The Double Dragon Boat Cruise on the Huangpu River

Shanghai was feeling the effect of the typhoon that hit Taiwan and the rain kept us in for awhile. We had breakfast and headed to YuYuan Gardens. Originally, this was the old Chinese section of town. Today, they’ve recreated old Chinatown- complete with every form of shopping experience known to man. Even the YuYuan Gardens (admission charge) had you wandering through a maze of reconstructed Chinese buildings filled with shopping experiences.
In the afternoon, we took the ‘Double Dragon’ boat for a cruise up the Huangpu River to the Yangtse.

We got “A” cabin tickets, hoping to buffer ourselves from the masses of Chinese tourists. The cabin was quiet (two groups of Chinese families and 7 Caucasians), until a group of about 20 Chinese arrived. They had the look of ex-peasants/now Communist Party members. The women had an edge about them and it was amusing to watch them showing off their their tacky purchases. The men walked with a swagger and put out their cigarettes on the hardwood floors.

There was a certain amusement factor (especially when one of their group fell asleep and they proceeded to cover his glasses with toilet paper, put stuff on his nose and stuck a cigarette in his mouth- and he still didn’t wake up). We finally had to give up when the entire group re-grouped and the noise level was so loud it became unbearable. John found us a quiet private cabin in the B section and we enjoyed the rest of our cruise.
After that, we headed for the Badlands, a Mexican bar/restaurant and had another meal of spicy Mexican food.