Shanghai |
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My first stop in Shanghai was to the Jade Buddha Temple. A lot of monks live here and we could hear them chanting. The temple has two jade statues of Buddha, one in the seated position of enlightenment and the other reclining, both carved out of single pieces of pure white jade.
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There were beautiful gardens surrounding the temple. I loved the goldfish.
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I watched this little cutie do her thing.
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When she finished, she let me take her photo.
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She was just cute and friendly.
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After our visit to the temple, we were given some shopping time. That's always fun to see how far you can get the price down.
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This must have been a real busy time for tourists. It was so crowded.
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That evening we were treated to a wonderful show during dinner. This was our first course. A kind of dumpling soup.
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These were some of the other dishes we could choose from. That one bowl looks like those pumpkin candies you get at Halloween.
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These were little meat balls.
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This was a green veggie with meat inside.
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Of course, you can't go to China and not try the Peking duck! I just hope he had washed his hands!
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The beginning of the show. They played their Chinese music for several minutes.
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The dancing was exquisite and so beautiful.
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I guess you would call these swords. Whatever they were called, he was pretty good with them.
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The men were sure entertaining.
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However, the beauty came from the graceful, and very skinny, women.
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The next morning we travelled over to the famous Bund, a five-block long riverfront promenade containing many of Shanghai's banks and trading houses. The tall structure in the background is the Oriental Pearl TV and Radio Tower, the third largest TV tower in the world after Toronto and Russia.
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In the mornings, you can watch people practicing the slow movements of Tai Chi. In the evenings, you can see well-dressed couples walking along the Bund.
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These guys heard me talking to someone, and came over and asked if they could practice their English with me. Why sure! I stayed with them for about a half hour. Lots of giggles.
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Since the Olympics were coming up, there were Olympic rings everywhere.
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Yea! We get to take a trip on the train.
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And we got to be on the upper deck! These ladies in front of me were such a hoot!
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We have gone to 500-year-old Suzhou in China's fabled Silk Region. This is a city of silk, gardens, and canals that inspired Marco Polo. We rode these neat little boats through the canals.
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I had a great spot to sit in so I could get my photos. Of course, the four people I had to knock down to get TO the seat weren't too happy. JUST KIDDING!
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The Grand Canal is second only to the Great Wall as a Chinese engineering feat. It was begun 2400 years ago.
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I don't know how often they have these tours, but there sure were a lot of people waving at us.
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In a way, it was a lot like being in Venice with the houses right on the canal.
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Most of the houses seemed to be whitewashed. I also think that it might have been wash day.
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This lady was pouring out the ol' wash water.
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Yup! I do believe it was wash day.
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We saw so many kids along the way. These three were so adorable.
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We came back to Shanghai last night, and today we are visiting the Shanghai Museum of Art and History. It gave us glimpses of ancient everyday Chinese life, and there were lots of artifacts from the Song to Qing Dynasties. Really fascinating.
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We weren't allowed to take any photography inside the museum. I had seen these girls inside, so when they came out, I asked if I could take their picture. They sure did giggle.
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No sooner had I taken the picture of the girls when the rest of the class sat down and wanted me to take their picture, too. The peace sign is totally universal! = )
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After leaving the museum, I went into this large area just to watch the people. I've always been a people watcher. Quite a few people had brought their boom boxes and were dancing: waltzes, foxtrot....the old kind of dancing. After a while, this man motioned for me to come over to dance with him. So I did. Pretty soon we had a big crowd of people watching us. It was such a blast.
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This was a huge area outside the museum. It was the weekend, and there were lots of families enjoying the day.
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When I took the photo of this little girl, I didn't know if she was getting ready to laugh or cry.
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I think this little guy was getting ready to give me the raspberries. Either that or he was just slobbering a lot! = )
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As I passed by the museum getting ready to leave, several of the people came over to wave goodbye. That was so sweet. I corresponded with the man for two or three years. He kept me up with his daughter's marriage, and his first grandchild. He couldn't read or write English, so he had someone in his apartment house write and transcribe for him.
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Before going in to eat lunch, I had my picture taken with this white marble Buddha.
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This was our table, and in the middle was a type of dumpling soup.
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We picked out the meat (raw) we wanted, then took it over here and watched them cook it for us. That was fun.
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What are THESE odds. As I was going out to our bus, I saw the kids I had seen earlier at the museum. They were going home, and our group was leaving Shanghai.
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