Yu Yuan Garden is like "Chinatown in China."  It's a system of narrow streets and pedestrian alleyways surrounded by various shops and stands selling everything from "designer" watches and bags to Chinese style kitchenware to scarves to souvenirs.  You can also find interesting Chinese food here, but my feeble stomach couldn't have handled that this weekend.  It has a lot of reconstructed traditional Chinese architecture mixed with modern styles.  Apparently, there is a real garden in this area, but the bazaar is so vast that we couldn't find it.

This is a look down the main street just as you get off of the metro.

This is a Chinese bank I think.  This picture also shows how nobody pays any attention to traffic rules.  You just go when you want to go, whether you are on foot, a bike, moped, or car.  Whatever you do, you have to COMMIT, or you'll get run over.

Look at all those people!

This is a special Chinese magic rock.  At least I think it is.  There was a caption underneath it written in characters and tons of people were touching it and taking pictures.

You can see some of the shops here.  They sell a bunch of useless pretty things that tourists love.

 We're planning a trip back here to find the actual gardens.  That, too, is done up in a traditional Chinese way to make small things appear larger than they actually are.  There's not a lot of green space in the city, so it should be an interesting trip. 

Check back soon!