Tourist On The Loose

Last Saturday I got to play tourist in Shanghai.  It started in Lujiazui, the financial sector of Shanghai, in the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC).  Lujiazui is the only financial and trade zone out of 185 state-level development zones across mainland China (1).  According to Wikipedia, there are more than 30 buildings over 25 stories tall that feature commerce as their primary function (1).

Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center

The Jin Mao Tower used to be the tallest building in China until 2007 when the SWFC was completed (2). I think the Jin Mao Tower is much prettier than the SWFC.  Accompanied by my coworker E, we rode the (very fast) elevator up to the 94th, 97th, and 100th floors of the building in order to look out at the city below. E has lived in Shanghai for the last two years but she had never been to the tower either so we were able to play tourist together.

The SWFC is the second-tallest building in the world, surpassed by the Burj Dubai in 2010, and the world's highest observation deck (3, 4).  What's interesting about the observation deck (100th floor) is that there is a glass floor so you can look down at the city below.  So many people were hesitant to walk across the glass!

View from the 100th Floor of the SWFC, the Jin Mao Tower and the Oriental Pearl in the background

The next stop was The Bund.  Earlier this yearI'd posted a link to side-by-side pictures of Shanghai, twenty years apart; those photos were taken from The Bund. When E and I arrived at The Bund the sun was out in full-force and it was very, very hot.

Looking from The Bund towards the Financial District

The Bund, or the Shanghai International Settlement, was originally a treaty port established under the Treaty of Nanking at the end of the first opium war in 1842 (5). First home to the British and later the Americans and French, the buildings along The Bund facing Lujiazui were primarily banks and trade houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands (6).  Until the 1950s when the original building occupants began to leave, The Bund was a major financial hub of East Asia and it wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s that the buildings returned to their original uses (6).

Some of the buildings along The Bund

The trip to The Bund was cut short when dark storm clouds rolled in.  Only a few drops fell from the sky however so we continued onto our next stop, City God Temple of Shanghai (also called Chenghuang Miao).  This temple is located within the old walled portion of Shanghai and served as a temple for the spirit of Jinshan (7).  Surrounding the temple are many stores and shops selling everything from silk and paintings of your zodiac sign to KFC.

Behind me are pavilions and tea houses in the Chenghuang Miao area

Rain, rain, go away (photo taken at Chenghuang Miao).

Shortly after taking this photo it began to rain, and I'm not talking about your average light rain - this was a downpour.  It didn't end quickly either, this rain lasted for an hour and a half.  E and I fled with the rest of the visitors to take shelter under the eves of the temple.  Every time the rain lessened we moved to another shelter closer to the exit.

After finally reaching the company car we headed to Xintiandi, a lifestyle center (retail, entertainment, food, and residential) in Shanghai.  We talked around the shops for a bit before stopping at Paulaner Bräuhaus for drinks, dessert, and music.

The last stop of the night was at another old town (whose name I forget) in the west part of Shanghai.  It was similar to Chenghuang Miao in appearance but smaller in size.  It had two main streets: one full of shops selling products and the other full of shops selling things to eat.  Chenghuang Miao was full of tourists (like me!) but this area was void of them.  The only real downside to this area was the bathroom; this was my only option when I needed a place to go:

There was no toilet paper, no soap, no paper towel or hand dryer, just a hole in the ground, a door for the stall, and some running water.  This was why I brought a bottle of hand sanitizer and a pack of tissues with me.

Saturday was a fun day of being a tourist in Shanghai.  I hope to get to many other places still, like the Expo, Nanjing Road, and I'd like to go up the Oriental Pearl instead of just look at it.  Have you been to Shanghai?  Is there any place you would recommend visiting?