Day 96 Shanghai (day 4)

Our last day in Shanghai is spent at the People's Square and the enormous People's Park. Shanghai's "Central Park" and central square are built on the site of colonial Shanghai's horse-racing track (dating to as early as 1863), once a favorite amusement for the British community and upper-class Chinese. Today, the original 12 hectares (30 acres) of the racecourse have been parceled out into a quiet, pleasant parkThe girls are hopeful that it will be a place to run and play but are disappointed to find that on first impression it is a few patches of green but that the park is mostly given over to formal, Chinese gardens, huge lily ponds, flower bed lined linear paths and many and varied pagodas and pavilions.  

Besides being a magnet for locals who come here to feed the pigeons, fly their kites, and gossip on the benches, the square, surrounded as it is by some of Shanghai's tallest and most modern buildings is a refuge in the busy metropolis.

 Consulting the park map we find there is a designated  "old people's" exercise area, amusement rides, and clusters of old folks playing mah-jongg and chess, and to the girls' delight a children's playground. This turns out to be a kind of state owned permanent fun fair for the "entertainment of the masses". It is relatively expensive in comparison to  the cost of a meal but we relent and the girls choose 2 rides each.

 

They both enjoy the old fashioned swing chairs and then the mini dragon roller coaster. We are learning that Tiegan is a closet adrenalin junkie and is the one who is keen to try the more daring activities we encounter. She was disappointed in NZ that she was below the age and/or weight limit for bungee jumping (even with our consent) and also that her parents were too wallet conscious to pay for a tandem skydive! In the park she has been eyeing a particularly vomit inducing pendulum spinny thing (hard to describe!) and convinces us that she would like to ride it.

 

Apart from one other very unlikely candidate she rides alone - we take our hats off to her utter bravery and watch in amazement as she enjoys the experience!  

We leave Shanghai by our second sleeper train and head overnight to the mysteries of the capital, Beijing.