10/29/02 - Visited YuYuan Garden and shopped around ChengHuangMiao area and flew back to SF. Local Guide: Tony Zheng.

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Today is our last day in China. We had a good night of sleep since we went to bed at around 10 pm and didn't have to get up until 7 am. We also had the best breakfast so far. Honestly, Shanghai is a world-class city. Everything is so modern and almost US like.

Tony showed up at the hotel to pick us up. While waiting, the Politician approached Tony and told him that he read in the newspaper that PuDong International Airport was such a mess that all the flights were delayed for at least an hour, and that was why our departure time was an hour later. That made no sense at all.

We started our last day with the tour to YuYuan Garden. Tony introduced YuYuan as a private family garden of a high-ranking official about 480 years ago. It was so extravagant that it took 19 years to complete.

Inside the garden there are a few interesting things:

1. 1. 3-fingered Dragon and a toad: Dragon is usually reserved for Emperors. Tony told a story of how the owner of the garden sweet-talked his way out of using dragon on his premise. When the emperor questioned why the owner dared to use the image of dragon, the owner explained to the emperor that he was the toad in front of the dragon, always looking up (worshipping) the dragon (the emperor).
2. 2. Double Walkways: There was one path that was made up of two walkways, side by side. The one on the right is wider than the one on the left.
3. 3. There was a giant rock with 192, naturally formed, channels.

1. Dragon & Toad.	2. Double Walkway.	3. Funky Rock.

I think the Politician must have something against male tour guides. He was always challenging them about something. On the contrary, the Politician was always smiling and flirtatious with the female guides. In Beijing, it was political issues with Benjamin, and here in Shanghai, it was cultural issues with Tony. Politician was talking down to Tony as if Tony didn't understand the basic concept of Chinese garden design.

We were given about 2 hours afterwards to shop around the ChengHuangMiao area, which is connected to the YuYuan Garden. Each of us bought some souvenirs with the last of our RMBs.

About YuYuan Garden
Yuyuan Garden, maybe the most celebrated classical Chinese garden in Shanghai, is located in the northeast part of the old town and has an area of fives acres. In 1559, a Ming official named Pan Yunduan launched the construction of this private garden for his father's pleasure. The construction lasted for 19 years and was completed only after the death of his father. Later, due to the decline of the Pan family, the garden gradually fell into disuse. Furthermore, several civil conflicts in the mid-19th century caused great damage to it. After several large-scale re-constructions since 1949, Yu Yuan was finally opened to the public in 1961.

After lunch, we headed for the airport. Unfortunately, we did not get a row of four seats as we'd hoped, but at least we had two and two, so we were not sitting alone on the plane. We spent the last of our RMBs on dumplings and drinks while waiting for the plane. We saw Kristin and her husband again at the airport since we were on the same flight.

The flight was uneventful, and we arrived back in SFO at around 1 pm.