Inside the labyrinthine Yu Yuan Garden

I was going to Shanghai for the first time, so it was a must to pack the tripod. I wouldn’t go home without a night shot of The Bund, is widely acknowledged as “Europe in China.” Our division head, who had visited many great cities around the world, could only describe The Bund in superlative terms – especially at night. I got so curious with the buildings he was fascinated with – modern on the inside, old world on the outside. Yes, he said the Chinese had carefully and masterfully preserved their landmarks. In my mind, it must have been the architectural version of rellenong bangus.

Checking out the web for other possible jaunts, I chanced upon the 400-year old Yu Yuan Gardens. So I wrote “infrared filter” in my pack list, too.  And “sunblock.”  A colleague who studied in Shanghai said the weather is pretty much the same as Manila – just as warm, but a little bit cooler.

Just those two in my shot list, and I’m okay. I most probably can shoot The Bund at day’s end. That is, between the end of the day’s conference schedules and dinner time. And I’m staying behind another day after the conference just so I could go to Yu Yuan Garden and shoot until noon.
 
First Surprise

At the airport, I bumped into a friend from graduate school. He said I couldn’t squeeze shooting The Bund into my schedule -- because my hotel is along The Bund. I will have to shoot from across the river. What it’s like – it’s like if you want to shoot Rockwell, you have to shoot from the other bank of the Pasig River.

Why didn’t the hotel website say so, I thought. On second thought, in most likelihood, it probably said strolling along The Bund. Not shooting The Bund. No problem, I thought. I’m staying another day anyway.
 
Second Surprise

On our second day in Shanghai, dinner was scheduled outside of the conference venue. At a restaurant called Mr. & Mrs. Bund.

It took about an hour to get to that restaurant, thanks to the heavy traffic in the tunnel. A short drive after the tunnel and the bus stopped in front of an old building, like the ones in Escolta. The architecture was a nice backdrop. I took a picture of my boss in front of it.

After that shot, I turned around, and lo and behold – in front of me was The Bund! The whole stretch of The Bund is staring back at me, across the Huang Pu River.
 
Third Surprise

The guides pulled us away after just a couple of shots of The Bund and rushed us into the building. The restaurant is at the top floor of a six-storey building.

Across the lifts was a stairwell that is adorned with a column of old bicycles piled one on top of the other, from the ground floor all the way to the top floor. It was one of those art pieces with an impact but I could only slightly appreciate it. As we were going up, disappointment was sinking in.  I should have checked the schedule more carefully… This is my chance to shoot The Bund at night, and I had no tripod. How could I not think that the restaurant would be overlooking The Bund? Well, there is a “Shanghai” restaurant in Quezon City, and so many other establishments named after someplace else that must have dulled my instincts.

It shouldn’t be so bad. I could probably pull a table and make it my makeshift tripod. If the sixth floor is all glass without a window that opens, I’ll just make the most of it.

Mr. & Mrs. Bund occupies the entire sixth floor. The restaurant’s French interior does justice to our Belgian host’s reputation for style and elegance, and The Bund is framed beautifully by the glass windows.

The party hadn’t stopped walking even as we were nearing the end of the dining hall. It was then I realized we were being led to a verandah! Once outside, I saw that people are already crowding to get the best shot of The Bund. There’s no way I could squeeze a table to make it my tripod. If I wait until everyone had his turn, the lights could be out already. After several “excuse me’s” I found myself at the edge of the verandah. And I found that it had a ledge that is wide enough to support my camera.

I made a lot of new friends that night – those who asked to have their picture with The Bund at the background.
 
More surprises

When the three-day conference adjourned, we found time to explore the city and decided to queue for a cab. We were surprised that some of the cab drivers were women.

It was late afternoon, and we thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to still go to the Yu Yuan Garden. At best, we’d make the most of what’s left of daylight, and at worst, it will serve as an ocular. On our way there, we saw another surprise – some of the laborers on the road constructions were women.

The sun had set when we got to the plaza that leads to the entrance of the Yu Yuan Garden. Ancient Chinese architecture about six storeys high rose imposingly around us. Their ground floors had been converted to shops selling every imaginable souvenir item. It was a busy market place teeming with tourists all keen on bringing a piece of China back home. Occasionally, a peddler’s voice rises above the din. “LV?” “LV?” And when you make eye contact, he will gesture you to the direction of their store. Counterfeit designer bags must be a major business in Shanghai. They look, smell, and feel so much like the real deal for – surprise – about five percent of the originals’ hundred-thousand-peso price tag.

But that was mild compared to what is also peddled at the 3.4-mile long Nanjing Road – acknowledged as China’s premier shopping street. It has over 600 shops that sell everything from Chinese fruits to high-end European designer labels. At Nanjing Road, hawkers walked alongside my male colleagues and repeatedly asked “Sex?” “Ladies?” “Sex?” “Ladies?” ad nauseam.

Four days of buffet meals made us crave for fast food, so it was a relief to find a Yoshinoya in Nanjing Road, where thankfully, the food tastes just like what they serve in Manila. A rice meal at 9:30 p.m. didn’t seem criminal anymore considering all the walking we have done. Not to mention that we needed the energy to carry all the stuff we bought and to make it through the train ride. Yes, we agreed we wouldn’t leave Shanghai without trying its train. The maglev station is far from where we were, so the train became the next best thing. And besides, our hotel is walking distance from the next station.

Walking to our hotel, we noticed that some Chinese pedestrians were as suicidal as some Pinoys when it comes to crossing the street. Quite unexpected given the communist discipline they have been brought up in.

And then finally it’s Saturday. Armed with a tripod and infrared filter, I set out to go to the Yu Yuan Garden.  I made sure I was hailing a cab by 7 a.m. Surprise, no driver would let me get into the cab, when I show Yu Yuan Garden on the brochure. After three cabs, I decided to ask the front desk. Oh, it’s still closed, I was told. That’s why they wouldn’t bring me there. Hmm, didn’t it occur to those drivers that I can wait till the gate opens?  Having been there last night, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t run out of subjects to shoot until the gate opens at 9:30 a.m.

Oh well, it gave me an excuse to drop by Xintiandi – Shanghai’s version of Malate. Roughly translated, it means ‘New Heaven on Earth.” The mild morning sun revealed just enough texture of the 1920s architecture covering the North and South Blocks of Xintiandi. Shanghai really did a nice job restoring the Shikumen or “stone gate” houses that are now cafes, bars, restaurants, galleries, and boutique shops.  I even got the bonus of seeing the nearby historic First Congress Hall of the Communist Party of China.  And I got to shoot the maple trees that lined the perimeter roads, too. My first time to see a maple tree was the night before at Nanjing Road, but it wasn’t a good time or place to take a picture.

Finally, it’s time to go to Yu Yuan Garden. The haze – from the morning mist and pollution from the ubiquitous construction – had not lifted. I was optimistic the skies would clear up as the sun further rose. Or so I thought. It was almost 11 a.m. and the overcast remained. No blue skies that I hoped would be the perfect backdrop for the Garden’s 400-plus-year-old chambers built during the Ming dynasty. No intense sun that the infrared filter needed to give the hundreds-of-years-old trees’ foliage that snowy, dreamlike look. Shanghai must have ran out of pleasant surprises for me.

Last surprise
 
Not really. At the airport, it turns out that I exceeded the baggage allocation. This has never happened to me.

And then this scion, from a competitor at that, came to the rescue. He ‘adopted’ my excess baggage, and carried them for me all the way from the Shanghai airport counter, through immigration, to the conveyor belt area at the Centennial Airport.

It was such a pleasant surprise to see that chivalry is still alive.