Shanghai Delights

Today I had plans to see the Taoist temple in the Century Ave area and then meet friends on the Bund to walk to tea to a great little Muslim restaurant nearby specializing in food from the Xin jiang Province.

The temple is right in the heart of modern Pudong and is such a startling contrast to the nearby 8 lane road, metro and shops.

The Qinci Yangdian Temple is on Yuanshen Rd, which is just over the road from the metro stop for the Yuanshen Station on Line 6; take exit 4. It is apparently all built recently, but had a sense of calmness and peace about it. It costs 5Yuan to enter and this buys you incense sticks, there is nothing up in English anywhere at all so it’s a little difficult to work out what is what.
There were people actively worshipping today with music and chanting so I could not get into all the halls, and there seemed to be some sort of kids activities upstairs however what I did see was beautiful and worth the trip.

Did the metro to People’s Square after this and somehow managed to get myself up an exit where I could only go out exits 1-11, not the usual 15 & 16, which I wanted to take. So I chose 11, which takes you out, near the back of the art gallery and I thought I would walk through the park beside the Art Gallery back to where I wanted to go.

Sunshine and parks make lots of people come out and the park was full of people enjoying time together. Badminton on the lawns, you are allowed on this grass, sitting together on the chairs, card games, singing, throwing a ball, but rarely do you see picnics. Food can be bought for so little from stalls that most of it is purchased on the spot, and carting it all in on buses and metro would be a pain.

There was still ice on the ponds from last night’s big frost, and in the middle of this I found 1. The restaurant that I am going to for my birthday bash, called Barossa’s, lakeside deck dining and 2. MOCA- museum of Contemporary Art, this place is like art galleries of that type all around the world. Something for everyone, great little bar and coffee shop, wonderful architecture and a magnificent park setting. Cost to get in is 20Y, its quite small and able to be strolled around in less than an hour.

A very pleasant day, which ended with a great meal of lamb and Nan bread amongst other things from our little find of a Xinjiang food place in the Hongkou district. Run by Uighurs says the guide book. We were served a bowl of green tea each, not like Chinese teas which come in a cup and have large leaves which float on the top for ages, this was strained and came from a bronze tea pot and is called kok chai. Sean had Xinjiang black beer, which he declared to be very tasty.
I purchased some takeaway Nan bread for pizza lunch tomorrow, and we took a ferry and the usual, crowded 993 bus back to SSPU.

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