Let's pick up where we left off from last time, Yu Garden. I don't know much about this garden apart from it being very old, just like everything else around here, but don't get me wrong though, there's a lot of prettiness and fanciness at this place. In fact, give me 20 minutes and some internet, and I can provide you some mesmorizing facts, but I'm sure you're not here for that.
Before we go on though, here's a picture I forgot to post from outside the "hole in a wall restaurant" and some pro tips I can offer on the art of eating cheap:
1) If sanitary seems like an issue, then more than likely having money will not.
2) keep someone that speaks (and write) Chinese a smart phone with you for occasions like this because there probably won't be pictures accompanying the menu.
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| Snail and sausage plus a little bit of mop juice? seems like a possibility... |
Anyways, back to Yu Garden, for college students like us, place like this mean a free pass to enjoy ourselves and play around. We had our laughs and enjoy some Chinese gardening We even discovered some oddities:
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| I couldn't resist |
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| Carmen was clearly not amused... |
Here's more...
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| I hear there were monkeys around... |
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| Then horses became the theme apparently |
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| immature? never! |
but really though, it was a nice garden, thanks to Brian, the beauty of this place was still captured.
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| our photographer hard at work, he's not actually blind |
Right outside the garden is this tourist heavy commercial area (City God Temple was near by too). It was really great that everything was transformed into a mall of some sort (like everywhere else in Shanghai and all the old architecture or at least the style was preserved. There was one thing though, you really have to be careful with all the spit and snot cannon being fired right next to your feet as you move shoulder to shoulder with everyone.
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| dilemma: watching out for thieves or watching out where I walk |
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| I think something went wrong with the photo poses here |
Just as we are about to move on to the next area, this friendly old man, Henry (yeah, this dude speaks better English than I do) approaches us and introduced himself as a "Shanghai tourism volunteer" (even comes with a badge), he very kindly showed us a nice view point to see the area and "subtly" suggested us to go to a tea house for "student price"...
well, what can I say, the offer was 20 yuan for 7 different tea, so did we go in?
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| Henry being nice but in reality, hustling all of us |
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| uh oh, tourist trap! |
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| view point turns out to be smog point, meh |
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| cheese! or maybe tea! |
We did! I didn't try the tea however, they were nice about me being the negative nancy though (I almost expected getting dragged to the back and getting a friendly beating)...
So how bout this tea tasting deal? have a look yourself:
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| The tea that were available, seems legit |
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| wen xiang bei (or scent cup, used to appreciate the tea's aroma) along with the tea cup |
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| "eye massages" after scenting the cup |
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| our host, who performed the ceremony for us |
At the end, although it's an unintended expense, it seems like everyone
thoroughly enjoyed the tasting and were able to visit a couple of more
Chinese public restrooms anyways, so it's not all that bad (Chinese
toilets really get you cultured and even helps your general fitness).
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| y'all look stunning as always |
So what's next? scavenger hunt!
Also, let me leave you with this epic battle of the East and the West...
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| el oh el |
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