Jing'an

I had decided to move to another hostel. Aside from minor annoyances such as having to walk up 3 flights of stairs to the dorm and no WiFi outside of the lounge, there wasn't anything wrong with the Rock and Wood Hostel, but I needed a change of scenery after staying 4 nights in one place. I was tired of seeing the same shops returning in the evening. So that morning I moved to Le Tour Travellers Rest, another hostel nearer the centre, but walking distance to metro line 2, to the north of Jing'an. Le Tour was a bit more expensive, but on the other hand it had an ensuite bathroom. The best advantage was accidental. There was one broadband socket in the room and I happened to have the bunk next to it. Obviously they intend to turn the room into a double some time in the future. There was noisy renovation going on while I was there. The greatest drawback was the mattress was hard, basically a bedspread over planks.

The district and metro stop are named after Jing'an Temple (静安寺, Serenity Temple). It has been at the current site since 1216, making it the oldest major landmark in Shanghai. One hesitates to call it the oldest building because it has been rebuilt and it's plainly still undergoing renovation. I guess the Chinese government doesn't mind a religious building if it draws tourists. The first two shots are of the eastern side, which flanks a pedestrian mall, hence the shops and the secular look of this aspect of the building. We'll come back to the temple in later photos.

After napping a bit, I walked back to the department store above the metro. On the way I noted that there were more eateries to choose from on Jiaozhou Road than the other place, another boon. This neighbourhood of Shanghai was more bustling than that of the previous hostel. I bought a bento box from the basement of the department store and ate it in the mall. It passed muster but the ones I had in Hokkaido were better.

It looked like a company called Li Feng (with the slogan Lifefun) had rented the entire mall and was selling all kinds of confectionery and preserved produce. I think this booth was selling dried fish.

The sculptured gentleman may look like he's in a hurry but he's not going anywhere.

Chinese sausages (臘腸).

Preserves.

I didn't get any pictures of the confectionery on sale at the other booths.

I promised more pictures of the temple, so here is the front aspect. You can tell it's old China from the right to left writing.

And a couple of shots of the rear of the temple.

It was a large complex. I wasn't interested enough to fork out 30 yuan to enter the grounds, but the site was impressive.

I didn't know about the history of the Paramount when I took this photo, but my suspicions were confirmed when I looked it up; it has been notorious.


One useful shop in Jing'an was a booking office for railway tickets. For a service fee of 5 yuan I got a ticket costing 78 yuan to Hangzhou for the coming Monday. I wasn't going to fight the crowds outside of Shanghai on the weekend.


My feet hurt so much from walking in my old shoes yesterday that I decided I just had to buy a new pair. But at Carrefour there were no sneakers large enough. Rats, foiled again in China. So I settled for a pair of insoles.


And so passed a Saturday without much sightseeing.