Our last day before we departed for the states was one of leisure, which everyone absolutely needed!
Huangpu River Cruise
To start our day out right, my class and I went back to the Bund to see it in broad daylight and also take a cruise on the Huangpu River, which is the largest river in Shanghai at 113-kilometer (70 mi) long flowing throughout the downtown.. The Bund is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. It lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai. It was initially a British settlement and stretches one mile along the bank of the Huangpu River. The Bund has been called a ‘museum of international architecture’. It houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles, but with some buildings displaying predominantly Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival, Neo-Classical or Beaux-Arts styles, and a number in Art Deco style (Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world).
The cruise we took reminded me of the Gateway Clipper, below are some photos taken on the bund and the River Cruise!
Yu Garden
Yu Yuan 豫园, (‘yuan’ meaning ‘garden’) in Shanghai is a traditional Chinese Garden and is also the name of the general area around it. Just northeast of the splendid Yu Garden is Old Shanghai cit, which is very touristy with tons of traditional buildings and markets.
What you see when you first arrive at the Yu Garden, will be an open air lotus pond and a walkway over it. Stroll through the crowd covering the walkway to arrive at Chinese corridors called ‘chang lang,’ which are lined with stores that sell artistic products and has traditional Chinese food (you won’t be finding Mcdonald’s or KFC here!). This area of the city is far better than any Chinese garden you’ll find in western cities.
The area around it is full of buildings in the style of traditional Chinese architecture. The thing to know about pretty much any old Chinese cities/towns is that, well … they are old. So the streets are all over the place, from (newer) large roads to interweaving (old/ancient) small alley ways and so sometimes specific addresses in an alley way might be a little difficult to find but if you wander around, you’ll find it.
Once there though, all the lanes are organized into an orderly grid like fashion with easy to read signs. Follow the signs and you won’t get lost. There are plenty of things to see and do.
The area
Traditional style buildings. The area is full of long Chinese corridors (长廊 chang lang) lined with new but old-styled rooms that sell Chinese arts and craft objects, like ceramic tea cups, more tea cups, bamboo brush holders, bamboo carvings, clay figurines, modern figurines and souvenirs, and lots of places to eat, from food outlets to sit in restaurants, fancy or not.
To be honest, I really enjoyed the Yu Garden, because for one I did not have to bargain with the locals which was great. I felt it was more Western style shopping and places, which I loved! Although, shopping was easier, I did not like how many people surrounded me at all times. We were given warnings to hang on tightly to our personal items, which really surprised me, but when I saw the amount of people there I truly understood!
Closing Dinner
To say I have found love for Chinese food is an understatement. I have actually grown to strongly dislike such food. Eating for 10 days straight the same food, smelling the disgusting smells, and seeing more than I like of any animal, I truly dislike Chinese food. I’m sorry, Billions of Chinese People, but I do not enjoy your culture’s food.
Every time I try Chinese food, I have the same response: Nope. That viscous, corn-starchy mess seems to come in only two colors, and they both resemble bodily fluids. It’s the most visually unappealing food imaginable. Then there’s the meat. Before you get all up-in-arms about stereotypes and *ahem* pets, please know that I’m not making any insinuations of that sort. I’m merely saying that in almost every meat-based Chinese dish I have saw there are bones in, feet, and head on the plate. ABSOLUTELY NOT! it made it really difficult for a vegetarian to really enjoy myself over seas.
Other than the Chinese food, our last guest speaker was Joseph Constanty. He is the director of International Niu Technologies. Being extremely tired and hungry, I lacked tons of focus during this closing dinner. I felt bad but my mine was on the mind set of me going home so soon! I could see my bed, American food, and language I understood. But, Mr. Constanty was very informative about start ups, which seemed to intrigue most of the class. Unfortunately, for me, I thought he did not highly regard the United States, but instead talked against it. Although, he did make some good statements and comments he tended to contradict himself multiple times, which did not aid my focus on his topic!
Tales of Traveling Sole Sisters 