Night Bund Boat Ride

A night out on the town. Here I am on the "Bund". This is the amazing mile long walk along the river. One side of the river, Puxi (literally West of the water) buildings are old French, British, and Dutch concession buildings from the 1880's. The Pudong (literally East of the water) buildings are the amazing buildings. One, the Pearl Tower is a phallic pearl rocket to the sky. Asia's second tallest building- the Jin Mao Tower (Golden Mao) is also on the modern Pudong side. The world's highest hotel lobby - floor 86- is in this building. Also, late at night a tv screen appears on one of the waterfront buildings. Literally like a screen saver with pictures of fish swimming across the building and flashes of famous paintings like the Mona Lisa and completely NON-Asian scenes. Typical China. So here I am BEFORE I got on the cruise. I am actually telling some Chinese dude that, "No, I don't need a Rolex right now. I am getting my photo taken." So we got onto the boat for the up and down the river cruise and surprise surprise, a Taiwanese opera singer (hired by the Taiwainese tour group who was onboard.) This little boy shared my sentiment about her. Let me say, I have heard better (like Arabic music in Moroccan taxis, for example!) I am in a surprisinly good mood this evening despite the 98 degree temperature- at 9pm!! Shanghai is growing at a break neck speed with buildings shooting up in Pudong (the new part of the city) at a mile a minute. It is the richest city in China and has aspirations to take the place of Hong Kong.