Yuyuan Garden, River cruise and Pudong from up high

What a wonderful and packed day on Saturday. Alex was off work and one of his colleague volunteered to show us around and boy, he did just that! The day started at Yuyuan Garden, built over 400 years ago.
The garden took about 18 years to bring to life, which is quite a contrast to the new pace of Shanghai construction that can build a skyscraper in a matter of months (if not weeks!). Despite damages done by British and French troops, the garden has been nicely restored.

I wonder who took the nose off this lion!
The park features a lot of nice water spots
And immaculate gardening/groundkeeping
The architecture is very traditional Chinese
With amazing detail and impressive handiwork everywhere you look
Most of the rooms feature old style furniture
And there is even a stage that the original residents/owners of the garden could have used to entertain guests
These fish must really love tourists that bring packets of food to create the feeding frenzy
Overall, a very enjoyable time at the garden despite the sometimes thick crowds. It was nice to hear all kinds of languages, including French and English.
Just outside of the garden is a very busy and lively bazaar
As well as quite a selection of restaurants. The one we picked claim to be the oldest restaurant in the area. We had quite a spread for only 3 people
We let our guide select the dishes and they were definitively on the exotic side. Clockwise, whole pigeon, tofu soup, bbq pork, whole shrimps, fish soup, pork and bokchoi, pickled crunchy vegetable and baby oysters in a sweet blood colored sauce.

What better way to digest than to go on a river cruise!
It gave us an alternate view of both Pudong
And Puxi
After the cruise, we went in the Oriental TV Tower (the pink bubble building!) where we were greeted by this explosive dog:
He didn't look about to explode so I didn't run away :)

The waiting area for the lift was very high tech! I think the theme is spaceport
We got some great views of Puxi and Pudong again. I will never tire of those skyscrapers

I managed enough courage to walk on the glass floor and lie down, 350m above sea level with nothing but glass between me and certain death.
Once the tower visit over, we went for a walk by the riverside
Next stop was East Nanjing Rd, a shopping district.
We walked around a bit until the time was right for a break and a well deserved drink!
With legs starting to feel the effect of such a long day, we started on our way home. Shanghai is an incredible city both during the day and at night.