You know those days that were just so perfect you wish you
could relive them over and over for the rest of your life? For some of you it may be the day
you were married or when your child was born; for others it may be the day your
kids left for college (kidding – I hope!). Well, November 1st was
that kind of perfect day for me. Now don’t get me wrong – our wedding day was
WONDERFUL but we had to share it with about 70 other people – November 1st
was just Tim and me.
First of all the weather was great – like you could walk to
the metro station without getting a full on sweat. The weather when we first
arrived in Shanghai was brutal – high temps combined with high humidity does
not make for a very comfortable day. Second the places we visited were
beautiful and third, and most important, it didn’t involve homework. Tim
has been super busy with classes and projects. He may only have actual class
three to four times a week, but with all the studying and group projects he
has, school is a seven day a week gig.
We got up and went for our morning jog. We did sleep in a
bit so it was more of a walk because the roads were so busy, but we visited a university
campus close to our home which was a nice change from the busy streets we
normally see.
On our way home we tried a couple new ‘street foods’. The
only one we liked was a fried bread ‘pancake’ filled with chives – so bad for
you but so good.
We tried this rice wrap – like the wrap was made out of
cooked rice, and the inside was meat floss and youtiao (oil stick) – YUCK. We
threw that away immediately but we definitely laughed about that all day – who in
their right mind likes meat floss (no offense if you do)?
After our walk we got ready and headed to the metro. We took
the metro for a 30 minute ride and arrived at YuYuan Garden (literally
translated Garden of Happiness).
Walking through the garden was like a maze – we got lost a
few times. This garden was conceived in 1559 by Pan Yunduan for his parents as
a place to retire (sorry mom and dad – we probably can’t pull this off for you
guys).
It was damaged by the Japanese in the 1940's and was reconstructed and opened
to the public in the 1960's.
The entrance fee was $6.56 and half price for Tim since he
is a student – not too bad for a three hour stroll.
The area around the garden is a full fledged tourist area – with
a lot of interesting shopping. From tea houses and silk shops to handmade
crafts, the cultural souvenirs were everywhere! We are trying really hard not
to buy any souvenirs just yet – we want to see more of what China has to offer
before we make any purchases.
We went to lunch at this Chinese restaurant where we got
chicken, green beans and a special kind of baozi (steamed bread with meat and veggies
inside). The reason it was special is because it was full of soup which you had
to suck out threw a straw – very flavorful but very messy!!!!
We even found a 'baozi statue'!
After lunch Tim got an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen which
made him very happy (China lacks good ice cream).
We went shopping and I found scarves for about $1.50 each – I
got three. It has been cooler but not coat weather just yet so they will
come in handy!
We went for another walk along the Bund! By this time our
feet were killing us so we headed home.
We stopped to get Tim a haircut –
second one in China was a success!
It was a pretty perfect November 1st!
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