Day 15, March 30, 018, Friday:
Shanghai:
We had an early morning flight from
Shanghai Hongqiao airport the next day. So we were staying the night at the
airport hotel which is right inside Terminal 2. We did not want to
schlep bags through crowds, so decided to drop the bags at the
airport hotel in the morning. We were out of our hotel at 6 am with
our bags. As said, no lift/escalator at the metro entrance. So we
lifted the bags thru the stairs and got into line 2 subway. Reached
the airport station. None of the signs or big maps showed our hotel.
We showed the address in Chinese to security guards, and followed
their instructions to the hotel. Room was not ready, so we left the
bags with the reception
and went back to our Bund hotel.
We napped for an hour and then checked
out of the hotel. We decided to go to the Jade Buddha temple and
Shanghai museum nearby, reserving the Bund for the evening.
We had to take Metro Line 13 and get
off at Jiangning Road Station. Leave from exit 4 and then walk
southward for about five minutes to the temple.
When we reached the transfer station,
signs were so confusing on how to take the line 13. I got out of an
exit stile by mistake and the ticket I had put in did not come out.
I approached an attendant but she refused to give me another ticket,
shouted, you have to buy another ticket!
We bought another set of tickets and
again no exits were leading to line 13. We went up to the highest
floor and asked for help. The attendant showed a laminated board with
the message that line 13 is a private line and we can't transfer
using our metro ticket bought on the general machine. We had to get
out of the station and buy a new ticket from line 13 machine!!
Had read up on Shanghai metro as part
of research, nowhere has this showed up. Also why does the general
machine allow tickets for line 13 to be bought when it's not valid is
beyond me! I really wanted to drop going to the jade temple. Anyway
after wasting money and time, we got the new tickets from the line 13
machine outside and got into that line. Reached our station and
walked to the Jade Temple
玉佛寺 Yu fo si Jade Buddha Temple:
8-16.30, CNY 20
In Shanghai, a very modern and
flourishing city, there is a venerable and famous Buddhist temple,
Jade Buddha Temple. In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two jade
Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named
Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew
the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Fortunately the statues were saved and a
new temple was built on the present site in 1928.
The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters
high and encrusted by the agate and the emerald, portraying the
Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment.
Sorry a lot of glare in the picture
The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters
long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head
and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the
'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni
when he left this world.
In the temple there is also another
Recumbent Buddha four meters long brought from
Singapore by the tenth abbot of the temple in 1989.
More than 7,000
Dazang sutras are kept in the Jade Buddha Tower; these are all
inestimable culture relics.
The seated Buddha, encrusted with
jewels, is said to weigh 1,000 kg. A smaller, reclining Buddha from
the same shipment lies on a redwood bed.
There are three gold-plated
Buddhas in the large hall and other halls house ferocious-looking
deities. Artifacts abound, not all on display. This Green jade Buddha is from a closed room...
Both the Sitting Buddha and the
Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and
crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity.
We were in time for the prayers and it
was a lovely experience watching the monks walk in a procession and do their chanting at the altar. I'll post the video soon
We then tried to walk to the Shanghai
museum. We landed at the People's Park.
People's Park:
and a crowd of people smoking away.
We sat and had our sandwiches. A young man stood just in front, took our pic and was uploading it. I looked up in annoyance and he scuttled away. There were several others including some old men from all sides taking my picture, It was becoming a little tiring and scary. A girl in a costume on a photo shoot took our picture!! WOW! Ha ha!
We could not trace the museum, so got
into the line 13 metro again and went back to the Bund.
We walked around. It was entertaining to see a bridal couple having a photo shoot crossing the busy street.
The Bund:
The
Bund or Waitan ( 外滩 literally: "Outer Beach") is a waterfront area
in central Shanghai. The Bund is a mile-long stretch of
waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River. To the west of this
stretch stand 52 buildings of various architectural styles,
including Gothic, baroque, and neoclassical styles. It is often
referred to as "the museum of buildings.
