To be clear, we’re actually still covering the remaining Hangzhou, Suzhou and Wuzhen content in this post, and then wrapping up with our day in Shanghai.
There was actually a stop between cities at a Buddha statue tourist attraction. The lotus in the fountain holds a musical baby Buddha while the gold adult version in the distance was something like 80 feet (meters?) tall.We decided to focus on the temple in the complex instead.They had smaller statues and paintings inside.Watching the show. After this stop the whole group rebelled and instructed our guide and driver to skip the next park on the itinerary in favor of getting a rest.We ventured out to what was by local standards a very upscale restaurant but would be a nice treat but not completely out of range for us at home. We wandered a bit after that. A young man came out of a storefront to ask if we were interested in buying real estate, and while we admitted we weren’t, we had a blast making small talk with him and his office mates. They really appreciated the English practice.A large scale park was first on the docket the next morning.Another bit of the park.Statue there with beautifully draped clothing.And an ornamental planting.Then a stop at a tea plantation for another sales pitch.In Shanghai we ditched our tour once again with our new friend. We visited a museum store instead of the whole museum, got two(!) massages, and wandered a wholesale district. This was a shop that clearly sold mannequins to other businesses.We also visited an enormously tall upscale mall. Our friend bought a tea set there, but it seemed to take the salespeople by surprise, so getting it packaged up to take back was quite a process.
