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Note that there is a new Internet Cafe near the Gate 20 of Pudong airport with 6 clean computers.

The Bund is one of the most characteristic places of Shanghai and its photos appear in most guides and websites about the city. It is the promenade next to the river where most of the foreign companies settled after the Opium Wars and the first mad rush into China´s market and it seems to split this area into the old city and the new city.

I arrived at the Bund from Nanjing Road, so I was facing the area of Pudong, built around during the nineties to encourage business. The view is breathtaking as you can see the highest sky-scrapers (which, as most things Chinese, have a little Chinese twist and have a peculiar design), the famous television tower with its Pearls (which you can visit and go to the top to get some more Shanghai views provided it´s just rained and there´s less pollution so you can see something). If you go in the evening everything lights up to give you the impression of a modern city living in the future. It´s like looking into some science fiction city.

The promenade is really wide and has trees, benches and areas to rest. There are plenty of kiosks to buy drinks and ice-creams in the summer and if you are lucky and are there at the right time you can observe the Shanghainese practising Qigong, ball-room dancing, or Chinese calligraphy on the floor. It is very long, so you can get a good walk or even use it to go jogging (but beware of the pollution, as you will probably choke without some oxigen).

It is not the quietest place in the world though. As in any other city in China, there are many people and they all seem to meet in the same places. At the weekends, the Bund is a place where families go to take the kids, and there are plenty of people trying to make business as well by selling toys, souvenirs, etc. as well as beggars, which if you are not careful will run after you for a while. If you are a foreigner you are also likely to get stared at, although Shanghainese are quite used to Westerners, many people from outside the city that are visiting are not, so be prepared for people staring at you and even asking you to be in a photo with little old nan or the kid.

On the other side of the Bund, you find the "collonialist" area where most foreign companies settled down. They buildings are grand and also seem to take you to another era. Most of them are in good condition and also look great in the evening with all the lights on.

The river always surprises foreigners because it´s sooo wide and it´s full of barges carrying merchandise up and down the river. It´s just like a road.

Along the river, you can board the tourist boats that will take you across or give you a little tour of the river. I didn´t try this, as I preferred to walk on my own and was getting fed up of people staring at me (there´s only so much you can take).

Regarding safety, I didn´t have any problems and didn´t feel threatened at any time (I am a girl and was travelling on my own at the time). And Chinese friends assure me that foreigners have nothing to worry about.

If you ever go to Shanghai, don´t miss it.
 

The Bund's Tunnel stretches from the end of Nanjing Road on the Puxi side to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the Lujiazui side - a total length of 646.70 meters. This tunnel was finished at the end of 2000; it was the first pedestrian tunnel built in China. Tourists may enter the tunnel through a elevator at the entrance on either side. It takes about two to five minutes to walk the length of the tunnel. Many high-tech displays are featured inside. All kinds of designs, ads, panoramic displays and background music about people, history, culture and technology are displayed throughout the tunnel, making your visit there both interesting and thrilling.

If you want to get familiar with the city's culture, go to Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai old street and its neighbouring areas, where you could have a taste of the local people's daily life. Yuyuan garden was built in the Ming dynasty. It is the only Ming garden left in the city.  The entire compound consists of over 30 halls and is divided into six regions by tall white walls.  It was reportedly built in 1559 by the wealthy official Pan Yunduan to please his parents in their old age.  Over the centuries the garden declined along with the Pan family's fortunes.  The garden suffered extensive damage in the 19th century but was repaired by the Shanghai government from 1956-1961.  It is stylistically similar to many Suzhou gardens.

As for using the Metro in Shanghai. At the entrance of each Metro one will not miss a ticket-machine and the itinerary map which direct you where you should go and how much you should pay. Don't be worried about, everything is illustrated by both Chinese and English, including the itinerary map, ticket-machine usage,and the stops' names you will hear on the carriage. In addition, one or two charge-machine placed beside the ticket-machine to help you change a big note into small ones in time.
Feel easy to use Metro in Shanghai, it will bring you as confortable as at home.

The Shanghai subway is one of the youngest in the world and might become the most rapidly expanding if the same pace of construction continues. After the first line opened in 1995 as a north-south axis from the Central Station to the southern suburbs, a first section of the second line followed only four years later.

