Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Asian Sabbatical - Day #18 - Shanghai, China

Sunday, July 17th

Zhujiajiao - water town about 1-hr from Shanghai

Similar canals to Venice, Italy

A lot of tourists taking rides on the water

Small bridges spanned the river

Busy day

Hard working fella

One of the largest bridges spanning the river

Food booths everywhere along the canals

Overview shot

Small walkways

Our lunch location - watching them prepare the dumplings

Lunch location - Din Tai Fung

Xiantidi section of town

Xiantidi section of town

Just starting our cruise of Huangpu River

City lights coming on

Great views

Awesome views with the ships in front

Special stuff


Colorful building lights

One of my favorite shots

The moon enters the picture

If you're wondering who the best is -- it's this shot

Really like this Tower

Couple more pics

I like this one as well

The Bund section of the river

The Bund section of the river

A view of the busy metro stations at night


Sunday started at 8am when we caught a cab/bus combination to a really neat historical town - called Zhujiajiao.  It was a 1-hr busride to our destination - only 12 yuan each way (roughly $1.75). 

Zhujiajiao is often referred to as the "Venice of Shanghai" - and rightly so.  Numerous canals run through this extraordinarily historic town.  (The Hutongs in Beijing - similar makeup to this location).  We walked the better part of the town - many folks took boats (like gondolas) to view the town.  We opted for the more flexible approach and did our walking for the day.  A bit warm I must say- so we had to take a side tour to a Starbucks for some much needed A/C.  After a couple hour of touring the town - we were ready to hit the bus back to Shanghai.

Ready for some lunch - Randy/Wendy had read about a great restaurant right off a metro station a few stops from our hotel.  The restaurant was Di Feng Tau.  Their specialty was the soup dumpling (xiaolong boo).  This dish is made of a homemade dumpling wrapped around a juicy pork filling.  The wrap is filled with broth.  We got to watch them make these through the window. We had an order of 5 dumplings each.  I really enjoyed the meal!

After lunch, we stopped by the Xiantidi street/area on the return trip to our hotel.  A fancier, upscale section of town with some nice restaurants.  We enjoyed a short walk through the area - all agreeing this could be a fun area to have spent more time.  After absorbing the sites, we set out for the Bund - we wanted to take a cruise on the Huangpu River at night.

We purchased our tickets (120 yuan - $17) and boarded for our 7pm departure.  Spectacular views - recommended to anyone visiting Shanghai.  We started the 1-hr cruise right when all the city lights were illuminating.  Special!  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  I think my best shots were near the end of the trip as clouds had moved in and the moon shone high over the city.  A perfect way to end the last night with Randy/Wendy - as they depart for home tomorrow.

A leisurely stroll back to the metro and a short train to the hotel, arriving around 9pm.  We hammered through some financial details while watching Phil Michelson & Henrik Stenson dual it out at the British Open.  Tomorrow we say goodbye to Shanghai and I say goodbye to Randy/Wendy as I continue the next 2 weeks on my own.

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