Our tour left at 8.30 and our guide, Chris, a young Chinese lady with a wonderful command of English,
explained our itinery for the day. First we were off to see the Jin Mao Tower where a wonderful view of the
city can be seen from the 88th floor observatory tower. This is the biggest observation deck in China with
a height of 340.1 meters and an area of 1520 square metres. We went up in one of the 2 elevators that
only took 45 seconds from start to finish. There was no indication that we were moving on the way up and in no
time at all we could view the city from above. The only disappointment was that the city was very cloudy and
overcast and that clouded our sightseeing a little.
Next stop was to visit the Yu Gardens which is located in the Old City and our guide fondly called it
"Chinatown in China!" The buildings here were a reminder of the past albeit very busy as probably it
was centuries ago. After walking through the bazaar area we came to the Huxingting Teahouse and entered
the gardens themselves. There were many reminders of the past here and so very beautiful with rock gardens,
ponds and bridges as well as lovely houses scattered about. The gardens were dotted with trees and statues
that are unique to China itself.
After a short time to browse some of the shops we left to go to the Holiday Inn to have a 12 course meal
included in our tour. The food was great and indicative of a Chinese meal.
Then our coach took us to The Silk Friendship Store that was our shuttle meeeting place. From here we
managed to head towards the No 1 shopping street in Shanghai, Nanjing Road. Much fun was had getting here
but we didn't shop much as there was so much to see. The street is very wide and is only for pedestrians.
There was many people out walking and even the locals were out ballroom dancing on the street.
Then it was back to the shuttle and time to head back to the ship after a fascinating day.
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