A third line, the so-called Pearl Line, has been developed out of a former ring railway, mainly elevated, to run from Baoshan Steel Complex in the north via Shanghai Railway Station to Caoxi Rd. in the south (36 km, 21 stations). Construction of the first 25 km section with 19 stations (3 at grade) between Caoxi Rd and Jiangwan was completed in May 2000 and opened 26 Dec 2000 for trial operation. Regular service is scheduled to start in Aug. 2001. Until the fleet of 28 Alstom Megapolis 6-car trains arrives, trains borrowed from the other lines offer a limited service.

In Sept. 2001 number of trains was increased on all three lines, 17 trains serving on Line 1, 10 on Line 2 and 9 on the Pearl Line.

The elevated 17.2 km southern extension of Line 1 (Xinmin Line) to Minhang (11 stations) opened as Line 5 in November 2003. For this line Siemens TS is supplied the VICOS operation control system, the SICAS electronic interlocking and the ZUB 200 intermittent automatic train control (ATC) system. Trains were built by Alstom (Metropolis).

Pudong airport in summary

Taxi is my recommended transportation for first-time visitors. It costs 120 -150 RMB (15~20 USD) to most places in downtown Shanghai. Airport buses are also available and operate on 6 routines. The Maglev train is completed but will open in October 2003. Arrive late? The airport buses operate until the last flight. arrives. Here is no good hotel near the airport though.

If you want to meet somebody, the arrival hall is the best place for them to wait for you. Everyone need to pass the same gate. You can find the current exchange, ATM machines, IDD or DDD phones, and stores everywhere in the airport. There is also a large info counter at the departure hall.

Difference with other airport

1. You need to pay airport construction fee here. 50 RMB for domestic flights and 90 RMB for international flights

2. There are two international airport in Shanghai. If you transit to local flights, be sure to check whether the flights departs from Hongqiao Airport (SHA) or Pudong airport (PVG). PVG is only one of them.

3. Pudong airport is far from downtown areas - 40 KM.

4. There is a good personal website for this web site - http://www.wangjianshuo.com/personal/places/pudongairport. Do you agree?

Before the Maglev trains are put into production at the end of this year, they offer tour for the train at price of 150 RMB and 300 RMB. However, the tickets are still hard to buy. According to the news, they issue 2000 tickets every day, but the tickets were completely sold out before the Spring Festival on Feb 1, 2003. Individuals cannot book the tickets for the future, since the booking services only apply to large accounts with 20+ tickets a time.

Meanwhile, it is even harder to buy train tickets here in Shanghai. I am not sure if people outside China understand this, people will try to return home no matter where they are in the Spring Festival, just like Christmas in the western countries. The train tickets are very hard to buy since there are too many people want to buy the limited number of tickets. According to the OTV news, the lines for buying tickets has been winding from the ticket counter, to outside the ticketing building, and extended to about 10 blocks away. Most of them came to buy the tickets before 12:00 AM yesterday and has standed in the line for 10 hours during the night -- poor people!

It is also interesting to see people in Shanghai begin to tour to Hai Nan and other areas of China during the Spring Festival. Air tickets to Hai Nan have been sold out for Feb 1 to Feb 8.

Fortunately, I have booked my air tickets back to Luoyang one week ago. :-)

Updated Maglev Ticket is Set to Be 75 RMB Oct 21, 2003

Starting from Oct 11, 2003, the Maglev will pickup passengers at Pudong Airport on every Saturday and Sunday. Then it drops them off at Longyang Road Station. The price is 75 RMB. This is not the final price yet, since it will continue to drop after formal business operation.

Nanpu and Yangpu Bridge, the third-longest and second-longest in the world, cross the Huangpu River, connecting Pudong to Puxi. The distance between two bridges is 11 kilometers. The Nanpu Bridge is more accessible, south of the Bund off Zhongshan Road South and the Ring Road. The Yangpu Bridge is farther up the river, on the way to Wusong. Cruises of the Huangpu River pass under the bridges.

