The Bund, Shanghai, China

The Bund

The architecture along the Bund or Waitan is a living museum of the colonial history of the 1800s.  The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement.

The word bund means an embankment or an embanked quay.   It was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement.

The Bund is a mile-long stretch of waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River. There are 52 buildings of various architectural styles, including Gothic, baroque, and neoclassical styles. The area is often referred to as "the museum of buildings". 

Building styles include Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival, Neo-Classical or Beaux-Arts, as well as a number in Art Deco style.

Having seen these buildings initially the night before, mostly lit up, our viewing this morning was from the land side, and particularly interesting in that the colonial architecture was really fascinating considering their location, but not surprising given Shanghai's history.  A lot of these buildings would be more at home in London, that out in the far east.



The Bund waterfront is about two kilometers long and impossible to cover in the time allowed for this part of the tour.



There was just enough time to get photos of the waterfront and the old buildings.

Some of these buildings had odd shapes, like one on the far right that looks like a bottle opener.
  


And, for some odd reason, a bull.



On the other side of the water, the sights that had been quite colorful the night before, were equally impressive though somewhat diminished by the haze.

The Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) Train, Shanghai, China

So, the first treat for the day is the high-speed magnetic train, something we only learned about after arriving in China and was not on any of the pre-tour documentation.

The train line connects Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road Station (in the outskirts of central Pudong).  It is the oldest commercial maglev still in operation, and the first commercial high-speed maglev with cruising speed of 431 km/h (268 mph).  At full speed, the journey takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of about 30 km.

Construction of the line began on March 1, 2001 and public services commenced on 1 January 2004.  It was built by a joint venture of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp from Kassel, Germany.

But, like visiting anything from a hotel, first we have to drive to the station and because we are leaving at 8, its peak hour traffic, and it takes 1 hour 10 minutes to get there.

The train also has a practical use and that is to take passengers from Shanghai to Pudong international airport as well as for those train enthusiasts, which is what we are.

On the train, it has the same sleek look as the bullet trains, but it is completely different, and you are able to see from the front of the train to the back.



Reputed to travel at 431 kph we take a seat and it is not long before the doors shut, and a loud humming noise is soon replaced by what sounds like an engine, then we start moving.  It sounds just like a normal train, and is a lot noisier than a normal bullet train.



Seating on the train was nothing special, as one might expect


 
It didn't take long before it hits the advertised speed of 431 kph.  This is not sustained for very long, because the distance is on 40 odd kilometers, and the whole trip takes about 7 minutes.



We go to the airport, and then we come back.  Is it worth the price, yes.  If you are a train enthusiast.

The Regal Plaza Hotel, Shanghai, China

Well, yet another grandiose exterior, and magnificent marble foyer.  Picture this...

Then, as always, the stars stop dropping off at the lifts, and then finally plunge when you get to the room.

Ours was designed by a blind man.

You open the door and it barely misses the end of the bed, there are two single beds in a room that would probably need an extra six inches if it was a king double.

                                    

You try to get past the end of the beds to what looks like an alcove but you walk into the TV, sticking about 8 inches out from the wall.

All in all, it's a very odd setup for a hotel room, but, again, it's not the first hotel we've stayed in where there is a shortage of space between walls and beds.  It was just disappointing that we ended up in a room with twin beds.

The next morning...

After the usual morning routine made somewhat more difficult because our room literally is a sardine can, we head down to breakfast and seize a seat at one of the round tables, one that is as stable as a paper house in an earthquake area.

Unlike the last hotel when there were 200 people trying to fit in a space that took 50, this time we can get breakfast and sit down, even if the table doesn't have cutlery or anything else on it.

There always seems to be a problem but I guess this morning we're using our hands.  But, as it happens somewhere in the room there must be spare knives and forks, other people are using them so we’ll add a little hide and seek to the morning's festivities.

