Nanjing to Shanghai

March 30
Nanjing to Shanghai



Disembarkation day! We left our home afloat early in the morning and boarded our bus to Shanghai. Our first stop was at The Fisherman's Garden, a modest sized garden with water and viewing pavillions. Gardens in China are less about flowers and more about atmosphere, serenity, peaceful spaces and views that change with your aspect. And many are extremely modest in size. Our second stop was at the silk factory where we saw the silk manufacfturing process -- we learned about the worms, cocoons, pupae, moths, but didn't see these in real life. But the process itself was fascinating enough -- much handwork involved as the cocoons are sorted, graded, unwound and twisted. It is all done by hand in hot water -- labor intensive, for sure. Weaving the fabric is the same as any other fabric with pierced piano rolls that dictate the pattern. Somehow or other the silk got dyed, but we didn't see that.



Stretching th batt to make
comforter filling

 

Soaking the cocoons in hot
water and coaxing the dead
pupae out

  At the end of the tour we watched as four women took the corners of silk batts which started out as 14 inch squares and stretched them to a gossamer sheet that covered a queen size frame -- 40 or so of these made a quilt batt. All done by hand.

We ended up in the store -- no haggling -- but lots of silk items of excellent quality for sale. Naturally we bought some! The store was huge by any standards, gigantic for China. One can never have too many silk blouses, can one?

Back on the bus, we arrived in Shanghai about 5:15 and checked in to the Westin -- another elegant hotel. We had a couple of hours of free time before dinner (imagine!) -- an elegant and extensive buffet at The Westin -- then Jimmy took us on a walking tour to the waterfront (Bund) to see the famous lit buildings of Shanghai. It is a real feast for the eyes as the near shore is old buildings, the far shore is all new buildings, and the tour boats as they pass by are all lit as well. Unbelievable! A tripod and a cable release would have been an asset. I tried to brace the camera on a lamp post with only marginal success.


The Bund on the old side of river



A tour boat with the new bank behind



Another tour boat in front of new buildings


March 31
Shanghai

Left the hotel at 8:15 for our first tour -- fabulous garden in the middle of Shanghai. It was originally a private garden which was confiscated by the PRC, left open to the people but allowed to deteriorate as
 maintenance was ignored. Then after the Cultural Revolution when China was opened to tourism the gardens were restored and are now maintained -- though still open without charge to the people of Shanghai. The park outside the formal garden was full of people in the early morning: doing their Tai Chi or taking their pet birds for a walk (in tiny bamboo cages) which they"d hung on wires surrounding a central plaza where their owners sat and visited.

A wall in the garden -- the
serpentine shape is of a dragon

 The gardens and structures are simply lovely -- skillfully designed to seem larger than they actually are, with much attention to changing views as you make your way around and through the gardens. Ming dynasty furniture in the pavillions and interesting cultural idiosyncracies like separate paths for men and women, stone bridges with shallow steps so that women with bound feet and long skirts could negotiate them, make for fascinating vistas. The park was a beehive of vendors (Rolexes, strap on roller skates, tchotchkes of all sorts) by the time we left. We climbed on our bus and crossed the river to Pudong, where we enjoyed yet another huge Chinese lunch and toured extensive embroidery exhibits -- both old and new. Excruciating hand work -- often years to complete. It must be a dying art, of course.

Emboidery uses both hands

Only the emperor wears yellow

Then to the Shanghai Museum, which is a lovely, modern building with extensive displays of coins, jade, painting, ceramics, furniture, and more. We even had an audio tour by a native English speaker -- we could have spent several more hours there than were alloted. Back to the hotel, where we had an hour or so before we went off to dinner on our bus -- guess what, another Chinese giant lazy Susan with multiple dishes, chopsticks, et al. After gorging ourselves again, we went off to the Chinese acrobat show -- gravity defying tumbling, tower building, magicians, and entertainers. It was spectacular, of course.

This marked the end of our regular China tour -- tomorrow starts our extension to Guilin and Hong Kong. Can't move these pix!

Birds "out for a walk"