Both the two bridges are modern floating tuye oblique-suspended bridges. The design of the two bridges is brandnew with beautiful mould, reasonable function and magnificent imposing manner. The names "Nanpu Bridge" and "Yangpu Bridge" inscribed by comrade Deng Xiaoping were embedded separately in the center of the tower columns with dazzlling lights.

The two bridges of the Huangpu River combined with the Oriental Pearl Tower form the magnificent view of "two dragons playing the pearl".

Nanpu Bridge
The 8,346-meter-long bridge has an under-clearance of 46 metres, thus allowing ships with a tonnage of 55,000 to pass under it. As a cable-stayed bridge, its main bridge is 846 metres long and 30.35 metres wide, divided into six lanes. The approaches have a combined length of 7,500 metres and the West Shanghai spiral approach is 3,754 metres long. The bridge called a total investment of 820 million yuan and was completed and opened to traffic on December 1, 1991. The bridge spans the Huangpu River like a flying dragon and it has helped the locals to make their dream of "having a bridge across the Huangpu River" come true. Now the Nanpu bridge is open to tourists.

Theresa and I took a taxi to Shanghai Old Street near the Yuyuan Garden. Most taxis in Shanghai are relatively new and comfortable. The most interesting part of the taxi was the large Plexiglas barrier between the driver and the passengers. I don't know whether it's to keep the driver safe or to ensure privacy of the passengers. Perhaps it's to keep the passengers from telling the drivers to slow down!

What would you guess the age of this street with a name like Shanghai Old Street, the Chinese pronunciation is Laojie? 1000 years? 500 years? 100 years? It's strange but true that this street was restored just in 1999! I was surprised when I read the tour book. However, I do notice that beneath the facade of traditional shops and signs the sidewalks are actually relatively new.

There are bargains to be had if you want to and know how to bargain on this stretch of 800-yard bargain paradise. There are trinkets and souvenirs of all kinds. Let me tell you that Theresa is a queen of bargaining. She honed her bargaining skills during her previous trips to China and Taiwan and especially in Kenya and Tanzania. Sometimes Theresa's counter-offer was so ridiculously low that I was too embarrassed to translate. However, Theresa and the vendors just pass back and forth a calculator to conduct their affairs. Theresa had a good time, and the vendors always manage to part with their goods and tuck Theresa's money away!

The Jin Mao Building is situated at the mouth of the Yan'an Dong Lu Tunnel, in Pudong, adjacent to Century Avenue, which is the core of Lujiazui, Pudong, a finance and trade center. To the east is a gorgeous view of the prosperous New Area of Pudong. To the west is the beautiful Huang Pu River; and the southern view encompasses the Zhangyang Road business and trade zone. The structure is adjacent to the 100,000 sqm Central Greens, just north of the building. The surrounding road network is well developed, enabling smooth traffic flow. One may take the tunnel bus or the subway line to reach the Jin Mao Building. It takes only two minutes to get to thedowntown area in Puxi using the tunnel.

A supertall structure exemplifying traditional Chinese style, Jin Mao Building is the symbolic architecture of Shanghai's entry into 21st century. Being China's tallest and the world's third tallest, Jin Mao Building is ranked after Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Sears Tower in Chicago, US. Designed by the Chicago Office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in August 1998, Jin Mao Building covers 2.36 million sqm. It is 420.5 meters in height, reaching 88 levels, among which 3 are basements, covering 58,000 sqm, one for catering, and the other two for basement garage.

 The Jin Mao Building is high-tech, high-rise office building combining offices, upscale stores and a hotel. Utilizing spacious and bright areas, levels 3 through 50 can accommodate up to 10,000 people. The 51st and 52nd levels are for mechanical and electrical equipment. Levels 53 to 87 are occupied by the Grand Hyatt - the world's tallest super 5-Star hotel. Levels 56 through 87 contain a spectacular 27-meter wide atrium, 142 meters tall. The atrium is surrounded by 555 guest rooms of various sizes and styles, and numerous Chinese and Western-style restaurants. The 86th level is an exclusive club for entrepreneurs. The 87th level is a restaurant with open-air seating. With a height of 341 meters, the 88th level is the highest sightseeing level in China, and can accommodate more than 1000 tourists. It takes only 45 seconds for two super-speed elevators to take tourists to the sightseeing level from the 1st level basement. The speed of each elevator is 9.1m per second. Tourists on the sightseeing level will have a bird's-eye view of Shanghai's new look. The Jin Mao Building has 79 lifts, among which 18 are escalators that are able to carry guests to any level rapidly, safely and comfortably. The annex building is 6 stories tall. One floor contains a theatre and exhibition hall, one contains a banquet area and the other three contain retail malls and recreation centers. The annex is constructed in the form of a square, protected by glass walls. It is equipped with the latest office building technology, including advanced water pumps, heating equipment, ventilation and fire fighting facilities, as well as the most up-to-date security and automatic monitoring systems.

