Yu Yuan (Garden of Leisurely Repose)

the biggest abacus i have ever laid eyes on!

Pavilion

the demolition of the Old City

i want you!

you can carve your name on the edges of these jade stones, like old school kings did.

the biggest rubik's cube i've ever seen!

Fashion Street--gosh where is the fashion police when you need them?

why does the caged bird sing?

City God Temple--it was closed

koi koi koi!

r
a

elevated performance stage

It was an unusually cool day in Shanghai with a hint of blue in the sky so I decided to take advantage of it. I had been wanting to check out Old City, or ancient Shanghai before the mass industrial revolution took place. The Old City is basically encircled by a loop consisting of 2 streets. Old architecture and homes were there. Sadly, I saw cranes taking down this old residential area as I walked along streets lined with lumber, construction vehicles, rubble, and broken sidewalk, making my map somewhat useless b/c most of the streets were pretty unrecognizable. After asking an old man and crossing streets quite dangerously, I followed hastily placed signs and entered the Old City. Once again, I was saddened at how horrendous and crowded the now tourist trap was. I imagined what it once looked like, with the dragon-decorated rooftops, glazed ceramic and cement and people carrying on with their daily lives. Now it was swarmed with both western and local tourists alike, and I elbowed my way through the crowds, ignoring the junk I would never buy and knock-offs of watches on brochures that these workers shoved in my face, in search of Yu Yuan. I entered into what I believed was the Old City, noted that the buildings looked quite old and were made of mostly black thatched rooftops with red lining. I entered even deeper into this tourist trap conglomerate (mind you this was the weekend so crowds are about 5 times as thick), asked a lady where Yu Yuan was and she gave me a look as if I had just spoken Greek. I followed a sign then found the garden and entered. It was quite beautiful in there. I saw tons of black glazed ceramic. The stones formed many interesting rock formations, were carved into dragons and told stories of wars and mythical creatures. There were tons of strangely geometrically shaped thresholds, really Last Emperor-looking doors, and water everywhere. It was like the garden was floating on water. Tons of koi managed to survive in the greenish yellow water. After I left, I decided to look for Shanghai Old Street and found it easily with a map I got from some tourist booth. Once again, I could see how it used to look, without all these tourists filling up every inch of the sidewalk. I wandered around for a bit, ordered a cup of Coconut Milk Tea (it tasted kinda weird), then began my search for the closest Metro. I began walking down random streets, enjoying the safety of "getting lost" while having 2 maps on hand. There was a gentle cool afternoon breeze blowing and as I entered the New City again, I looked behind and could not see the Old City anymore. It was like it was a magical hidden world that disappears once you leave. Something like the Bridge to Terabithia?

Exploring is one of the activities that make me happiest. Today, I fell in love with Shanghai again.