-story mall with several places to eat as well as several shops and even a car dealer. Although there were several places to eat (and some of them were not Chinese food, I noted...) we all ate at the same Chinese buffet because lunch was provided by the tour (read: Stony was paying).

Back on the bus and on to the Shanghai library. Coming into Shanghai we encountered typical big-city traffic but finally made it to the library and made our way in. Some of the architecture coming into Shanghai was unique, to say the least. Entrance to the library turned into a bit of a goat rodeo because besides personal and bags being scanned (imagine airport security) we all had to show our passports then pass through an entry gate of sorts one at a time. We managed to annoy several of the library regulars who had to wait for us. I think this process may be different from the last group Stony took there as he seemed surprised. Anyway, we got in then surprise number 2, you had to join the library (or something like that) to visit the genealogy section (which was the primary objective of the library visit).  Joining required 2 IDs and you had to leave your bags outside the area. Only Henry, the tour organizer, jumped through all the hoops to get into the genealogy section. He came out within 5 minutes and reported that all of the books, etc. were in Chinese! Imagine that.... I never intended to go into that section anyway so while all that chaos was going on I explored the foreign languages technical section of the library (of which English was one and you didn't need a membership or additional ID to go in ...) and was amused to find a couple of books by friends of mine - the technical world of helicopters is a small one. The reception area also had a Starbucks and, although it's against my nature to pay $5 for a small cup of flavored water, I did. What the heck, we're on vacation, right?

From the library we went to the Shanghai French Concession (FC). The history of the FC is quite interesting in that it was a concession of the area from China to France from 1849 to 1943. Apparently it was occupied by the Japanese from 1937 through the end of WWII. All of this is interesting, but today we walked amongst high-end shops, think Gucci et al, and associated high-end restaurants. One part of the areas we saw was apparently the house Mao Zedong and his colleges planned the revolution, which we all know how it turned out (and all these years I thought it was Mao Tse Tung...). It was of interest that the house was guarded by what appeared to be armed Chinese Army soldiers. 

After a short walk around and through the FC we walked to dinner (I think... a little hazy here - the only note I have is "dinner at the ??? house"). I'll bet against heavy odds it was a Chinese banquet...

We might have gotten a hint when we first arrived at the Silk Museum that something was up, I think we were the only ones there, initially. When we left, an hour or so later, there might have been a few other people...

Here are some of the gowns...

Some had heads...

 

The grounds were well kept and educational - here a statue depicting removing the cocoon of the silkworm moths from the leaves of Mulberry trees, being cultivated behind the statue. It turns out that there are several types Mulberry trees...

 

This is the "rest stop" - wow!

Inside just your everyday roadside rest stop...

Zeekr is a Chinese electric car manufacturer (we saw several on the road, as well as many other Chinese electric car brands). I suppose if you're on the road and in the market for a new car... (a little upset with the car you're driving are you? We can fix that...)

This was a restaurant outside the mall next to where the bus parked. Apparently the area is well known for crab.

I know you all were wondering what our tour bus (this time) looked like. We've been on worse... actually, during our entire time in China I recall only one bus being disappointing...

Donna's lunch, and mine. There was a wide variety to choose from, amazing to me for a "rest stop".

Some interesting architecture on our way into Shanghai. At first I thought the "roof" was for solar cells but decided that they're not oriented correctly for that. The buildings were under construction so it would be interesting to discover what ended up, up there. If anything... maybe one of you architect types out there knows...

More interesting architecture...

...on our way into Shanghai

The front of the Shanghai library

Quite nice inside as well...

I was able to find the technical section owing to my mastery of reading Chinese...

An example of the Chinese genealogy books that the Shanghai library is known for.  This one on display outside of the "restricted" section.

In the French Concession area with all the gucci shops, including my personal favorite - Shake Shack (on the right)

The house that Mao et al planned the revolution...

It wasn't uncommon to find artwork like this in many of the places we visited

We walked out of the French Concession where preparation for some event was taking place. I noted this building, which reminded me of Isengard in Lord of the Rings...