The Charming Old Town

I think it is good to start off a day at a temple. Once I went into the City God Temple, I got busy capturing the smoky scenes. People praying while burning jot sticks and gold papers in the space surrounded by the houses of gods. In the early morning, I saw more local than foreign tourists who seemed to be there for a serious reason. In Shanghai, for the reasons I do not know, I love watching the elderly and the children. People prayed kneeling on the short benches, touching their forehead on the surface, open palms facing upwards. A bell with fine crafts was placed at one corner. Some people touched the surfaces of a bell and then touched on their heads and faces. It was as if they captured some smoke from the bell, carried the smoke in between their palms and then allowed their heads and faces exposed to the smoke. The busy City God Temple displayed the Taoists at their time of promising the good deeds and asking for merit from the Gods.

I headed to Yuyuan gardens and bazaar in the early morning to avoid the crowd. The push card owners are still preparing their merchandise. Scattered packets of poker cards on a tray attracted my attention. The pictures on the packets vary from revolutionary heroes through panda to Madonna and Lady Gaga. That is probably what Shanghai is today – some still living in their revolutionary dreams while others have been marching with the western world. I walked through the famous zigzag lane crossing over the lake and passed the mid-lake teahouse which was visited by Queen Elizabeth II and US former president Clinton as per lonely planet.

Coincidently, there was an event which I think is the opening ceremony for the “tea exhibition cum sales”. A group of lads and lasses who have different complexion and facial features from Shanghainese were busy dressing up for their performance. Some young men were at the gate playing their tribal music in order to welcome the officials. Not only their look, tribal costumes and instruments were interesting, I was also amused to see young men and ladies almost all of them in long hair. The performance was done, the speeches were delivered and the exhibition cum sale was opened.

Most of the stalls were manned by one or two ladies in their tribal costumes. I tried green tea, red tea, pu-er tea and some other teas which I couldn’t pronounce and I had enough caffeine for the morning. In addition to teas in various packing, I saw one stall displayed some art pieces hand-crafted with tea leaves and another where two Japanese men making the mold of specially designed tea pots. An outstanding stall was decorated all red, even the girls who served tea for the patrons are red; the sign said “Dee-pure” sounded like demure.

My next stop was a nunnery called Chenxiangge. On the way, I sneaked into the back streets which were noisy with people ordering lunch, stall owners making arrangements to give seats to the patrons and the road side chefs striking the woks with their ladles. This is a different jigsaw piece to complete the portrait of dynamic Shanghai.

Chenxiangge was much modest compared to the City God Temple. There were less people, less smoke and less movements. I felt it was closer to my heart as the god there was Sakyamuni (Buddha). I thought nothing much to see, but later I realized that I missed the temple’s signature sight Guanyin statue carved from the wood.

While walking back to the inn, I passed by a lovely lane connecting between the busy tourist sights and Yuyuan Garden station of Metro line 10. It was a small park where people sit down while waiting for their friends. A modern Shanghainese lady does not seem to step out of the house without a shawl and a pair of long boots. I could see various mix and match of colors and designs of these two items. I bought myself a shawl from Fashion Street near Yuyuan Bazaar. I think I will be a little “Shanghai” with that.