Towers and Tunnels

I want to meet a handsome expatriate and have a week long love affair. I want to wander the streets of Shanghai with my handsome expat, resting in scenic cafes to bilingually braid our life stories over cups of tea. I want to stay out until the wee hours of the morning with my handsome expat, swaying to the sound of sparkling electronica in stylish discotheques...

Unfortunately, I am currently under the watch eyes of my overprotective family in Shanghai, which means no going outside at night. To compensate for the lack of love in my week in Shanghai, I surrounded myself with massively erected towers and scenic tunnels today.

My journey (or rather journée) begins on Fuzhou lu. I had decided last night that I absolutely needed a map of Shanghai and a travel guide to China for the rest of the summer, so I headed off to the City of Books (Shucheng) first thing in the morning.

A building of 8 stories, Shucheng qualifies as the first tower of the day. I got there exactly two minutes before opening time when and there was a substantial crowd waiting to get in. Shanghai people do love their books.

A couple of pictures from two Julys ago:

Chinese children love to read! Perhaps they just like free books.
Like the large bookstores of America, Shucheng encourages its customers to browse.

The lobby of Shucheng. Apparently, it's a popular hangout in the summer time because it's air conditioned. Fortunately, the place was not nearly as packed today probably because it was cloudy and slightly rainy outside.

At Shucheng, I picked up a bilingual map of Shanghai. Afterwards, I wandered the multimedia section for a few minutes, hoping to pick up another priceless shot of inappropriately pornography product placement but could not find any. I guess Shucheng is classy.

After Shucheng, I briefly stopped by the foreign language book store down to the street and bought a guide to China. It just so happened that I arrived there a minute before its opening 9:30. Again, there was a crowd waiting to get in.

Armed with my map and guide, I walked down Fuzhou lu to Waitan (the Bund for you foreigners), where I encountered more towers. Some pictures:

Some foreign banks at Waitan.
Yes, the image is crappy because it was cloudy outside...

Just to prove I was actually there (as if you couldn't tell from the suboptimal quality of the images that I did not steal them from postcards), here is my head obscuring most of the river view. If I had my handsome expat, this picture would not have been improvisationally auto-taken.

I walked along the river for a bit and came across the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel [yes, a tunnel (!)]. Someone had told me about an interesting museum on the opposite of the river that I can get to by way of the BST, so I paid the overpriced fee and got on the ride. The BST is a total tourist trap. They stick you in a cute little pod car, which traverses the tunnel full of seizure-inducing laser pyrotechnics narrated by cryptic one-liners like "heaven and hell" and "meteor lights" every 10 seconds or so.

Some rather unsuccessful attempts to capture the (albeit hokey) brilliance.
The laser light show is much more impressive in person.

On the other side of the tunnel is the Pudong district of Shanghai, home to a myriad of massive towers including the Pearl of the Orient and Jinmao Dasha, the 3rd tallest building in the world where a couple of days ago, a French guy dressed up as Spiderman was seen climbing up the sides while striking Spidey action poses for the Shanghai spectators. He was arrested by the police and will be released in the next couple of days...

I didn't feel like parting with even more money to ascend the Pearl of the Orient, especially not on a cloudy day, so I walked on, eventually stopping at the Shanghai Ocean "Aquarrium":

Shanghai Ocean Aquarrium

A picture of the front of the "aquarrium", where the featured exhibit is of deadly aquatic assassins. Actually, that's the reason why I decided to go in. I could not resist the deliciously devious expression on the orange fish's face.

The aquarium (as spelled in its url) was actually quite spectacular, well worth the 120 yuan entry fee, except for the screaming small children everywhere (my fault for going there on a Sunday). The place is organized as a long, winding path through different climates going from Amazonian tropical to polar to the deep seas. My favorite part was the grand finale, a trip through tunnel-shaped tanks complete with a conveyor belt in the style of airport baggage claims where you can stand and slowly meander under sharks, turtles, and marvelous fish. Some pictures of pretty fish:

I liked the colors of this one. The orange, blue, and yellow was rather striking. The unfortunate thing about aquariums is that I can never use flash due to the glass. The guy at the top is the reflection against the meniscus.

Shark attack!!!!!!! Actually, they're kind of cute. Look, they're cuddling.
Reminds you of something, doesn't it?

Now what on earth are these things? Some Chinese delicacy?
Answer: Shark eggs

These were just beautiful.

After the aquarium, I wandered back the the BST where I spent an hour at a certain Museum of Ancient Chinese Sex Culture (the "interesting" museum) where I amused over pornographic porcelain and other obscene oddities. If there's enough interest, I'll post those pictures here some time (hint: comment!)

Next, I took the BST back to Waitan and stepped across the street to Nanjing lu, the great shopping mecca, where I picked up some food and, of course, snapped more pictures of towers.

That's all for today. Tomorrow, I will explore the French Concession (Luwan district). Despite the name, I am highly unlikely to find colorful concession stands where I can by my very own handsome French expat, but one can only hope...