Shanghai – 28th February – 3rd
March.
We had an eventful flight to Shanghai. Our plane was found to have, as the pilot
put it, a small fuel leak in the wing.
The plane was surrounded by fire engines whilst they investigated the
leak and changed a leaky fuel valve, before we took off two hours later. Needless to say this did not do too much
towards Doreen’s nerves and it took all of Geoffrey’s persuasion to stop Doreen
getting off the plane.
Day 1
However, we eventually took off and arrived
11 hours later to a very wet, cold and smoggy Shanghai. At about mid-day we
booked in to our five star hotel with an interesting en-suite arrangement.
After a quick freshen up we went to the
“Soft Spinning Market”- which is a building of three floors full of hundreds of
small outlets selling various materials, including cashmere, silk, wool, etc
plus accessories, and tailors who would make up any outfit in any
material. Hence Doreen ordered a
hand-made dress which would be ready for collection in 24 hours.
Day 2
We were up early and jumped in a cab across
town to a Government run silk company, where we learnt how silk was grown and
made into thread and Doreen joined in the silk stretching, which was required
for making duvets. We were so impressed
that we purchased two silk duvets and covers.
We walked, along with all our purchases, to
the Jade Buddha Temple, where we joined thousands of locals all celebrating the
first day of the lunar cycle. Here it
was a tradition to purchase food and feed the thousands of Koi fish.
We again jumped into a cab and returned to
the hotel for a quick lunch at the hotel before walking to the world famous
Bund area, where we had views over the financial centre, including the Oriental
Pearl Tower. On the way back to the
hotel we walked through the Old Town Area and found a wholesale Pearl Market,
where Doreen forced herself to buy a necklace or two!! Whilst Doreen was choosing her pearls,
Geoffrey was discussing politics with the owners husband and drinking tea.
By now it was night time and we walked back
through the illuminated Yu Yuan Gardens Bazaar area to our hotel about five
minutes away.
Day 3
Today the sun was shining so we had an early start and walked to the
nearby Yu Yuan Gardens, which was full of bonsai Cherry Blossom plants, very
pretty, but very few other interesting plants.
On leaving the garden we again went to the Bazaar area where it seemed
that half of the 23 million people living in Shanghai had decided to spend a
Sunday afternoon at the Bazaar. Jet lag
seemed to catch up on us, so we returned to the hotel for a relaxing
afternoon/evening, before we joined our cruise ship in the morning.
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