Day 13; Shanghai / Guangzhou (Thur; 10 Apr)

 

Tour 1; Day 9

Today was the last day of Tour 1 - essentially the "must see" tourist sites of China. It seems we hit many, if not all, of them.  About one third of the group left, some to parts unknown but the Fong Clan left to go on to Guilin and the famously scenic rock formations along the Li River. Donna and I were a bit envious (Donna was there on her last trip in 1979 and said she thought it was the most scenic part of China she had seen) but Tour 2 focused on the genealogy part, and primary objective, of our trip, so our feelings were mixed. We were sorry to see the Fong Clan leave. But, before the goodbyes we had a full day ahead of us starting with...

... a short bus ride to The Bund. Apparently the term "bund" was co-opted into English from Hindustani and generally means a dyke or embankment. We took it to mean the waterfront of the Huangpu River that essentially bisects Shanghai. There is a mix of architecture of the buildings that border the part of the river that we visited. We took a short walk on the rather nice path right along the river. Some of the folks from our group had been here the night before and said it was quite crowded with a lot going on. We were there in the morning and any ruckus that was to be hadn't started up yet. From The Bund we walked through Gucheng Park towards the Yu Garden. Gucheng Park was nice but the Yu Garden was, once again, astonishing.

 The Yu Garden (YG), also known as the Yuyuan Garden was first built in 1559 by Pan Yunduan as a comfort for his father. The aforementioned from Wikipedia, I suspect it is more accurate to say Pan financed the building of the garden... Originally named Yu Yuan meaning "pleasing and satisfying to one's parents", it was a hub for many social activities of Shanghai society. The garden suffered damage numerous times owing to wars, rebellions and the like. Today, however, it is a protected national monument and is extraordinary. The YG is divided into six general areas separated by undulating "dragon walls" with gateways and zigzag corridors connecting the areas. A centerpiece of the garden is the Exquisite Jade Rock that is rumored to have been originally intended for the Huizong Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty (1100 to 1126 AD). It apparently sank in the Huangpu River and was salvaged for the garden. It is also said to be the China's 2nd most beautiful rock - yes, there apparently are some objective criteria to judge rocks, according to our guide. I have no idea where #1 is, but #2 was quite beautiful, as rocks go. The Yu Garden has some great roof statues, called roof "charms", for it's exquisite pavilions. Just outside the YG exit is the Yuyuan Bazaar which has hundreds of shops selling jewelry, silk, art, souvenirs and such.

 After the YG and the bazaar it was on bus and on to the Shanghai airport for our flight to Guangzhou.  The flight was delayed 2 hrs which caused us to arrive way late to Vocu Ghangzhou Sifu Hotel. The bright side of this was that the aircraft was a Boeing 787, my first ride on that model of aircraft (in China? right?). The hotel seemed to be located in a not-so-great part of town. I don't know how arriving at night effected that perception but I think we got a glance at the first (maybe only) homeless person we saw in China. The hotel was nice inside but the tour schedule was annoying - we checked in, packed a one-night bag, hit the sack, then got up at 4:30 AM, grabbed a sad bag-breakfast (as the restaurant was not open), checked out (leaving the bulk of our bags at the hotel) and jumped on the bus at 5:30 AM  to catch the "fast train" to Shaoguan. Sometime in there (before "hit the sack") we ate dinner but I don't have any notes about it so you can guess what the fare was (my money is on a Chinese banquet..). Just a little too busy/fast for a vacation...

We walked along the west side of the river, these buildings on the east side. It was very hazy that day...

There were several buildings on "our" side of the river...

... as well as around the bend in the river

Our short walk from The Bund, through Gucheng Park to the Yu Gardens

Our walk through Gucheng Park...

... where some of the local folks were practicing Tai Chi

The Yu Garden - 5 acres of elaborate pavilions, sparkling ponds, zigzag bridges, archways and exquisite rocks and rock formations

Some of the many pavilions in the YG...

... along with some of the roof "charms"...

The dragon walls are also adorned with statues/charms...

The Exquisite Jade Rock

Pathway between pavilions

The Yuyuan Bazaar...

... was huge

This must be the Shanghai airport we departed from (I think Shanghai has 3 airports...) on our way to Guangzhou. The airports we used in China were, without exception, impressive.