Old Shanghai

One of the areas were were told to visit by almost everyone was Old Shanghai and the Yu Gardens. Old town is currently a very complex shopping area that was originally built as a Temple. The buildings are huge and it covers a vast area. It is amazing to imagine what it was like when it was a temple and there were no tourists. Now it is a vibrant hub for both locals and tourists.

You can buy almost anything you can imagine including clothing, jewelry and souvenirs. We wandered throughout the area mostly looking at the architecture and the sculptures.

Never saw a dragon turtle before. We even found some whimsical pieces.

There is a very ancient tea house surrounded by a pond and accessed by a zig-zag bridge. Under the bridge lived a school of golden carp that was one of the hugest I have ever seen. And they were fascinating to watch. The entire school would swim in huge curved lines as if they were one fish and suddenly they would switch directions. We watched for quite a while.

It was very relaxing to stand on the bridge and view the fish, but our hunger got the better of us. We spied a treat we had not seen before and decided to try it out.

We are all dumpling lovers and there is a particular type of dumpling called xiao lung bao that is filled with meat and surrounded by soup. Usually these are small delicate buns with very thin skins and it takes some skill not to lose the soup when you pick up the dumpling with your chop sticks. This one was much bigger and came complete with a straw to drink the soup before breaking it open. Because of its size, the wrapper was quite thick and a bit doughy. We like the original xiao lung bao better, but this was a unique way to serve it.


We toured the Yu Gardens (next post) and then wandered a bit more through the smaller walkways and stalls. 

This was a wonderful way to spend our final day in Shanghai. It is a city I would like to visit again.