Shanghai Day 3: July 29, 2006

(written July 31, 2006)
I had planned on getting up early to catch a train to Suzhou, but once again, I couldn’t even drag myself out of bed. I guess all that shopping really did wear me out. When I finally did get up, I decided I would hit a couple of the temples around Shanghai.
I started with the Jade Buddha Temple. The temples here all charge an admission fee of 10 Yuan. At the Jade Buddha Temple, they also charge an admission to actually see the famous (white) Jade Buddha, and, of course, don’t allow you to take pictures of it. Everywhere else in the temple complex, and in all of the other temples, you can take pictures. The temple was quite nice to wander around. It was built sometime between 1911 and 1918.
Some pictures from within the temple complex.Jing'an Temple
Then I went to the Jing’an Temple, the Temple of Tranquility. It was originally built in 247 but was partially destroyed, and then turned into a plastics factory during the Cultural Revolution. Since 1999, they have been doing renovations. Just another temple.
Pictures around the Jing'an Temple.I hopped into a taxi for the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar, to see the Temple of the Town Gods. I didn’t find the temple, or the garden, but I did find some sort of bazaar, which closed shortly after I got there. I found some great silk shirts that fit me very nicely. I will have to try to find some more similar shirts (or the same shirts in different colors).
Running out of money!!! Not a good thing. I’m doing too much shopping.
I decided to head back to the hotel in order to find something to eat, and to stop shopping. I went down to the hotel’s restaurant. All of the reviews that I read on the hotel said that the restaurant sucked. I gave it a try anyway. The menu didn’t look very appetizing with things like “pig sack” and sharks fin something or other and a bunch of other very nasty sounding dishes. I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t like seafood. I am sure many of the dishes are very good for someone that likes fish/seafood. There were two simple rice dishes. It took them a while to understand my question as to whether or not there was fish or any kind of seafood (like shrimp) in the rice. There isn’t. One is fried rice; the other is soup. I ordered Shanghai Rice, the soup. It is a simple soup broth with mini bok-choi vegetables, mushrooms and rice. VERY delicious. I just happened to order the best thing for me on the menu. Living in Korea has made me really like rice in my soup. Now, whenever I have any kind of soup, I crave rice to put in it.
I went to bed early, as I really wanted to catch a train for Suzhou. I would have to get up around 5 or so in order to catch an early train, so that I would have plenty of time to look around Suzhou.