China - Day 24, Friday

Today is Amy's last full day here in China, so I decided to give Daniel the day off from school so we could spend the day together.


We decided to go to Yuyuan Garden. I figured out how to get there on the subway (very proud of myself for that, by the way!). When we get off the subway it is raining. So we bought two umbrellas from a street vendor and started walking towards our destination. By the time we cross the street it is pouring! We come across another Fake Market, so we decided to duck in and wait it out. This market is huge, but the isles are only wide enough for one person to pass by. We wondered around for about a half an hour, and when we looked out it had stopped raining so we headed towards where we were guessing the garden was.

This is the area near the subway station, heading towards Yuyuan Garden

Typical shops that the Chinese shop in

We found some beautiful old style Chinese buildings, all of which were stores. 

I liked the poles - they lined the street.

The architecture is beautiful

Jewelry store

Amy and Daniel at the entrance to one of the alleyways we went down.

More Shops

More shops. Love the buildings.

Dairy Queen!

Notice the older man push a cart. This is a common way of transporting stuff.

We stopped into McDonald's before heading into the Garden

As we are walking around I am beginning to think that maybe I read the description wrong and shopping is all there is. We wondered around until we finally found the Garden.

The Garden was very pretty. It was nice to walk around in. It is not a garden in terms of a lot of plants, but an area to walk though and it has many areas to stop and reflect, beautiful buildings, etc.

Nice fountain and plants. To the right is a bridge that goes over the water

Amy and Daniel on the bridge

The detail on the buildings is amazing

Detail on the sidewalk

I love the roofs

To the right are rock formations, but I think they were cut so a path could go through it

Amy and Daniel

I took this picture of the man mopping up the sidewalk after the rain

Daniel and Amy. Notice the dragon carving on the roof

Looks as comfortable as our living room furniture!

A design in the sidewalk pathway

Carving in one of the windows

Amy and Daniel at the entrance to a cave type walkway.

Another carving

There are hundreds of Coy in the water here. They are very large. Amy and Daniel stopped to feed them - Strawberry Poptart. I wouldn't let them feed the fish too much, not good for them - or the fish!

While we walking around we are approached to try some tea, so we go to this tea shop where they prepare different teas for us to try and of course purchase if we like.

The young woman is preparing the tea, by pouring hot water over all the surfaces, washing the herbs and then brewing the tea.

She served the tea so that it was all inside the little cup. You slowly lift the cup to release the tea

These are a couple of the teas we tried. The one on the right was the first one. It comes from Tibet and is for women. It is supposed to help with weight lose (wonder if he was trying to tell me something!) The 2 on the left were combined and is meant for digestive help. It was naturally sweat.

This is what the tea looked like when it was brewed.

After we finished walking around we started walking in the direction we thought the subway was. This place is so big I was not sure even where we came in. After walking for about 15-20 minutes, I decided that I had better call Iris (remember she is the young woman who works for Randy and has been helping us out). I find a road where I can read the cross road street signs. I call her and she looks up where we are on the map, plus I stop a stranger and hand him the phone so Iris can ask him to point us in the direction of the subway. He points us in the OPPOSITE direction. Iris texts me the rest of the directions.

This is an overhead walkway that goes above the streets.

We have to walk about 15 minutes back the other way! We finally made it.

Around 6:30, Iris picks us up and we head to a restaurant for Beijing Duck. Amy wants that before she leaves. Randy meets us there after he arrives back from Thailand. It was a wonderful last day for Amy.