On Friday morning, after my relaxing evening on Thursday, I decided to get up early and visit the market inside Tiantong tube/metro station. Miguel and I travel to this station every day on the way to work and I always want to have a look around. After a good hour of haggling, I bought a few bits and pieces and made my way to work. Work was quite slow today and so a few people left early. Miguel and I joined the team on this one, left at 3pm and visited Jing’an Temple.
Jing’an Temple translates literally as the ‘Temple of Peace and Tranquility’. It is a Buddhist temple with an interesting history. The first temple was built in 247 AD, at the time of the Kingdom of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period. However, it was relocated to its current site in 1216 during the Song Dynasty. The current temple was rebuilt once in the Qing Dynasty. It is currently undergoing renovation, which meant that some parts were off limits to tourists.
Inside the walls of the temple, there are three main halls, each with its own courtyard. When you first walk in, there is a big traditional effigy with burning firelights inside. The Buddhist tradition, upon entering the temple, is to pick up some bounded incense sticks, light them in a small fire near the entrance and then whilst holding them up in prayer, bow to the north, east and west halls. After doing this, you put the burning incense into the effigy. There is also a taller ornament with bells that chimed in the wind. Lots of people, after praying, tried to throw a coin through the holes in this statue.
Whilst walking around the three halls, we passed the Jade Buddha Hall, which has a 3.8-meter white Jade Buddha inside. It is the largest sitting jade Buddha statue in the country!
In another of the halls, there were many Stone Buddhas from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420-589 AD), which mean different things within the Buddhist religion. I guess that one thing this represents is loss of a loved one, as there were many people in this hall crying. There was a beautiful woman leaning down to pray, who had big curly black hair and was sobbing. I was completely overcome with emotion at seeing this because she reminded me of my mum and I hastily left the temple.
Luckily the temple comes out onto a luxury shopping center with Burberry and Prada amongst others, along with designer seconds shops, where I am sure some of the items must have been fake but still very impressive to see Alexander Wang and MaxMara dresses for under £50! There was also an unusual urban design exhibition.
Later that day, I was going to go to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra who practice on Friday evenings and so reduce entry price, but I was too tired. I had a nap and later on Miguel, Algis and I headed to XinTianDi to watch some live music, later on we met some Mongolian girls and some Mexican boys. They were finance students at a university here, and were also trying to learn Mandarin. One of the Mongolian girls asked me if by any chance I could translate a Spanish letter for her, I was so pleased that I could! It looks like the Spanish practice out here is coming in useful after all!
Algis and I also decided to visit one of the traditional water villages over weekend. The one we decided to visit was called Zhujiajiao Ancient Township.
Zhujiajiao is a water village on the outskirts of Shanghai, and was formed about 1,700 years ago. There are thirty-six stone bridges in Zhujiajiao, and thousands of ancient buildings, which line the riverbanks and many locals still live in! The village prospered in the past through clothing and rice businesses as it is conveniently placed at the intersection of a number of local rivers, however today it also benefits from the tourist market.
The journey Algis and I engaged in to get to this village on the ‘outskirts’ of Shanghai was so bad it ended up being funny. Algis had gone out with Miguel the night before, whereas I hadn’t, so he was a little tired. I convinced him to come with me, however I think he may have regretted accepting! We took the metro to Shanghai Stadium and went to the tourist information desk. They said (in very broken English) that we had missed the direct coach, which involved a tour, as that left at 10am, but we could go to Shanghai South (Train) Station and get the public bus from there. Shanghai South Station is pretty far away from Shanghai Stadium, but we trudged on until we got there. After trying to locate our way through the maze that is a Chinese train station (where absolutely nothing is in English) I managed to convey where we wanted to go to a cashier and she wrote the mandarin characters down for the bus we wanted. Algis had already suggested we go home and attempt this mission another day, but we persisted. After around an hour of trying to find the right bus – with lots of Chinese assistance, we managed to get on it! After another hour on this bus, I asked the conductor if we were anywhere near Zhujiajiao. Upon hearing this, he said something in Chinese and half the bus burst out laughing. He said that we would have to get on another bus yet, told us where to get off and pointed us in the right direction. The next bus, I can only compare to the night-bus from the Harry Potter films. Algis and I had our knees up to our faces and were practically bent double in a tiny seat on this crazy bus, that moved as fast as a slow plane! However we were lucky, because about 40 other people were stood up! The bus driver, whilst driving this vastly overcrowded speeding bus was also texting, smoking, chatting to passengers and drinking a nice spot of green tea in a cup, which he poured out from his thermos flask (still whilst driving)! I was so grateful when we finally arrived, in one piece!
Zhujiajiao is beautiful. There is big traditional bridge to cross in order to enter the water village and as you walk over you can see it in its entirety, with all its other connecting bridges and locals fishing in their boats, selling their catch to the restaurants on the riverside. While the main streets are slightly touristy, most streets are still the home of local residents and you can see people hanging their washing out over the river.
Whilst we were here, we saw many locals selling their wares and fares on market stalls and also little vendors selling food. Algis and I tried what I can only go about describing as a green slimy jam donut ball. I have really tried to research this, since getting home, but I am still none the wiser, except that the green part was possibly dough or purified rice, but to be honest, I have no clue!
We visitied a few of the temples here in Zhujiajiao, but unfortunately were unable to enter as it had already reached 5pm (after our unbelievable trek to get there), this also meant it was a little too late to have a boat ride down the river.
After our journey back, Algis and I met up with Miguel and decided to go for some dinner. Whilst at the Han Yuan Book Store, I had picked up a copy of Time Out, which recommended the best places to eat in Shanghai. One of the top picks for value was called ‘The Grandma’s’.
In Time Out, the article stated: “You may have to wait hours for a table, but the payoff is enormous portions of delicious Hangzhou food. Prices almost look like misprints: 3RMB for a big plate of mapo tofu; 12RMB for vegetables braised with mushrooms; and a big plate of pork wontons for 10RMB. Average price per person – 30RMB”
30RMB is £3. I was sold.
We did have to wait one hour, like it had said in the magazine, but true to print, it was definitely worth it! The food was amazing, we all shared a few dishes and had some of our own but it came to £4RMB each! AMAZING!
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