Photos and videos at the end. See also narrative for Day 1.
I didn’t have any specific plans for my second day in Shanghai. I’d read somewhere about the water city of Zhujiajiao on the eastern outskirts of Shanghai. Before Shasha left yesterday, she asked the hotel concierge about ideas. They mentioned that I could get to Zhujiajiao by metro, taking an hour or so. I liked that idea, just go wandering without the hurry along or expense that you get from an organised tour. So after a chill start to the day, I headed for the metro.
Zhujiajiao was established about 1,700 years ago. Archaeological findings dating back 5,000 years have also been found. 36 stone bridges and numerous rivers line Zhujiajiao, and many ancient buildings still line the riverbanks today. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, it was a famous trade town. The water network pattern of streets and lanes of ancient towns is well preserved.
After I arrived, I set off from the metro station and was soon among leafy riverbanks and ponds. I decided to just follow my nose, turning into a lane by the first canal I came to. This turned out (I found out later) to be well off the beaten track, a poorer and residential area. Eventually, I did look at a map and started along tiny lanes, along canals and over bridges to move towards the older part of the town. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon and not a lot was happening here. But I enjoyed the calm and the detail. A stall roasting green soya beens here, a little dog doing his rounds there.
After a nice lunch by a canal, I made my way in the old town, along very narrow streets bustling with little shops selling an incredible variety of food and goods. Eventually, I ended up at the ancient Fangshan bridge and later the Hexinyuan Garden.
I was intrigued by the often invisible things that make this all work. The service workers in blue keeping the streets very tidy. The ever present but unobtrusive police. The stone pavements that have witnessed so many footfalls.
The Hexinyuan Garden was a serene joy. Again the reverence of stone and rock in natural form, again the intricacies of woodwork and roof detail. A place to not hurry through.
It was again stinking hot again today. Even my iPhone complained about the heat. I ran out of charge and the phone shut down. I had forgotten to bring a spare powerbank and I’d left my wallet with emergency cash in the hotel for safety. So what to do? No phone equals can’t pay for anything, not even the metro back to the hotel. No worries. I did have my NZ charging plug and cable with me. I was at the Hexinyuan Garden and looked among the 16th century relics for a socket but my plug wouldn’t fit (was fine at the hotel). So I went to the entrance and the nice lady let me plug in there. I sat in the relative cool of the courtyard and had my first encounter with a fellow tourist, a guy from the UK on business. He told me about a city with a population of 35 million inland where he’d just visited suppliers and I’d never heard of it. He showed me photos of the Oriental Pearl tower he’d been to the evening before and it looked cool, so that was my evening sorted.
It was a long hot walk back to the metro. Had just enough charge on my phone to buy a cold drink and a metro ticket but the phone soon died again. I had planned to go to the Shanghai Museum but didn’t get to the Peoples Park until after it closed. No way of buying another ticket but was only one metro stop away from my motel, so walking it is. Peoples Park was leafy and very beautiful.
After a cool down at the hotel, I headed out again to visit the Oriental Perl tower at night. That took a few hours but was totally worth it.
I really liked Shanghai. I only scratched the surface of what it has to offer but for a megacity, it felt calm and unhurried. The people were friendly, patient and helpful, even though very few spoke English. When my phone went flat, I had no trouble communicating and getting a charge. The Translate app on my iPhone was useful at times but didn’t use it very often. Was useful to point my phone at a sign and read what it says in English as I wandered about (such as “Danger. Building site. Not allowed”. )
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