Travels in Shanghai: Final Days

As our time was nearing its end in Shanghai, there wasn’t anything we had to do, so we each had a day to ourselves; Jessica took a tour of the French Concession (an area which had a decidedly French feel, as you could infer) and I went to a garden park. Of course, on our last full day in Shanghai, I took her to the park and later she took me to the French Concession and we ate a nice French meal.

The French Concession was, from 1849 until 1943, the part of Shanghai the French were given to settle as a result of the Opium Wars. As such, the buildings have a French Colonial design. Now it is a chic, more upscale area of the city. We did some shopping here at western stores like New Balance, Adidas and H&M. We had coffee in a very hip, tiny coffeeshop too.

We headed for a nearby city park as the rain came down, and it was not letting up. Oh, and the park was doing major renovations, so we couldn’t take most of the paths and there was lots of mud. So we found a dry-ish spot to wait under a tree, next to the man-made pond.

The park was filled with a lot of pretty flowers and even a wreath to mark the Shanghai flower festival, that (sadly) we had missed by a few days.

We continued on once the rain let up, past more colonial designed buildings, and past Jesse’s restaurant, but the real Jesse wanted French, so that’s where we went.

We arrived at Polux and ate a really good French dinner. It was a welcome change after a lot, and I mean a lot, of Chinese food over 60 days (interspersed with the occasional KFC or McDonald s).

We did a little walking on the wet streets with the bright signs flashing in our eyes, on our way to the train station.

We had a 15 minute or so walk from the train station to our hotel, and decided to stop for a nightcap at a small bar, that was amongst many restaurants that were located next to multiple apartment buildings. It was an area we had eaten dinner before a couple of times.

The owner was very excited to see us, as it was pretty quiet on the streets, and empty in the bar. He made us some really good cocktails, although they took him about 10 minutes each to complete; but we were in no hurry.

Our final day we spent sleeping in (a nightcap for us will usually do that), and taking it easy. We finally had some sun, and I returned, this time with Jessica, to the Meilong Ecological Park. It is a 150 acre park in the outskirts of the city, and is spread over many blocks. The original park dated back some 700 years, but it has been improved to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars (there is a sign that says that) and it is definitely appreciated, as it is a beautiful, peaceful place. There were no electric bikes or bicycles allowed (and it was enforced) and it was such a welcome change to not have to worry about when just walking around.

There are clean ponds, new walking paths for wandering, streams to meander along, pavilions to sit and relax, bridges to cross. There were a lot of old people enjoying their day, and often with the grandkids in tow. I assume it was built here for the apartment complexes behind it. The apartments looked quite nice, and I assumed that the residents are well off. I just felt lucky to be able to enjoy it with no where else to be.

There were also such a variety of flowers, I couldn’t even photograph them all (though I tried, here are just a few):

There were even a couple Hobbit (like) houses:

I saw a sign for an art museum, of course, I had to investigate. The building was nothing special, I didn’t even take a picture of it, but what was inside was stunning. I didn’t even know the name of it when I stepped inside, and asked to look around, expecting there to be a fee. There wasn’t, and the museum staff pointed me to go into the temporary gallery. I was very surprised to see such art in this nondescript building in this park.

On the other side of the temporary gallery was the permanent collection of the artist Cai Bing. The Cai Bing Art Museum was opened in 2019, devoted to the Chinese Contemporary artist. Cai Bing was unknown to me before entering the building, but I left with a profound impression of the artist, born in 1943. He did so many different kinds of paintings (and sculptures and pottery as well) that I really liked.

The park was our last full day in Shanghai, and it was a great one. Nothing major to do, no last must-sees, just a sunny day enjoying being alive.

I am so grateful I have been able to experience all the ups and downs and sideways for the past two months. It is hard to comprehend being so lucky. Next, I will do another post to reflect on what I’ve learned. My father always told me, at the end of a journey, it’s good to write about what I learned. Well, he said that about writing a book report, but you know what I mean.

To end this post, just because I felt lucky to see so many different colors of Azaleas, and they are my favorite flower, here are some from the park: