This was one of those less-than-productive days which happens every so often on our type of journey. The plan was to go to Yu Yuan (Yu Garden) which is a large area to the south-west of the Bund The aim is to recreate the Yuan Dynasty Shanghai with buildings reconstructed in traditional Chinese style. The main gem of the complex is the Yu Garden, a maze of lakes, semi-circular bridges and paths surrounding an ancient temple frequently visited by the Emperor. We saw it last year and you can see many pictures from our journey of 2024. We couldn’t see it this year because it was Monday and the Garden was closed on Mondays, which we discovered as soon as we got there. The other gem was an ancient bridge and very old building standing in a lake with thousands of huge carp and giant goldfish swimming about. Some lunatic has thought fit to erect giant plastic screens in the lake to partially hide the beautiful building. At first I thought that some renovation work was taking place but no; they are permanent fixtures and an utter disgrace. We went to the Bund through the very pretty Gaosheng Park which had a sign listing all the rules of the park. Rule No.2 states “No urinating or shitting outside the toilet”. A shame because I was busting. I also learned the potential danger of my loud voice. Jennifer pointed out a group of Westerners including an extremely rotund lady. I said “I bet she’s a f..king American” and a man turned round, laughing all over his face, and said “No she’s Polish”. Returning to the hotel we decided to go to a dumpling house which Shirley Mao, the manager of the breakfast room recommended. She wrote its name and address on a sheet of paper and when we showed it to a very helpful young lady, she phoned the restaurant only to find that it was closed. So we trusted our instinct and dived into the first greasy-spoon caff we came to and had a splendid meal served by a short fat little man with a smile from ear to ear and he never stopped smiling. Jennifer had dumplings and I had a plate of rice, chunks of mutton, spinach and unidentified vegetables with a bowl of weak broth.
Jennifer needed to watch her bum
Windows painted on buildings
Entrance to Yu Yuan shopping area
Carp in the Yu Yuan Lake
Whatever lunatic installed this plastic rubbish in front of an extremely old iconic bridge?
The 28 rules for entering the delightful Gaosheng Park near Yu Yuan.