Monday, October 8, 2012

Secret Garden

The back of the hall containing Qin Yubo's altar is flanked by two imposing-looking dragons, and opens out onto a busy shopping street somewhere in Shanghai.
Dragon guardian.
As I turned to photograph the other dragon, lo and behold, there was a ticket booth and an entrance to the Yu Yuan Garden! For 40RMB (about $6), I walked through about two-thirds of the five-acre maze-like expanse until I decided I should find my way to an exit before closing time or risk spending the night sleeping with the fishes . . . the koi in the koi ponds, I mean.

The garden was completed in 1577 by Pan Yunduan, a government officer of the Ming Dynasty. Pan built the garden for his parents to enjoy in their old age. (How's that for filial piety?)
An entry gate to the garden.
One of the numerous pavilions.
One of many koi ponds.
Map of Yu Yuan Garden that I came across as I was leaving.
Based on the map, I entered the garden via a somewhat obscure side entrance, and exited through the main entrance. (Go me!) Either entrance requires that you swim through a sea of people in the Yu Tourist Market, whether you're trying to get in to the garden or out of it. But, on the bright side, the YTM has a Dairy Queen!
They have DQs in China? Oh yes!
I should have stopped at the DQ, but I was on a mission to find a restaurant for dinner. I had a list of three vegetarian places, all plotted out on my city map, so I wound my way westward to the Jujube Tree Vegetarian Lifestyle restaurant--tourist-friendly, but not "touristy." For a mere 34RMB (less than $6), I feasted on a delicious soup of "rice noodles and assorted vegetables" and a cold jellied milk dessert.


I should have written down what this was called, but I didn't. It was tasty though.


Then a nice 25 minute walk back to the hotel.



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