Still needing a fix of the city and its sites I return to the city centre the next day (Metro stop ‘Peoples Square’) and make the effort to walk down to the ‘Bund’, which turns out to be the Glitzy end of town with a promenade along the waterfront skirted with grand hotels including the Fairmont Peace Hotel and luxury stores. The promenade is wide and wooden with motifs remaining from the recent Expo event, but it is the site across the river that captures your attention… Today the mist has cleared and it is possible to gain a grand view of the skyline of the Eastern Bund - The needle once dominated the landscape here as a carbuncle of modern design but it has since been dwarfed by two enormous structures nearby including he Shanghai World Trade Centre and the Grand Hyatt hotel. This is an excellent opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Paul Merton and his trip to china :)
To get to the other side of the river there are a number of options… Option 1 walk across on one of the bridges but this is a long way, option 2 take the ferry across and have wonderful views as you go (2y per person), take the metro (4y per trip) or get on the Bund tourist tunnel experience (55y return)… I opt for the ’I’m here so why not approach’ and go for the tourist tunnel which turns out to be a psycodellic ride through a laser light show with strobing effects!! A little 1970’s and way over the top - but for all its colour and music it is not popular and definitely overpriced for what you get, however, I was the only passenger in my cube and therefore had the opportunity to video the trip for the blog - check it out but beware of strobe light effects…
Once on the Eastern side of the Bund it is possible to quickly walk to the major attractions all of which are within 4km of each other ;) This means that for 4km I am staring almost constantly up towards the sky to take in the view of these marvels of modern engineering, the seem to claw at the sky and demand attention from tourists and visitors alike. Checking prices it is 150y to take a lift to the top of the needle, 150y to go to the highest viewing platform in the city in the SWTC but I opt for the slightly cheaper run up to the 88th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel (88y, 1y per floor seems good value - although guests get this for free). ‘Paul Merton’ stayed here on his trip to China and marvelled at the Atrium and his views of the city commenting on how it could effect vertigo sufferers - well even without vertigo looking down from the 88th floor of the building from one of the overhanging points is certainly something that tickles the back of your brain ;) I marvel at the wonderful views of the city laid out before me and at this height I can see all the way to the edges - stopped only by the smog from industry… The housing below looks tiny and many areas look to have two story homes with red and blue pitched roofs (I later find of course that this is an illusion and in fact the pitched roofs belong to 6-8 storey flats!! However, the highlight of this viewing spot is the hotels own atrium… It is breathtaking… You walk to the centre of the viewing area and can lean over a railing to look directly down into the atrium with a drop of 88 floors to the lobby 0_0 As you stand in wonder, grasping the railing, you see people walking around the atrium on the intervening floors, the circular design means that you can see their legs moving behind some low hand rails which is all that separates them from a long drop to oblivion. STUNNING architecture that one several awards in its day and still is a wonderful site.