South Beauty

Slate or old wood? This is the wall over the bar at South Beauty in Shanghai, where we had our best meal of the trip.  It was once a bank, and a lord's house, and a communist bureau of some sort.

Shanghai!

Angelina was kind enough to drag me around town yesterday, all day. The best bit was Old Shanghai, where everything is still in the traditional architecture and there are shops that have been there for 100 years, all specializing in one thing: chopsticks, scissors and cleavers, musical instruments, tea. The Yu Garden was pretty incredible-some rich guy's estate and gardens dating from the Qing dynasty (I think), with multiple covered bridges over ponds absolutely teeming with carp. Every pathway was laid with intricate pebble patterns, and stone carved reliefs dot the garden walls. You could imagine living there, wandering through all the intimate little nooks and always having something new and lovely to enjoy.