Shanghai Expat: April 2010: The Bund

Wednesday, April 7, 2010, was an uncommonly nice day in Shanghai. It was warm(-ish), the sky was relatively clear, and there was no chance of rain. I took advantage of the opportunity to play hooky from work in the afternoon to see the newly reopened Bund. The Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront promenade, had been closed for construction for as long as I've been here. (It was under renovations in preparation for the expo.) In fact, the area was under so much construction last summer and the dust and pollution were so bad, after a quick visit one day to see the mess, I never returned. At the end of May, the Bund reopened.

I'm surprised to report that the Bund is actually nice, and disappointed that I realized I'd expected otherwise. Nevertheless, the restoration of the buildings surrounding the Bund hasn't finished yet, and I felt my eyes water slightly as I approached.

I met Di Yin at the Shanghai Archive, and she decided to walk the Bund with me. I took these pictures on or near the Bund. The Bund is a nice, open space, complete with regularly-spaced speakers playing decent music. Today there was a good number of people, enough to be lively and to be able to people-watch, but not enough to feel crowded.

On the way back from the Bund, we walked down East Nanjing Road. I declined offers to buy watches or shoes. I saw a few places serving sweetened steamed rice cakes; I guess it's the season again. We stuck our heads in the #1 Food Store, one of the more well-known foodstuff shops, and gazed, impressed, at its huge assortment of snacks and dried ingredients (meats, vegetables, etc.), among other things.

Near my office, we stopped by a sheng jian bao and fried rice joint, Shucaiji, that I visited in November (but never took pictures) and Di Yin has visited countless times. The dumplings were great, in the style of sheng jian bao that I get from Flushing. And now I have pictures.