The Bund 外滩 and Pudong 浦东

The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. The Bund itself is about 1 mile long and has 52 buildings most of which are old colonial buildings, banks and trading houses built by the numerous countries that set up concessions here and carried out trade in China in the early 1940s.

The biggest buidling is the old HSBC building which is flanked on either side by the Customs House and China Merchants Company building. The buildings are magnificent and really show you the european influences that were abundent at the time.

With the World Expo coming to Shanghai in 2010, the Chinese have replicated what they did in Beijing and have started ripping things up and tearing things down, so unfortunately some of the area is off bounds at the moment. I'm not too sure what they are doing. I think they are making some alterations to the road.

The bund runs along side the Hangpu river. On the opposite side of the river is Pudong. Pudong in complete contrast to the bund itself is a collection of brand new sky scrapers and high rise buildings. This is where most of the international companies, hotels etc are. Last time I visited shangahi the weather was really cloudy and hazy and you could barely make out the otherside of the river but luckily today it was sunny and the view was perfect.

I walked along the river bank for about an hour taking in the sunshine and views and taking a few photos. After that I decided the chinese were right and thought i'd better get home and put some more clothes on!