After we left the Gardens, we took a quick trip across the Huangpu River to visit a teahouse and see the Shanghai Museum.
Along the river, we stopped at the Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation.
And this is the view of the city center, with the Oriental Pearl Tower dominating, the World Financial center to the right. One of the obvious downsides to Shanghai's (and China's) explosive industrial growth is the air quality. We never saw the sun during our several days in this city. (One of the goals of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo is to create a "green zone" filled with trees and other flora that would help clean the atmosphere.)
I'm all for more buildings that look like alien space ships. There' a little amusement park in the Oriental Pearl tower called Space City, but we didn't have time get there.
Some cool sculptures outside the Shanghai Museum (they had a fantastic exhibit on Chinese Calligraphy there).
Our next city was Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis where I got a better sense of what urban Chinese life is really like. This is the view from the Holiday Inn.
The apartments right alongside the modern hotel where we stayed.
There was a large shopping thoroughfare out the other exit of the hotel.
I have no idea what this building was all about, but it looked kinda cool.
One night, we went to dinner in a big restaurant that huge tanks of fish, terrariums with snakes, bins of raw vegetables, where you selected the food you were going to eat. I'm happy to report that snake was not on our menu. But there was this stuffed deer with the paper ears that we found most amusing.
Mmmm, I'll have two... of whatever those are!
One of the nifty machines we saw on a factory tour. It's sorting pump actuators.
Here's another, sorting the pump collars.
This is a view from the top of the Holiday Inn. Again, air quality needs improvement.
One of Guangzhou's quieter streets.
This is a landmark restaurant in Guangzhou; apparently it was here that the concept of dim sum was invented. We had a dim sum meal one morning that was phenomenal.
This is one of many little alleys off the shopping boulevard. The dichotomy of the wealth and the poverty in this country is astounding.
A huge video screen over a main square. More than once, there was a hint of "Blade Runner" to the whole scene.
Western "culture" has made great inroads.
New buildings everywhere, right alongside buildings that look like they should be condemned. Also, have you noticed clothing hanging out to dry in some windows? Almost no one has a washer/dryer in China.
Another more serene street.
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