Shanghai

We stayed in a hotel on Nanjing Road, China's historic No.1 shopping and walking street. I took this picture from my room.

We visited Jade Buddha Temple, a fine Burmese white jade Buddha is the main attraction.

We took a quick walk through Yu Garden & Bazaar, established in 1577. Yu Garden is a maze of classical Ming & Qing Dynasty. Pavilions, rock gardens, arched bridges & sparkling ponds are surrounded by a lively and crowded bazaar.

The house was built as if it was one of the king's palace; dragons, the king's symbol, are placed on roof ridge but all dragons are a bit different from the king's, otherwise the owner and whole family could be executed.

In the old day, wealthy Chinese noblemen had their owned opera house which was designed and built acoustically.

The Bund is the must visit place in Shanghai. It is Asia's former golden water frontier of finance, commerce and trade and is now enjoying renaissance with the opening of new up-market entries and emporiums from early 20th century.

The opposite side of the river is Pudong New Area which people can transport from the Bund by underwater train. The area has developed in just five years, and Lujiazui in Pudong has become one of the foremost world class financial and trade zones in Asia. The landmark construction is Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Seeing skyscrapers where, in MI:III movie, Ethan Hunt climbs and flies among these buildings, he also flies across the wide river to the Bund, anyway it is mission impossible!

We went shopping at Xiangyang Fashion Market, an outdoor market with hundreds of stalls selling designer label clothing and accessories. I was offered catalogs of bags and watches since I got off a cab. I was scared to buy things with great bargain, and I bought nothing.