The only thing I've found in China at breakfast time to be a problem is bacon.  They cannot seem to be able to cook it properly.  Perhaps it's the same with fried eggs, they seem to have this idea of cooking the yolk until it's hard.

Shanghai, China. A night cruise to the Bund and back

In Shanghai at last, and off to a boat ride at night


There's not enough time to go to the hotel and come back to the wharf, the hotel being about an hour's drive in the opposite direction to the cruise boat so we go to the boat ride parking lot instead, and take a half-hour or so before boarding to get something to eat.

When we finally get back from having a coffee or tea at a non-Starbucks coffee house, we find at least 100 buses all lined up and parked, and literally thousands of Chinese and other Asians streaming through the turnstiles to get on another boat leaving earlier than ours.

Buses were just continually stopping near where we were standing and literally arriving one after the other with people were everywhere in what could only be described as organized chaos.

At that moment, and even later, I was not quite sure what the name of the boat was, but it had 3 decks and VIP rooms and it was huge, with marble staircases.



Who has marble staircases in a boat?

We're going out across the water as far as the Bund and then turn around and come back about 30 to 40 minutes.   Being first on the boat we got the pick of the seats on the second of three levels and by the time everyone was on board, there was no room left on the third level, nor at the end of the second level.  And no one wanted to pay the extra to go into the VIP lounge.

We were sitting by very large windows where it was warm enough watching the steady procession of the colored lights of other vessels, and outside the buildings.



It was quite spectacular, as were some of the other boats going out on the harbour.

All the buildings of the Bund were lit up



And along that part of the Bund was a number of old English style buildings made from sandstone, and very impressive to say the least.

 
On the other side of the harbour were the more modern buildings, including the communications tower, as rather impressive structure.


 
And, another view of that communications tower:


 
Then, somewhat tired after a long day, next was the ride to the hotel, about 50 minutes or so, giving us enough time to consider the possibility that this hotel might be better than the last, but knowing full well those hopes were about to be dashed.

From Hangzhou to Shanghai, China.

Onwards, to Shanghai

From the brochure: Next, drive to Shanghai (approx. 2 hours) to visit the famous Bund. Shanghai is divided by the Huang Pu River into eastern and western sections. Modern mega high rises are seen on the eastern side while traditional European style architecture may be seen on the western side. The Bund is a five-block riverfront promenade with many of Shanghai's banks and trading houses.

We didn't do any of that, our guide deciding to change the order in which we would visit the various attractions in Shanghai.

We now have a 2 to 3-hour drive depending on traffic, to Shanghai with a happy house stop after 2 hours, which turned out to be a petrol station and a lot of little food places and a mini-mart.

Along the way I managed to get a photo of the fast train, a feat in itself considering the speed it was traveling:



We get a drink and bananas.

Of course, there were a lot of local products, some of which seems a little odd



I'm not sure what anyone would make of these, or some of the offerings inside the mall attached to the petrol station, but a lot of people declined the 'fast food' and piled into the grocery store, which was about the same as a Seven-Eleven store to stock up on items that might not affect their health.

I bought some very interesting drinks, or so my Chinese to English phone translator told me.

West Lake, Hangzhou, China. The gardens, and a cruise on the lake.

Next is our visit to the West Lake and surrounding gardens

West Lake is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and artificial islands within the lake.

Measuring 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) in length, 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) in width, and 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) in average depth, the lake spreads itself in an area totaling 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 square miles).

The earliest recorded name for West Lake was the "Wu Forest River", but over time it changed to two distinct names.  One is "Qiantang Lake", due to the fact that Hangzhou was called "Qiantang" in ancient times.  The other, "West Lake", due to the lake being west of the city

It's about to get busy, with a number of activities planned, and the warmth of the day is starting to make an impact.

The tour starts in the car park about a kilometer away, but the moment we left the car park we were getting a taste of the park walking along a tree-lined avenue.



When we cross the road, once again dicing with death with the silent assassins on motor scooters.



