Port 15 Shanghai, China
Wènhòu! Greetings!
It’s 3 Apr, 2024, and we are winding our way up the river to Shanghai! Low scudding clouds obscure the tops of anything over ten stories tall!
After threading our way up the river for a couple of hours, the Captain executes a curious move – the ship turns around in the river, and travels backwards! We do this for about two miles! Soon, these buildings loom into view. The low clouds make the reveal very interesting!
As we begin to dock, this is the view from our veranda! That is the Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower in front of us! Another building in the background looks like a bottle opener (it’s a financial center), and we’re not sure whether we see the top of that tallest building in the background yet!
We have to go through Chinese immigration when we leave the ship. It is a long, painfully slow process. And since Joy is leaving tomorrow for a land tour to Beijing, she has to go through a different line! I am about 80th in my line when I queue up, and Joy is about 12th in her queue. She gets through her line just a minute before I get through mine!
We’re about and hour and a half behind schedule for today’s excursion. Joy and I are going to see the ancient city of Suzhou, China! Our tour guide informs us we will probably have to drop a part of the tour, but that will be decided later, after we see how bad traffic is!
As we wind our way away from the port, I catch this wonderful topiary on a street corner! It’s a beautiful undersea display!
We are heading to the water city of Suzhou, heading west and a north of Shanghai. On the highway we pass this beautiful structure. It looks very Russian in design, and I learn it is! It was built as the Sino-Soviet Friendship Center, but is now the Shanghai Exhibition Center.
Looking down from the bus I see this car passing us. It has the cutest vehicle wrap I’ve ever seen!
As we enter Suzhou and wind our way to our destination, I see these dogs and snap a photo for Joy. As I examine it, I see two heads on the dog at the bottom! What do you see?
We reach our first stop in Suzhou – the Master-of-Nets Garden. Originally called the Fishermen’s Retreat, this lovely site is living quarters wrapped around an elegant pond!
Suzhou is the second oldest city in China. Founded in 514 BC, it is over 2500 years old!
This memorable garden display frames the UNESCO World Heritage plaque for this site!
A four-panel silkscreen painting depicts the Master-of-Nets Garden! In hindsight it is incredibly accurate!
Our first view across the pond is stunning! The architecture, the rockwork, the grace of the site is beautiful!
The foliage is bright and wonderful!
The Chinese Wisteria is absolutely lovely! I had to capture a closeup!
The “tilework” on the floors is absolutely captivating! At first glance it is a rocked floor with groups of different colored rocks (as you see in the corners), but then the body of a bird comes in to focus, and a beautiful crane emerges!
Leaving the Master-of-Nets Garden we head a few blocks away to the canals of the Changmen area, named by Marco polo as the Venice of the East. (Did he really? Did he ever go to Venice?)
We board a couple of boats and begin a ten-minute journey. The canals are narrow, and the bridges are very interesting, coming in different styles. Being a holiday – today is the “tomb sweeping” holiday where familes go to the cemeteries to clean the tombstones and areas around their families buried there – a lot of people are arriving and filling the streets!
The hanging trees over this bridge give it a very elegant look!
This is the largest bridge we see.
Homes along the water have precarious steps leading to the water. They use the river for everything, from transportation, to laundry, cooking, and drinking! We are cautioned repeatedly to not eat or drink anything here.
This widest bridge is for automobile traffic, so it’s not very pretty.
These homes have removed steps and made balconies overlooking the water.
Other buildings have decorated to add color to the canal!
This area gets a little more attention! That is a restaurant at the far end of the photo.
We wind our way back to the starting point, this pagoda. As the sun starts to fade the lanterns take on new life!
We return to Shanghai and the waterfront. From our balcony on the ship we have these beautiful views! This is the waterfront along an esplanade just beyond the dividing line between North Bund, where the ship is docked, and East Shanghai! The red structure on the right is the Shanghai People’s Heroes Monument, on that dividing line.
The stars of the show are directly in front of us! The Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower is stunning in purple, and the other buildings are beautifully lit, many with racing light patterns!
Even the boats on the river are in the act, giving everything here a wonderful festive feel! The low clouds continue to plague the scene.
