Alan is writing the blog today, so at least you know you’ll be suitably entertained. You get to write about something. Me, I get stuck with sea days and make entertainment out of nothing. Now that’s a real talent.
Having arrived in Shanghai last night, today was our first chance to get out and explore the most populated city on the planet. We had researched the touristy type places that we wanted to see. We’re always well prepared like that. Who is prepared? Geez you’d still be stuck in Sydney airport if it wasn’t me.
We got down to breakfast at the usual time, although I didn’t have pancakes today for the first time in months. Maybe I’m a bit over pancakes.
We returned to our room and rugged up suitably to go out into the cold morning. We left the ship and got onto the waiting shuttle bus which took us the 3 minute drive to The Bund. This is the promenade on the western side of the Huangpu River. It’s popular among tourists and has a very European feel to it with the style of buildings along there.
After getting off the bus we strolled down The Bund for a short way, taking photos and enjoying the sights across the river. We soon came across the entrance to the sightseeing tunnel which goes from The Bund, all the way under the river and exits in Pudong just near The Pearl Tower. We assumed that we had a long walk ahead of us, as it’s a fairly wide river. Once down there, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there are carriages running along a track which transport you through the tunnel. Yay! The tunnel walls are brightly lit by all manner of flashing lights and images and it was very pretty. I don’t think I’d recommend it for an epileptic, though. There was commentary along the way, and although none of us understand a word of Chinese, we did hear “Paradise and Hell” in English.
We made our way to the surface at the other end and tried to get our bearings. We were quite close to the Pearl Tower, but we had decided to go up the Shanghai World Financial Center. That’s the building that looks like a giant bottle opener. Given that it’s currently the tallest building in Shanghai, we had only to look up and walk along the streets toward it. The streets of Shanghai are very busy, naturally, so we were glad when an elevated walkway was available in order to cross a huge 4 way intersection and roundabout.
It took a while, but we finally arrived at our destination. Street vendors were accosting us along the way to buy their knick knacks, including a cool looking kite, but we resisted. We found the entrance and made our way into the observation marshalling area. Before going up, we were subjected to a short video in Chinese and then walked past a very impressive scale model of the Shanghai business district. I tripped over and put my hand down on the edge of the model to stop myself from falling. Lucky I didn’t squish one of the buildings. How embarrassing would that have been! Probably not as embarrassed as us but, then again, we would have just pretended we didn’t know you.
We then went into a very dark room and waited for the elevator to arrive. The woman working all day in there must hate going out into the daylight. We packed into the lift and up we went, before getting out on the 95th floor. Up an escalator we went to the 97th floor. It was very warm in there so we didn’t stay looking at that view for too long before taking another elevator up to the 100th floor, which is the highest observation deck in the world.
It was spectacular. This city is awesome, and even more so from 474 metres in the air. There are clusters of apartment blocks all around and each section have different coloured roofs. It looks really pretty. There were glass panels in the floor to view the world below. Sarah did not like those at all. We had great views of the river, our ship, the Pearl Tower, and the Jin Mao Tower which is right next door. At 88 floors high, it’s dwarfed by the 100 floor bottle opener. Next door to that, is currently being built the 121 floor Shanghai Tower.
After taking tons of photos, we went back down. Of course, they drop you at the 3rd floor and you’re forced to wander past all the shops before finding your way out of the building. We got out, although Sarah’s dad did his best to get stuck in the automatic doors.
We found our way back to the tunnel entrance without too much trouble, apart from our noses and ears being extremely cold. We needed a Shanghai magnet for our collection, so we stopped at a shop just before the tunnel. There we bumped into Moise, our new best friend from The Restaurant on the ship, along with his fiance Nathalie.
**Right now Sarah is sticking her finger up at me. Just thought you should know what I have to put up with.** What are you raving on about? Did you trip and hit your head again?
We took the return ride through the tunnel and walked back along The Bund to where the shuttle bus was waiting for us. We saw a couple of other staff from the ship and gave them a wave. On the bus, and before too long we were heading back to the ship. A very short drive and we were soon at the port. Sarah and I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos of Nev and Trev in front of the ship, but we had to cut it short as it was so cold out there that I could barely hang onto them. And with the strong wind blowing, I would hate for them to go flying off into the river. Yes, you’d be swimming for them.
We were very glad to get back into the warmth of the ship and thought The Colonnade would be nice and quiet for lunch as most people would be out sightseeing. We were wrong. I’ve never seen it so jam packed. We were about to leave when a staff member managed to find a table for us. Lunch was had and then we returned to our room to rug up once again before going out. That’s what happens when you get back at the same time as two tours.
At 2.45pm we left the ship for the free cruise and show. I forgot my sunglasses, so I had to go back on the ship to get them, which turned out to be a blessing because we got a later bus which was near empty. I’m so good like that. Maybe not, our tour guide on this bus was a fruitcake.
It was only a short drive to another dock where we got on the dinner cruise boat thingy. Al the food and drink was free, although I don’t think anyone was very hungry having had lunch not long ago. We cruised down the river to The Bund and back again. We didn’t really see anything that we hadn’t already seen today, but we did manage to freeze our nuts off while outside taking photos. It was ridiculously cold! I didn’t freeze my nuts off. We did get another shot of the Seabourn from our side of the ship which we couldn’t do before.
After getting back to the dock, we got back on the bus and headed off for the theatre. It was a long drive through heavy peak hour traffic and some people may have nodded off along the way. Yes you did, didn’t you Alan. You’re blog day and you missed important information. Our tour guide on the bus spoke on the microphone the entire time, telling us all about the city and it’s history, as well as more than anyone needed to know about her personal life.
Eventually we arrived at the theatre and made our way into the auditorium for the famous Shanghai Acrobats. The show was about an hour long, and was most entertaining and impressive. There were 22 men and women in all, and they were so strong and agile and skilful and flexible and talented and brave. There was all sorts of juggling and acrobatics and feats of strength etc etc. They ended with a Globe of Death steal cage thingy with 8 dudes riding motorcycles inside it. Crazy! Photos weren’t allowed in the theatre, but the camera just took them all by itself.
We all got back on our buses and drove back to the ship. Luckily, the drive back only took about half the time that it took to get there. Our guide continued telling us stories of her family. Weirdo!
With about 9 busloads of people returning all around the same time, a lot of the ship staff were outside greeting us. They all looked thoroughly frozen. They were jumping around to music, but I’m sure that was more to try to keep warm.
It was about 7.30pm so we went almost straight to dinner in The Restaurant. We have always gotten there at 7pm previously, so tonight they had given our table away. Shock horror! Never mind, we still had Moise serving us. We enjoyed our dinner as usual before returning to our room for the night. We were hoping to see our new friend Jamie tonight, for the last time before she leaves early in the morning, but it wasn’t to be. No, instead she rang us at the crack of dawn waking us all up.
We should probably get a decent amount of sleep since tomorrow will be a day packed full of more sightseeing before we set sail again in the evening. Hopefully it might be a bit warmer tomorrow. Night night!
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