Yuyuan Garden Bazaar

Yuyuan Garden Bazaar

On my last day out in Shanghai, I made it a point to visit this rather well known shopping bazaar in Shanghai.

The Yuyuan Garden Bazaar is in fact just beside the beautiful Yuyuan Gardens, located in Shanghai Old Town.

Being a weekend (it was a Saturday), the crowd was out in full force. And despite the place being rather chaotic, but it gave the atmosphere of a bustling old town.

Yuyuan Garden Temple

My first stop was to visit one of the old Chinese temples.

After paying the entry (can't remember but was relatively cheap - maybe 5 or 10yuan), one could get the joss sticks.

The temple looks quite similar to what we have back home.

And though this temple is relatively small compared to the other more famous temples around the area (there's the Confucian Temple, Wen Miao and Temple of Town Gods, Chenghuang Miao), but it is because of its smaller size that I find this temple nice.

Yuyuan Garden Shopping

After the temple, I was already looking at the many souvenirs in the shops. That's because for the very rare time, I saw t-shirts! (most of the times, I only saw winter wear and this is a good change!)

And I saw Red! Yes, Chinese New Year comes early - and Shanghai is all geared up for it!

Even the ox is out to welcome the New Year! Talk about decorations, Shanghai really rolls it out!

Despite the many reds, I wasn't really into buying lanterns to bring home.... well, not till I found this shop - the 2 yuan shop! Well, I didn't buy lanterns, but bought some small New Year decorations (at 2 yuan each - that's a bargain!).

Yuyuan Garden Art

And it wasn't just that that I bought. In fact, I also saw this house cum art gallery which sold very bright bold art paintings. That caught my eye.

Though I think that these are mainly copies, but hey, the artist sure are good at copying!

But that was't the only shop selling art, as there are other art shops too. And I purchased these 3 sets of art from here (it's 4 seasons each). I wasn't sure whether to bargain as she offered at 10 yuan each (with frame) or 8 yuan each (without frame). Anyway, her 'opening price' was already lower to even her neighbour's (going at 2o - 40 yuan).

Yuyuan Garden Food
Apart from shopping, I actually managed to grab myself some 'smelly tofu' at this street stall.

It's one of the very rare times that I have food at their street stalls in Shanghai - and it was yummy! (though really hard to juggle taking this photo - cameras in one hand, shopping bags in the other).

And one of the things I enjoyed apart from the above is to actually see how some Shanghainese still live. The roads outside are so busy, but this small lane has nobody and is so quiet... and one can see how the many clothes are hanged everywhere!

And with a contented heart and hands full of bags, I headed back to the hotel before going out again :)

*There are 2 things I missed here is:
1. I didn't managed to visit the Yuyuan Gardens, which I think was quite a miss, as it's apparently a very beautiful ancient garden.

2. And I also didn't try the rather popular xiao long bao (a kind of dumplings) & crab dumpling (which you suck by the straw) located here during this trip. This usually has a very long queue - with locals & foreigners all over.

But nevertheless, it's a day well spent (in both sense)! :)

*The Yuyuan Garden Bazaar is also known for its wide array of antiques. Really, one day seems short here.