Landed in Shanghai around 1 pm. Our guide Emma took us in a large bus back to our ship. The sky is blue here and no smog!! I’m tired but determined to get out some today and see Shanghai and meet up with my former student from Kamiah, ID, Brenda Rupp. I let her know we both had not been well. I hope she will be able to meet us by the ship and together we do the hop on hop off bus.
The Oriental Pearl Television Tower is the symbol of the city and its great landmark. We are so lucky to be docked with a view of all the sweeping and unusual skyscrapers that are lit up in a spectacular fashion at night!
20,000 vessels per year transit on the Yangtze River. It is a non stop water hiway with tankers, barges, cruise ships, and cargo liners.
Shanghai has Asia’s largest aquarium which isn’t far from where we are docked.
The Pudong area which used to be mostly a farming section was developed in the last 15 years to be the totally new architectural phenomenon that it is today!!
It is said to be a cross between Paris and New York. We arrived at the ship by 3 pm and had a little lunch before heading out for our hop on tour. It was a foggy overcast day. 1.5 million people live in the Pudong but now it is a financial and commercial hub. Now
Shanghai tower has wind turbines for alternative power and uses captured rainwater for ac units.
1000s of new housing apartments are being built yearly. Two major airports serve the city: one on the east side and one on the west side. 50 airlines fly out of these airports.
28,000 million passengers flew out of Pudong airport in 2008. There are five parallel runways.
Hongchow was the original airport. In 2008 it had more than 22,000 million passengers but more recently they had 40,000 million passengers!!
Thousands of bikes and various rental bikes cover the streets. Smokers are everywhere. Construction is everywhere. They fear not enough children being born to support the work force now and are encouraging young people to have children.
Laundry hangs everywhere as in other Asian ports and towns.
Few to no birds are seen . Brides are always on the bridge close to the cruise port because it is so historical. It is traditional to get your wedding photo taken here.
This port of Shanghai is the largest container port in the world.
Above sea are the two Chinese characters meaning for Shanghai.
Very few overweight people are seen here. Everyone walks or rides a bike.
Technology is everywhere sadly in peoples hands.
It’s all commercial and about the brand names on the huge led screens and billboards.
Architectural treasures here are everywhere with Art Deco and gothic, colonial, and mock Tudor.
Temples have yellow walls after the yellow river which gave the area life
Tea, porcelain, silk and opium were the first great trades.
We spend a few hours on the tour bus and get back to the ship for dinner. We are tired after our overland tour and just want to enjoy the beautiful lit up view of the sky scrapers from the top of the ship and our own window. It was the best view and night so far as far as beauty and uniqueness! The next morning we are up and get out about 10 to finish our hop on hop off around the city. We plan to meet my former student Brenda at 1:45. It is a two hour metro trip for her to come meet us one way! Our bus ride today is very windy and cold. We have our heavy jackets on and long pants. Our drop off point for the cruise shuttle was much closer to the Bund area which saved us a walk and would be more convenient when we would head back to the ship.
Giant pheasants!!
Pearl TV tower
Lights up every night
We’re getting to be pros at this!
The Bund is a hopping place night and day.
Still some smog and traffic is crazy!
The skyscrapers in the Pudong are unreal.
Almost every building you see is an apartment complex!
Look at the bikes!!! Yikes!!
The Yangtze River
More apartments
Every corner has Subway and Starbucks!!
The dock at night when we got back with the free shuttle that the ship provides.
She is all lit up waiting for us. Our crew has got to be the most friendly and gracious of all our cruises.
This is what we see out our window!!
All night colorful ships motor by. This is a view from the top of the ship!
Same two towers above just different colors!
Another night scene from ship Top.
The next morning we were up and doing one more leg of the hop on hop off before meeting Brenda. She joined us at the Starbucks and we talked for almost 5 hours!!! It was a highlight of our trip to connect with her. I’m so proud of her and all she has done, seen and accomplished. She is teaching as a librarian this year in a private international school. Only a handful of people from our small Kamiah ID town have traveled to see her and another teaching friend. We just can’t get enough good conversation in but we enjoy so much finding out about all her travels and her knowledge of China along with catching up on all our Kamiah friends.
She walks us to the Bund picture taking point and we get a shot together with the fantastic backdrop of the dashing colorful lights and then she walks us back to our shuttle bus. She now has a tour hour metro ride back to her home leaving us at 7 pm! Thanks Brenda for sharing your time with us. We look forward to connecting with you again in the states. We headed back to the ship thinking we would depart that night around 9 but we found out the Chinese would not send a pilot for our ship due to rough waters in the open sea so we with the Volendam were held over till the next day and didn’t depart till before noon. The Volendam was kept almost two days!!
So on we headed to Hong Kong with two sea days to rest up and chat with others onboard about their tours and experiences.
Still kind of smoggy and cold today. This is a round about
They still use bamboo for scaffolding everywhere!!
More bikes and a caution light used before it turns green!
This lady has a baby in front of her but look at her baby carrier!!
Where we met Brenda on the Bund
Happy friends!
Our selfie
Some Chinese lady took our shot with the typical Chinese peace signs
Nighttime shot from our window with our towel animals there too !
Out the window
Heading to Hong Kong
A sail away party on the deck
Good bye Shanghai
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