First Day in Shanghai 12/19

As I said before, when we first arrived in Shanghai we did not immediately check into our hotel because it wasn't ready for us. Instead, we began with a trip to a Buddha temple in Shanghai well known for its possession of two large jade Buddha sculptures. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures of these statues, and so you'll have to settle for a picture taken near the entrance seen below. After that is a photo of our tour guide in Shanghai whose English name is Rainy. The name is in fact like the adjective for weather, and is not spelled Raine as written earlier.





After checking out the Buddha temple in Shanghai, the group was then able to check into the hotel to regroup from the train ride from Beijing, and then we took off for the Yuyuan Gardens. The first picture below is actually in front of the entrance of the gardens which is clearly a site to behold all in itself. I took this picture standing on what was called the zig-zag bridge because it had many different right angle turns you needed to make as you crossed. The reason for these turns was so that the person crossing could view the surroundings through many different angles. I thought this was an interesting architectural technique.



The next two photos are from inside the Yuyuan Gardens. While these pictures can't possibly do the beauty of the gardens justice, they do illustrate the general architecture present throughout and the fact that there was a lot of water within the garden. The last photo also portrays that fact that there was no shortage of coy present in the waters of the garden. As you might remember, I found the Yuyuan Gardens to be very relaxing and beautiful, and it was likely among one of my favorite locations.



Later that night the group took in an amazing acrobat show which we were not allowed to take photos of, but I will definitely never forget what I saw because it was simply outstanding.