We are in the park proper, and it is magnificent, with flowers, mostly at the start hydrangeas and then any number of other trees and shrubs, some carved into other flower shapes like a lotus.



Then there was the lake and the backdrop of bridges and walkways.

.

And if you can tune out the background white noise the place would be great for serenity and relaxation.



That, in fact, was how the boat ride panned out, about half an hour or more gliding across the lake in an almost silent boat, by an open window, with the air and the majestic scenery.



No, not that boat, which would be great to have lunch on while cruising, but the boat below:



Not quite in the same class, but all the same, very easy to tune out and soak it in.



It was peaceful, amazingly quiet, on a summery day



A pagoda in the hazy distance, an island we were about to circumnavigate.

Of all the legends, the most touching one is the love story between Bai Suzhen and Xu Xi'an. Bai Suzhen was a white snake spirit and Xu Xi'an was a mortal man.

They fell in love when they first met on a boat on the West Lake, and got married very soon after.

However, the evil monk Fa Hai attempted to separate the couple by imprisoning Xu Xi'an. Bai Suzhen fought against Fa Hai and tried her best to rescue her husband, but she failed and was imprisoned under the Leifeng Pagoda by the lake.

Years later the couple was rescued by Xiao Qing, the sister of Baisuzhen, and from then on, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xi'an lived together happily.

The retelling of the story varied between tour guides, and on the cruise boat, we had two.  Our guide kept to the legend, the other tour guide had a different ending.

Suffice to say it had relevance to the two pagodas on the far side of the lake.


 
There was a cafe or restaurant on the island, but that was not our lunch destination.



Nor were the buildings further along from where we disembarked.

All in all the whole cruise took about 45 minutes and was an interesting break from the hectic nature of the tour.

Oh yes, and the boat captain had postcards for sale.  We didn’t buy any.
 

Lunch



At the disembarkation point there was a mall that sold souvenirs and had a few ‘fast food’ shops, and a KFC, not exactly what we came to China for, but it seemed like the only place in town a food cautious Australian could eat at.



And when tried to get in the door, that's where at least 3 busloads were, if they were not in the local Starbucks.  Apparently, these were the places of first choice wherever we went.

The chicken supply by the time we got to the head of the line amounted to pieces at 22.5 RMB a piece and nuggets.  Everything else had run out, and for me, there were only 5 pieces left.  Good thing there were chips.

And Starbucks with coffee and cheesecake.

At least the setting for what could have been a picnic lunch was idyllic.

Meijiawu Tea Village (Longjing Tea Plantation), Hangzhou, China

The Tea House at Meijiawu Tea Village

Our destination is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from downtown Hangzhou.

Meijiawu Tea Village is located in the west of the world-known West Lake and hailed as "ten miles Meiwu" for its vast area along the Meiling Road, is an ancient village with a history of 600 years.  It is the main production base and a protected area of the fragrant West Lake Dragon Well Tea.


The tea leaves from Meijiawu are beautiful in green color, graceful in shape, strong in fragrance and rich in flavor.

So, first, we get to look at the tea bushes, which are much larger than the bushes we've seen on the side of the road.  I'm not up for becoming a tea picker any time soon, so I'll leave it to the professionals.



All tea leaves are picked by women.  It takes about 8 hours to pick two kilos of leaves.



Tea leaves are still picked by hand three times a year, the first spring, by young girls about 15 or 16, the second, summer tea, picked by girls about 20 years old, and the autumn tea, called grandma tea, picked by older women.

Next, we go to the drying demonstration, three tubs with tea leaves, that have to be stirred by hand for a number of hours.



We then get the sales pitch, which extols the benefits of the green tea, which apparently good for everything.  So, now we have tea and supplement pills.



The teapot fountain in the gardens is a nice touch.

Still, we had a cup or two of tea discovered the right way to make it and had a stroll about the grounds.  And for that hour in the morning, it was very pleasant.

This is a about 1kg package of tea leaves.  Don't ask me how many cups of tea that will make!