Bob and Ann in Elder Hostel China Odyssey 2004

Shanghai Museum

We spent two hours in the Shanghai museum enjoying well organized and displayed exhibits covering the history of art and culture in China. The less than splendid quality of the jade and precious objects was explained as their being in Tai Pei. lt seems that the best quality relics are either in Taiwan where they were spirited away by Chian Kai Shek after WWII or destroyed in the Cultural Revolution in the 70’s, so tragic. Still it is a great museum and deserves more visits. This new museum is located in City Center with the bustling People’s Park outside where we sauntered with many Chinese enjoying the gardens, sun and light breeze.

Our Group Outside Longu Temple Hotel Restaurant


Fete Outside Longu Temple

For lunch we had vegetarian fare at the Longu Temple Hotel and then we toured the Buddhist Temple. In the plaza outside the Temple a fete was underway celebrated by a percussion/marching troop. Yang redirected us to our itinerary to visit our last house garden - Yu Yuan. This large, imposing compound is beautifully restored and maintained as a property of the state, dedicated to the common people for their enjoyment. It was confiscated from the wealthy owner in 1949. Notable features were large pond/lake filled with carp and dragon walls with the beasts slithering along the top.

It is chillier this afternoon wandering through old Shanghai streets looking for cheap luggage for some E.H. folk to tote their shopping loot home in. We waited until the scheduled shopping trip to the Friendship Store for our major gift buying but it was vastly disappointing both in prices and choice of merchandise. Got t-shirts for the kids and booze and books for other guys. Apparently the need for this store has diminished with the advent of fancy shopping malls and centers.

Dinner at H.E. again and we met Perlmutters and later were joined by Yang in the Hotel Lounge for farewell drinks. Eleven of our group fly home early tomorrow so we said good byes after dinner. Smoke in lounge got to Ann’s sinuses so retired and took Sudafed.

Please visit today's slide show.