China Day Three, Part IV - Shanghai, The Bund

We headed back down Nanjing Road in search of THE BUND, the strip of European-style buildings that date back to Shanghai's colonial period and line the HUANGPU RIVER. As we headed down Nanjing, we saw a huge crowd of people watching this saxophone player performing from this golden balcony:




I didn't realize it until now, but the saxophone player was playing the theme song to this popular Chinese TV drama called "Shanghai Beach (The Bund)":



We made a point to stop at the blue "Expo 2010" statue that we missed the first time we went down Nanjing Road. We waited patiently for our turn to pose:







Following the crowds of tourists, we made our way down into the underpass that took you to the Huangpu River's waterfront:







Emerging from the underpass, we found ourselves facing The Bund on one side, and the Huangpu River and the famous Shanghai skyline on the other:













Unfortunately, our view of the skyline, and most notably, the PEARL TOWER, was obscured by fog. Even more unfortunate was the amount of garbage floating in the Huangpu...it was so bad that Missy and I rechristened the Huangpu River as "Who Flung Poo In The River":



We saw this street vendor selling kites on the waterfront:







Walking down the waterfront a bit, we came across this statue of CHAIRMAN MAO:





We decided to head back to the hotel before it got too dark. We made our way back up Nanjing Road and caught a cab. As the taxi sped down the crowded streets, we watched the neon lights pass us by...you know that part in the beginning of "Lost In Translation" where a tired-looking Bill Murray is riding in a cab, watching the neon-clad buildings speed by as he looked out the taxi window? Our trip back to the hotel was kinda like that:





Back at the hotel, Missy had a late-night snack in bed. She said, "pretend I'm in the hospital!" Missy soon fell asleep while I watched an NBA game in Chinese:







The t-shirt I bought in the MOCA gift shop pretty much sums up our first time in Shanghai: