Old City God

We left our hotel this morning to walk along the Huangpu River and immediately turned around to get warmer clothes from our room. It was cool, windy and foggy. We headed to the old post office building where we wanted to go on the roof to see the view (I know, in the fog), but were stopped at the entrance by a lone guard.

We kept walking to the Bund, the old colonial business section of Shanghai beside the river. There is a pretty promenade and it was filled with families and tourists, all looking across the river to the Pudong section of the city, where the mind blowing skyscrapers are. Their tops were obscured by clouds but it was fun to see them. The river was busy with cargo boats.

Our goal was to visit the old Yuyuan Garden and the adjacent bazaar, but we wound up visiting the temple of the Old City God, about which I know nothing except that it was interesting to see. There were a lot of statues of deities but I have no idea who they were. We decided against visiting the garden when we saw how crowded it was. The temple, garden and bazaar are located in the same area.

One thing I am enjoying in Shanghai is the easy availability of dumplings, fried, steamed and boiled. Last night we went to Yang's Fried Dumplings where I managed to squirt the hot oil from the inside of a dumpling all over my pants.

Something I miss when we travel is easy access to a washing machine and, especially, a clothes dryer. It's easy enough to wash clothes in the sink and I did that, but the clothes don't dry as quickly as I would like them to. I sat for a while this afternoon aiming a hair dryer at a shirt that was stubborn about getting dry. I also gave the rest of my laundry to the hotel to have washed, but that isn't always possible when we stay just a day or so in places.

By the way, thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog.