I was impressed by the windows, the rock formations that were man made to look natural, and the various pavilions. I can almost imagine (well, try to ignore the hordes of visitors) myself being a girl back in the whatever dynasty and stuck at home all day long. Being confined to home doesn't seem so horrible. You have the mountains, the water, the flowers, and nature right at home. Why would you need to go outside?

The highlight of Yu Yuan, though, is the Huxingting Tea House -- it's so Chinese!!! (At least our idea of what Chinese should be.) Bring your camera! To get to it, you must cross the pink "bridge of nine turnings." The nine turnings keep the evil spirits from crossing -- they can only move in a straight line. You can have tea (and a ceremony) in the tea house. (There is also a tea ceremony included in your garden admission, but it's a little hard to find.)

The whole area is surrounded by shops with all the things tourists like to buy. Don't pay the first price, or even the second. Price tags don't necessarily mean a thing. If it's too expensive, 10 other shops probably have the same thing. The whole area looks Ming Dynasty, but actually, only the garden and the teahouse are authentic. The rest is reproduction.

The garden is comprised of several individual sections, each surrounded by a dragon-topped wall. Most of the time, the top of the wall appears to be covered with a decorative, rounded design. What you will realize upon seeing the first dragon head is that these half-circles represented the dragons’ spine and scales!

About 30 or so pavillions dot the garden and you can peer into most of them. While the furnishings are not necessarily original, they are either from or in the style of the period in which that particular building was constructed.

The gardens themselves are enchanting. They seemed to be rather Japanese in style to me, but perhaps the battle over who first started pruning trees to make miniature landscapes is one of the causes of tension between China and Japan. You will see exquisite bonsai, lovely flowering trees and, perhaps if you are there in the right season, some flowering plants as well. I visited Shanghai in early April, and what looked like azaleas were blooming. There are several water features and you may see small children feeding the koi who live in the ponds.

Across from the entrance to the garden is an old teahouse that is still in use today. Our guide told us that it is the morning meeting place for a group of senior citizens who come to the open area to perform their taichi in the morning and share a cup of tea when they are through. Sounds like the equivalent of the diner where my grandmother used to have breakfast with her friends after Mass in the morning!

A strange counterpoint to the peace of Yu Yuan is the large shopping area that surrounds the garden. While it is probably very "touristy," we certainly enjoyed browsing through the wide selection of merchandise, both Chinese and Western. Fresh water pearls seemed to be widely available, as were silk scarves. Burberry knock-offs were everywhere, and could be had at bargain prices. Purses could be had for $10 that I’ve seen at $35 or $40 from NY street vendors, and the NY vendors won’t bargain as much. We usually could bargain off about 50% of the original asking price for most goods. English is not widely spoken, but every merchant will punch prices into a calculator. You’ll be able to tell from the expression whether your counteroffer is in the right range.