Sights, Beer and Bullshit

With a huge number of things to see, we decided to start our first day proper in Shanghai with the tallest: the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Like Beijing, Shanghai’s metro system, running above and below ground, is extremely efficient and easy to use (save for a couple of minor problems with it’s e-card ticket system). We breezed over to Pudong New Area, the area of the city with the tallest skyscrapers, in no time.



Ascending the stairs leading out of the metro station, the collection of tallest skyscrapers slowly came into view, and my jaw dropped. Having never been to New York or anywhere else with buildings near this height, this was a new sensation for my eyes. I felt a child-like excitement surge inside me, and spent close to two minutes just standing in one spot skyscraper-gazing.



To get to the top-floor observation deck of the SWFC was expensive, but worth it. This really was China showing off it’s financial might, with an impressive lights/special effects show preceding the incredibly fast ascent up to the 97th floor (the lift ascends at 8m per second). Once there, the extra money we paid meant we could ascend three stories higher. The views from the top were outstanding. If you visit the SWFC and you’ve never been to Japan (I haven’t, yet), then go down to the food court in the basement and check out the toilets, an experience in itself.



It took a bit of convincing, but I persuaded John and Gearoid that the best way to get across the river to the Bund district on the other side was to take the famously bad Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. Passengers are herded onto a moving platform, which slowly proceeds under the river through a barrage of cheap light effects and a soundtrack straight from “BBC Sound Effects Volume 3“. Like a Steven Seagal film, it was so bad it was hilarious, at least I thought so. John and Gearoid still haven’t forgiven me though.



The Bund itself in many parts looks more like a street in New York than China. With neoclassical reminders of Shanghai’s past on one side, and the ultra-modern Pudong skyline across the Huangpu River on the other, walking down the Bund was, for me, another experience unique to China that I enjoyed immensely.



If I thought it all looked impressive during the day, after dusk the views really blew my socks off. We went for a stroll down the enormous East Nanjing Road, the biggest capitalist/shopping street in the city, and by the time we returned to the Bund for a boat tour on the river, the Pudong skyline had transformed into a neon wonderment, an iconic sight and rightly so.

A long day’s sightseeing earned a few drinks that night, the after-effects of which resulted in a long lie-in the next morning. We got so comfortable in the hostel bar that this ended up being the second day spent entirely within it‘s borders.



With weary eyes, we were nearly ready to retire to our dorm room when, unwittingly, one of the defining moments of our trip occurred. A Finnish girl came over and asked us if we wanted to join in a game of cards. We agreed, joining a motley crew of travellers at the table, and learned the skills of a drinking/card game that would come to define a significant part of our time in China. The name of the game? Bullshit.