China Part Five: Shanghai

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile (my computer crashed). When we got to Shanghai, we proceeded directly toward the Bund (a stretch of European style buildings built by and occupied by western influences over the last two centuries). From here we could see the Pudong area (seen above) really well.
We then ventured toward Yu Yuan Garden and Old Town St. Built originally in the 1500's this garden provided some really cool architecture and gardens. The surrounding area was a bazaar of antiques and souvenir shops. Amy "accidentally" left our guide book at one such shop, so she could go back and by a baby carrier she wanted.
That night we took the metro to the aforementioned Pudong area to have dinner. Afterwards, we made our way 87 stories up the Jin Mao Tower (the 4th tallest in the world, although a skyscraper under construction across the street will be several stories taller). As you can see from the pic below, it offered some very nice view of the Bund.
After learning that our hotel was going to charge us approximately $80 to do our laundry, we took a tour of the neighborhood to find a laundromat. After some very broken Chinese, we finally found our cleaners. We then made our way to E Nanjing Rd and strolled along the pedestrian only (which in China means bikes, scooters, and motorcycles) outdoor mall.

After lunch at a noodle shop, we made our way to Renmin Park to the Shanghai Museum. This large museum had four floors of artifacts ranging from bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, to art.

That night we were fortunate enough to get tickets to watch the famed Shanghai Acrobats. It was an exciting two and a half hours of tumblers, jugglers, and even motorcyclists. The grand finale featured five of these motorcyclists in a steel sphere cage about 30 feet in diameter.

The next morning we gathered our laundry (all of it was there) and headed toward the French Concession. Halfway there we realized we didn't have our camera. We went back to the hotel and couldn't find it. To make a long story short, we bought a new camera and ended up finding our old camera...I think it was my fault, but I really can't remember.
Well, we finally made it to the French Concession, a residential, retail, restaurant area with tree lined street. This area dates back to when the French had significant influence in this area. We then headed toward the Jade Buddha Temple (houses a 7 foot tall statue of Buddha carved out of one piece of jade). You weren't supposed to take pictures of it, but I got a rogue (but blurry) picture of it.
While there, we got to witness a bunch of monks performing some type of ceremony. They had little drums and cymbals...I referred to them as the Buddha marching band. When we got back to the hotel Amy found our camera, so we were very happy to have our pictures. Then it was off to the train station for our last overnight train of the trip to Beijing.