Lovely pink tulips and yellow wall flowers
Mao
The Bund lies north of the old, walled
city of Shanghai. It was initially a British settlement; later the
British and American settlements were combined in the International
Settlement. Magnificent commercial buildings in the Beaux
Arts style sprung up in the years around the turn of the 20th
century
The Shanghai Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club.
By the 1940s, the Bund housed the headquarters of many, if not most, of the major financial institutions operating in China, including the "big four" national banks in the Republic of China era.
However, with the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war, many of the financial institutions were moved out gradually in the 1950s, and the hotels and clubs closed or converted to other uses. The statues of colonial figures and foreign worthies which had dotted the riverside were also removed.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the thawing of economic policy in the People's Republic of China, buildings on the Bund were gradually returned to their former uses.
A mist hung over the place and the famed buildings were shrouded in clouds. We had planned on a ferry ride to go over to the other side and may be go up the Oriental pearl tower observation platform.
This was what we had hoped to see
I felt it may be a waste of time with
no views. The constant cigarette smoke around made me cough
continuously and I had lost the will to live!!
The following had been my notes from
research on the various buildings as well as the ferry.
Start: Broadway Mansions
Finish: Meteorological Signal Tower
Distance: 1.3 kilometers time
needed: 2½ hours
What you should not miss: a museum
in Astor House Hotel; a movie poster gallery in Peace Hotel; the
beautiful mosaic ceiling of Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank; Lovers'
wall or the Valentine wall.
Best times to walk: It
can be done either by day or night; during the evening the buildings
are closed but the night view of the Bund is amazing.
Sightseeing Ferry 市轮渡
The sightseeing ferryboats of Shanghai
provide a chance to experience the exciting Huangpu River
cruise. The River Sightseeing Line operating from 09:00 to 21:00
sails between Nanpu Bridge and Yangpu Bridge. The Water Bus Line
stops at the Bund, East Jinling Road Ferry Station, and Dongjiadu
Ferry Station on the west bank of Huangpu River, and Lujiazui,
Dongchang Road Ferry Station, and Nanmatou Ferry Station on the east
bank of the river. The line includes most of the famous attractions
along the Huangpu River. It costs CNY 12 for the whole journey or CNY
2 for each stop.
We decided to go back to our airport
hotel. The metro was jam packed and we stood all the way. It stopped at Songhong road with an
announcement coming that this is the terminal. We were surprised as
we had to reach the next station. I pointed at the next station on
the metro map in the coach and silently queried the girl standing
next to me. She answered in fluent English that we have to get down
and wait in the same place. Another train would come and take us to
the next station. Well, the same day morning we had had a continuous
uninterrupted ride on the same line!
We were very thankful to the girl. We
caught the next train which came in a few minutes, reached our hotel,
checked in and got into our room.
Boyue Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Hotel:
As soon as we entered and put the
room card in the power slot, the lights came on, TV started playing soothing music,
and it was such a welcome relief!
there was a coke and peanuts as welcome
package..
there was heavy use of room freshener
and my cough continued!
Day 16, March 31, 2018:
Son's flight was at 9.30 and he walked
off at 6.30. We had booked a flight to Beijing with adequate time to
catch the onward flight to Houston. Beijing airport is huge, it takes
a while to reach the terminals, so prudent not to have tight
connections!
the hotel is right near the check in
counters A-D and it was such a pleasure to walk 100 m from the hotel
to the counter. My cough went away on boarding the flight back home.
On thinking back, I'm a little
disappointed with my use of the last day at Shanghai. But no major
regrets.
VIDEO LINK:
Shanghai:
Bai
ma si bells;Xi'an drum tower performance; Prayer chants, Xi'an and
Shanghai jade Buddha;
Prayer
call Xian great mosque:
Jade
Buddha Temple chants:
It had been an AWESOME vacation in a beautiful country
filled with amazing cultural sights and warm people!
Report on our Amazing Alaskan Adventure
starts here:
