Oriental Land

Another trip took us to a to an amusement park west of Shanghai almost half way to Suzhou  We could get there by metro but it was quite a long trip.

In one section there were statues of famous scientists  - the children saw them more as play options

Issac Newton"s apple

There was also a big playground with looked very much like the ones in Arlington

The climbing was for older children

 The park bordered lake Dianshan

The favorite  section was the one with all kind of different bridges

Another section was for the military with an original size model of an aircraft carrier

The submarine was an original but we didn't want to pay to get inside

Back in Shanghai dinner with an interesting desert - read bean topped with vanilla ice cream

Minghang Park

On the weekend we met again with Ji's brother and his family. We met at her parents apartment where Mia discovered an old game she used to play on her visits with her cousin or grandfather  when she was only two or three years old

Then we drove to a park not too far away

One attraction was a downhill slide made of rolls. It was not very comfortable but fun

A nice spot with white flowers on the way back

World Expo Site

On Mia's first visit to Shanghai in October 2010 we made several trip to the World Expo that was hosted by Shanghai that year. Now eight and a half years later Ji sister in law took us back to the area to show us the Chinese Art Museum that is now in the building that used to be the Chinese pavilion.
First Mia had to check out the rental bike she had used to explore the area since we were running a bit late

The building has some interesting architecture

There are interesting spaces inside

The river with a nice new park is just a short walk away.

The water is clean enough so that one catch fish again

Mia used the rental bike for little ride

Evening at the Bund

After spending the afternoon at Yu garden we went to the river front at the Bund to enjoy the views on a beautiful evening

Yu Garden

After not going to Yu garden since our first trip together in 2003 we finally went back to one of Shanghai's main tourist attractions in the old town

Ji's parents came along

Its a very touristy place but quite colorful

Of course there were many places for snacks

Behind the old tea house the high towers at the river in Pudong

For lunch we stopped in a small restaurant just steps from the place were Ji grew up - it was demolished when a metro station and office tower was built there 16 years ago .

Tim Cook the CEO of Apple had been there as well

Still some old neighborhood streets didn't change

 Time for some bubble tea

Back to Yu garden to get some souvenirs for friends Mia had to use the bath room. She was not impressed

But at least we got some chinese ice cream with red beans

Old and new

Unfortunatley a lot of old buildings are still getting knocked down