The Bund – Shanghai, China

The city of Shanghai China is truly amazing. This futuristic city has skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, futuristic architecture and a very busy population. One of the main attractions in this city is an area called “The Bund.” This is an area of the city that still has beautiful architecture from the booming days (early 20th century) of Shanghai. There are beautiful old art deco office buildings, hotels, etc. During its hay day these buildings were the headquarters of banks from all over the world. There is a large avenue in front of The Bund that borders the river. We first experienced this area in the day and were truly impressed. The architecture, the people and the overall scene was fantastic. One of the best parts of “The Bund” is the view across the river towards the futuristic “Pudong" area of Shanghai. Almost any pictures you see of Shanghai are going to show the Pudong area. Here you will find all of the crazy looking skyscrapers that are so iconic. The view of this area from The Bund was spectacular and we spent hours checking it out. After exploring this area we moved on to other sites around the city. That night (and every night thereafter) we decided to walk back down to The Bund. The scene at night was indescribable. It is as if the city of Shanghai said “lets make our city look like a light show at night.” Every old building along The Bund was completely lite up with some even having a light show every few minutes. Furthermore, the lights from all the cars, camera flashes, etc just added to the scene. Then we looked across the river and were blown away…the Pudong area at night was incredible. Every building had numerous lights that flashed, changed colors, went off like a strobe light, etc. Some buildings even had tv like scenes that would flash across the front. To top it all off almost every boat that cruised the river (in beetween The Bund and Pudong) was light up with neon blue, red and green lights. Needless to say the scene in front of us was extremely unique and a feast for the senses. Every big city is beautiful at night but nothing can top the “light show” that is Shanghai.