4 April, 2024, is Day 2 in Shanghai. Joy and 29 other head out early for the overland tour to Beijing, so I am on my own for a few days!
I climb on a tour bus for a trip to Zhujiajiao – another canal village.
We get a glimpse of the canals as we head toward the Tourist Center.
We arrive at the Zhujiajiao Ancient Town Tourist Center!
A splashy display out front catches my attention. I feel like it must say something like “Welcome to Historic Zhujiajiao’s Ancient Town!” I am so wrong!
The sign says “Follow the party from afar – Thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China”.
As we enter the Ancient Town I see this lovely painting displayed! The more I look the more I see! Two girls catch the attention of the geese and fish!
Arriving at our pier, the canal is gorgeous with the still water and hanging trees!
Yesterday’s boat had gas motors. Today it is human sculling power!
Since the boats are smaller, we only put six people in each, instead of fifteen like yesterday! I’m in the last group and there are only four of us, including the tour guide! We get the roses!
On our boat we have a nice frame for our photos! The ride is really nice with a gentle rocking as our rower goes to work!
The canals are very pretty here. A little more planning is evident in the layout of walkways along the canals and homes and businesses built back a little.
A beautiful temple is also here! We don’t stop to go in, but the pagoda is striking!
This is my favorite bridge in Zhujiajiao! A lot of people like it as there is a steady stream of photographers nearby!
Finally, we see the Nine Dragons Bridge as we pass the main canal intersection and head in to our disembarkation point. Looks pretty much like the bridge in Suzhou yesterday, huh?
We begin our walk through Zhujiajiao to return to the Tourist Center.
How many hearts do you see?
Here is China’s oldest post office! The letterbox is a late addition.
It is very cool with the dragon crawling up the stand! The sign on the side says pickup is at 2:20 PM, but the box was actually modeled with a clock showing 8:17!
We now see cozy canals that look more like the Suzhou canals. Some places are in better condition than others.
None of the homes have obvious access to the canal.
It kinda looks like someone cantilevered a back yard over the seawall, giving them more space at the expense of the canal width!
That’s enough of the canals. We head back to Shanghai!
As I’m reboarding Insignia, I meet Martin Woods as he’s heading out. He says he is going to go find the Wall Street Bull that our bus passed a couple of times. I snagged a photo, but the Bull was surrounded by people. I mention the crowds to Martin, but he heads out anyway. Good luck to him!
When darkness falls we actually get a clear look at the Shanghai lights! The “Bottle Opener” and “Corkscrew” buildings are clear tonight! Stunning!
5 April, 2024, is Day 3 in Shanghai! The sun breaks out of the clouds! I decide I’m going to go find the Bull this morning!
I wind my way to the main road and cross the bridge from North Bund into Shanghai. The Shanghai People’s Heroes Monument is here!
A few minutes later I find the Wall Street Bull! I have him all to myself! Well, there is a security guard standing right behind me, but he’s not obscuring my photos! This road is where many of the major financial institutions have their offices, so it makes sense to have the Bull here!
Huangpu Park has an esplanade that heads toward North Bund, taking me back to the ship. You can see the People’s Heroes Monument in the distance.
Mao Tse Tung is hiding in the trees as I walk past.
Soon Insignia is in sight! We have an 11:30 AM All Aboard today, so this little morning walk is all I get to do.
By noon the ship begins winding up the river, leaving Shanghai behind. As we get close to the South China Sea, I see fishermen wading out into the water.
Many more are seen as we reach open water!
With this we bid gàobié (farewell) to Shanghai!
Next stop – Hong Kong! And Joy returns to the ship!
Editor’s Note: Wifi has been horrible, and it has taken days to get the Shanghai photos to load. We are disembarking in Dubai in three days, and I will not be able to do much more with this blog before then. But I commit to you that I will continue to work on it so you can see what we saw. I have my photos. I have my notes. You have seen about half of our trip, and there is more to come that I want to share with you!
FYI: While our next port is Hong Kong, my next post will not be Hong Kong, but it will be a collection of photos that Joy took on her overland trip to Beijing and Xi’an!
