Puxi to Pudong

Shanghai is one of only four municipalities in the People's Republic of China which has provincial-level status. They have 19 county level divisions, and as if this weren't confusing enough Shanghai is further divided into cultural sections. Some of the most famous of these are the French Concession, Puxi, and Pudong. My internship is located in the French Concession which should be the topic of an entirely different post, so today's post will focus on the historic and cultural areas of Puxi and Pudong.

Puxi is located on the West side of the Huangpu River which is exactly what the name means, and Pudong is on the east side. Pudong is new financial district of Shanghai and it's skyline is probably what everyone thinks of when they think of Shanghai. The best place to view Pudong is from the other side of the river in Puxi on The Bund, a walkway that lines the Huangpu river on the West side, and that's where I started my excursion today.

I hopped on line 2 of the metro, which is closest to my apartment and rode about 5 stops to East Nanjing Road, the biggest shopping road in all of Shanghai. It is often called the Times Square of Shanghai because at night when the signs are all lit up it bears some resemblance to the famous plaza in NYC. This is the closest metro stop to The Bund so I had to walk about 15 minutes down the street in order to finally reach the river but I enjoyed the scenery along the way.

When I started out the sky had been clear and sunny and I left in a good mood knowing it would be a perfect day to get some pictures of the Pudong skyline. Unfortunately by the time I rode the subway and walked all the way to The Bund the sky had fully clouded over and a fog had settled over the river and I had to make do with the shots I could get.

As you can see, the Pudong side of the river is very modern looking. This is in stark contrast to the Puxi side where the architecture is of an older nature.

The highlight of the Pudong skyline is without a doubt the Oriental Pearl Tv Tower.

In order to get a closer picture of the tower I had to traverse the river which can be done in a few different ways. You can cross over land by Taxi or by bus or you can go under the river by way of the Shanghai subway system or by way of the Tourist Tunnel. I decided that I would try the tourist tunnel which while expensive (60 kuai or $10) might be the most interesting and I think I was right.

Yikes.

The ride was Willy-Wonka esque in it's use of colorful lights and in it's use of terror. Random words were announced at intervals through out the ride. Words and phrases like, "magma", "meteor shower", and "Heaven and Hell." And at one point creepy clowns on springs blocked your path...Do I regret taking the tourist tunnel? No. Will I ever take the tourist tunnel ever again? Undetermined. 

Once safely through the tunnel and on the other side of the river I made my way over to the Shanghai World Financial Center, the second tallest building in the world. It also hosts the world's highest observation deck with views at the 100th floor from 1,614 feet. The path to the observation deck was cool and slightly futuristic with lighted floor tiles that flashed and changed color and an elevator that tracked your height and flashed lights faster and faster as you ascended the tower. The elevators take you from the basement to the 95th floor in 66 seconds, so it's pretty fast, and from there you proceed to the 100th floor. Unfortunately the day was so foggy I was basically sitting in the clouds but it was sufficiently terrifying. 

 

View from the ground.

 Parts of the floor are glass so if it hadn't been so foggy you could have seen to the ground.

 Part of Pudong from 1,614 feet above.

It was definitely cool and I would be interested in going back on a day when it's clear enough to see the entire view. I also ran across a cool Apple Store, actually the first one I've seen, in a shopping area in Pudong. 

Exhausted from all the walking I did I made my way back to my apartment and was greeted by with suitemates with some Pomelo. 

Pomelo, like Moon Cakes, are traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They are a citrus fruit with a taste somewhere between that of an orange and a grapefruit. It was a delicious end to a day, and a good precursor to the Mid-Autumn Festival which is tomorrow!

(Don't forget to click on pictures if you want to see the original size!)