I got us a Didi to the Jade Buddha Temple to begin things. I was just in the process of cancelling the ride, though, because the map didn't show that the driver was moving. However, he did show and took us to the Temple. It was quite remarkable--lots of huge statues of Buddhas and others. And, of course, lots of praying Chinese. They had an incense burner, but it wasn't going when we went there. It was quite a large temple; much more so than most of the others I've seen. Perhaps that is why they charged 20 RMB for admission instead of the usual 10 RMB at most temples. The highlight was certainly the reclining Jade Buddha, located in the Grand Hall in the back. I took several photos there.
From the Jade Buddha Temple:
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| Women transcribing Buddhist text at the temple. |
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| The Jade Buddha! |
We tried to get another Didi to the Propaganda Art Center, but the driver kept calling me, and we didn't understand each other. I managed to flag down a cab. Before we went to the Centre, Randy and I had a bite to eat at a California restaurant. I had a chicken avocado panini; he had a chicken salad wrap. There was a beautiful white collie dog there who kept begging for food. When I tried to pet it, it barked a little and stepped back. Ah well. I didn't give the dog any food. I asked a white guy in there (he said he was from Oregon, which surprised me because he had a bit of an accent) how to get to the Center, and he gave me some clarity. While we were waiting for the food, I had gone up to the guard and he gave me a card and motioned for me to go around the building. So that's what we did when we were done with lunch. We had to enter from the back...it was in "Building B" in what looked like an apartment complex. And it was in the basement. Only two huge rooms, but it was quite fascinating stuff. We weren't supposed to take photos, but I did anyway; they weren't monitoring this carefully. The museum was a historical tour of Shanghai through rare posters. All were fascinating; some were quite revolutionary in nature. I found the ones involving children, especially very curious, like they were priming them for the future. My favorite was one called "100 Years of China"--so beautiful! Their gift shop was really cool, too: I bought two poster books (one as a gift), postcards, and two posters (one as a gift). Spent too much, but we definitely had fun.
Two of my favorite posters:
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| Poster from 1950 depicting the future of China through children. |
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| Elaborate poster called "One Hundred Years of China." |
Next we briefly walked over to Costa, a chain coffee shop in Shanghai. Randy grabbed a drink and we went outside and people-watched. We saw a little boy crying because a bike had hit him. The police/security were trying to calm him down. (I didn't see the boy get hit, but Randy did.) Soon, though, we used Didi again: this time to go to Hakksan.
We got there a bit early, and we noticed that it was on The Bund Walking Platform. So many people there! However, we got some great pictures, seeing the Pearl Tower and many buildings across the water. Good stuff! When we walked into Hakkasan, they told us that we had a table with a view of The Bund, but we had to be out in two hours (which, incidentally, they didn't enforce...we stayed well over this). I was not overly impressed with their food: the portions were too small for my liking. It was mostly good--I liked the rice and mushrooms--but the "crispy duck roll," for example, turned out to be a duck mousse in a fried egg roll-type crust. Bleah. The chicken soup was just okay. Randy's carp was good, though.
Raymond arrived a bit late. He and Randy really hit it off, talking a lot about travel. As a surprise, they brought over a dessert for Randy (a lemony cake) with a candle in it. I also got an apple dessert (five spice) that was quite scrumptious. Dessert was really the best thing about the place. Well, the service and atmosphere were good too. People were nice. The manager even came over to our table; that's how he found out about Randy's birthday. They were nice about taking our picture--with the Bund view in the background--too.
Some more pics:
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| View of The Bund before dinner. |
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| Mushrooms at Hakkasan. |
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| Raymond, Randy, and Me. |
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| The Bund at night. |
Afterwards, I suggested that we go to the Fairmont Peace Hotel: I just wanted Randy to see the inside of it. It's in beautiful art deco style. We looked around the lobby, and then decided to check out one of the more elegant bars on the upper floors. After perusing that, we went to the Cathay Room on the ninth floor, where we saw a STUNNING view of the Bund. Unfortunately, my phone was dead by this point, so I couldn't get any pictures with it: I did try with my China phone, though, but it is not as good with the photographs.
Pic from the lobby:
Raymond, Randy, and I then got a taxi through Didi, which we were fortunate to do, for the Bund walking area was VERY crowded. Raymond jumped out near his home, and then I managed to tell the driver--in Chinese--to go to our place on Shuidian Lu instead of Hongkou Football Stadium (originally, I thought we'd stop at a place that was neutral for all of us, but I guess Raymond wanted to get out early). So the driver took us home.
An interesting day, all in all.
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