Busy day today…. Jan was feeling better so she rejoined us for travels. First stop was the silk rug factory tour (sound familiar?) Linda would have had to pay for the taxi this time if we weren’t in the van. She bought a beautiful round one that I have heard that her cat loves! Next stop was the Shanghai Museum which is a great museum that should not be missed. Guess what the jug pictured above is for? Betcha you guys didn’t know the Chinese invented this too! We went thru the Jade, Porcelain, furniture, calligraphy rooms and then the museum store.
Lunch was a Mongolian barbeque. You fill your bowl with lots of raw goodies and they cook it all together on a round slab. It was great! The restaurant was conveniently located under a cashmere factory store (are you noticing the pattern yet?). After lunch we went to the YuYuan Garden (another NOT to be missed spots). Supposedly a son built it for his parents about 400 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. Located in downtown Shanghai, it occupies about 5 acres and contains a lot of the traditional Chinese garden components – the zig-zag bridges, water, rock shapes, window framing, and some really cool dragons that are draped across the tops of roofs.
After the garden the most of the GA girls got to shop in the conveniently located souvenir district while Margie and I walked back to our van, got our suitcase and backpacks and dragged them back to where the 900 Yuan Rip-Off Van was going to pick us up for our 2 hour ride to Xiasha. Jan, Linda, and Laura stayed in Shanghai so they could go on the next day’s tour of Suzhou while Margie was willing to come back with me so I could fulfill my one day teaching responsibilities. I was just sitting here trying to type in how ZUFE worked the vacation schedule but it wouldn’t make any sense and it is really boring. Just believe me that I had to teach 2 classes on Sunday (then I had Monday and Tuesday off)
Side Note: When the Rip Off Van got us to my apartment/hotel the driver locked the doors and wouldn’t let us out until he counted our money – we did not tip (which is not expected in China but I usually do anyway)
