We ditched the tour early. We immediately set out for the Jade Buddah Temple. Although I am not a Buddhist, I find their temples to be tranquil and refreshing. The Jade Buddah Temple is a very active site, and there were hundreds of people throughout the temple. This temple gets its name from the enormous jade statue that it contains. I would have loved to have gotten pictures, but I did not want to disrespect their wishes. For no reason whatsoever, a shop within the temple grounds happened to have the paints and brushes that Jessa wanted. Fate perhaps. We spent three hours at the temple with our friend Alison. Her friend Jen had already departed for Tibet. It always is nice to have companions who understand. As usual, I took down the coordinates. They are: N031 14.594 E121 26.450. Google Maps Link.

(Jade Buddah Temple, Shanghai)

We then returned to the street markets to acquire tea, silk, and Christmas gifts. The locals were very friendly, and I'm quite certain that we made a certain family's day, as we purchased almost a kilogram of tea. We could not bring ourselves to haggle over silk prices. Our ethics prevented us from paying less than the opening offer of 20 yuan / meter. That's about $2 / yard for pure silk.

In the evening, Jessa attended the Shanghai Acrobat show, but I was far too ill. I caught a nasty sore throat, and was quite exhausted. I felt bad that I could not go with her, but I would have felt much worse, should she not have gone.