The Jin Mao Building has established itself as the new pinnacle in the international supertall construction domain. Its outstanding design and predominant location make it a prime landmark in Shanghai.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower is 468meter/1535feet high and is the highest tower in Asia and the third highest in the world. (On the web there seems to be some dispute regarding the definition and claim of which structure is the tallest in the world. It seems Toronto's CN Tower is the tallest at 553.33m/1,815 ft. I'm glad to say that Theresa and I visited the CN Tower in the 90's). We had a good view of the Oriental Pearl Tower during the day while we were strolling on the Bund. Upon my brother's advice we went there in the evening also. To get the maximum experience we bought the ticket to visit all three spheres including a buffet dinner. Let me tell you during the 21 days of our vacation this dinner was the worst. The dinner was expensive (180RMB=$22), tasteless, and cold! Most of my night pictures also did not turn out. I had a lot of troubles with glare from the window while taking pictures in the revolving dining room. It was only later when I found that in one of the sphere I could have taken pictures without windows, but it was getting too late and too cold for me to take more pictures. Theresa was anxious to go back to our hotel by late evening. So the key learning for me is to skip the buffet dinner and go take pictures in the sphere without windows blocking my view. The best time to visit Oriental Pearl TV Tower, according to my brother, is to go there before dusk so you can enjoy the view in both daylight, twilight, and evening.

Right near the Humble Administrator's Garden is the Lion Grove Garden. It was built in 1342 by monks in honor of an abbot or master. In Chinese lion is a homonym to the word meaning teacher. Sylvester "Rocky" Stallone would have felt right at home here because of all the rock formation. :-) Theresa and I had a fun time climbing through this intricate labyrinth of rock formation. Fortunately we did not hit our head by the jagged rocks. The famed emperor Qianlong from the Qing dynasty frequently visited here in the summer. The Lion Grove Garden was not the biggest nor most beautiful gardens in Suzhou; however, Emperor Qianlong found the place to be most fascinating. In the early 20th century Lion Grove Garden belong to the grandfather of I.M Pei, the famous architect for such places as Pyramide du Louvre in Paris.  After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this Garden was donated to the government.

Shanghai is one of the world's largest cities with about 13-16 million residents. However, the heart of the city is very easy to explore. It was amazing that the first morning we got out of the hotel lobby we actually a lady walking her dog--happened to be a miniature schnauzer just like Rondo! As China and especially Shanghai becomes more prosperous people have more time and money to allocate for leisure and luxury items like a dog. I understand that the annual pet registration fee is about $500! Watsons was the place we got our purified drinking water. Though taxi and the underground railway was very convenient and inexpensive we often walked to the various places. For example, we walked to the Shanghai Museum one morning and later walked by the Shanghai Grand Theater. When the mood struck us, we would go browsing and shopping. We were especially impressed by the huge underground mall underneath the People's Square. That was the place where I got a pair of tennis shoes. I was impressed by all the skyscrapers. This must be a great place and time for architects. In fact, one of my cousins and her husbands are architects. We also looked and found a bustling outdoor bird market. Whenever we got tired it was easy to find a place to rest and drink something refreshing--Starbucks were ubiquitous. It was near our hotel where Theresa bought a fashionable and practical purse. No, it was not a name brand like Louis Vuitton or Gucci. It was also not a knock-off either. It was a purse made by a company called Fortune Duck. The name was funny, but the purse was too good of a bargain to pass up. Sure we had 7 days at Shanghai; however, we could have easily stayed for 70 days more :-)