Last Day in Shanghai

I thought I would provide a wrap to my Shanghai trip. On our last day we went to the fake market. Although neither of us was a particularly great negotiator, prices were so low from the start it was not possible to get a bad deal. My pullover sweater cost €10, and I could have had a leather computer bag for €20. Although everyone was fighting hard to make sales by any method, including pulling me into one shop by my arm, at no time did I feel at risk or even all that bothered. 

Modern buildings serve as the backdrop
to the more traditional Yuyuan Garden area

Back to Yuyuan Garden for some higher end items. Hard to get any discount here at all. A young man on the street convinced us to follow him down two flights of stairs into a workshop with adjoined retail area for everything silk. We watched them layer silk to make a quilt, much like our duvets of down. I managed to negotiate the price of a duvet, cover and sheets to half, but in the end was not convinced of the quality and cancelled the deal. 

Hand layered silk quilts

We were looking for a silk scarf we had seen earlier in the week, but did not come across it immediately. Instead we walked around the main shopping area, on a residential street. This was a very different perspective on Shanghai for both of us.

What was I most surprised by? The lack of foreign feel to the city. The modernity of it all. The food I suppose, in that some of it included body parts that just should never enter one's mouth! And the hospitality.In a city of 20 million, every local business has managed the warm welcome very well.