ABC Wednesday: K is for Kill Time

The second day of our visit to Shanghai, the morning started with a fantastic view of the Bund across the Huangpu River.  Grace had to go to her meeting for the whole day.  I had some time to Kill by myself.  I decided to take a walk on Huaihai Middle Road.  For tourists, the most famous road to walk is Nanjing East Road, which is a pedestrian street now.  It is too touristic for me.  Huaihai Middle Road is a totally different fashionable street.

The area is original French Concession part of Shanghai, thus all the street and park is lined with London Plans that was first introduced by the French.

Although Huaihai Middle Road is now line with the most fashionable shops from around the world, it is the little side street, Changle Road that really lead the Shanghai fashion.  All the little shops can be as fashionable as any clothing stores in London, Paris or New York.

We can see the most expensive and exotic car parked by the road but also see plenty of ordinary hard labors go about their everyday business.

Further down the road, I arrived at Shanghai Xintiandi (Shanghai New World).  The developer rather than torn down the old building of the area, it totally restored the structures.  It became one of the biggest tourist attractions in Shanghai.

The buildings in the area form big contrast to the surrounding highrise.

The area has many fine restaurants and interesting shops

Not only tourists, also quite a few photographers like me around try to catch a glimpse of the old Shanghai.

You can see me here from the shop window of the famous clothing store Shanghai Tang.

I continued my way arriving at the waterfront, the Bund, just before sunset.  With the sun now behind me I had a fantastic view of the new financial district of Pudong.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the sunstar at the International Convention Center.

The final highlight of the day was crossing the Huangpu River, not by car or by boat, but by the underground tunnel.  It was a 5 minutes ride on a small cart with a fantastic show of light display.  It took me right where I started in the morning, in front of the hotel at the International Convention Center.

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ABC Wednesday: J is for Our Journey to Shanghai

Shanghai has a very special meaning for us.  Although both of us were born in Taipei but our parents came from Shanghai.  We have been to Shanghai several times when Bradley's parents were still with us.  The trip that we took last week was the first one since both of them have passed away.  We have planned this trip for quite a while for the purpose of visiting the World Expo.

The above picture was taken from the famous Shanghai Bund toward the new Shanghai district Pudong.  It was the ancestor home for Bradley.  His grand father used to own several houses right at where the Shanghai World Financial Center is now.  He ran a business of several ferry boats across the Huangpu River between Pudong and Shanghai.

This picture was taken from our hotel window at the Shanghai International Convention Center, looking across the Huangpu River toward the Bund.  The Bund is about 1 km long and lined with colonial buildings left from the early 20th century.

We will show more pictures of our journey to Shanghai and World Expo in the near future, so stay tuned.

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ABC Wednesday: H is for Happy

Last week our post for "Green Pond" brought about some sad history of the small lake.  However, it has always been a popular playground for Taipei residents.  I still remember went there during summer nights, the adults sat on the lounge chair drinking tea under perfect moonlight.  We were running around just for fun.  It was a Happy time 50 years ago.

The park around the Green Pound went under major renovation last year and just reopened this summer.  One of the major attraction is the water fountain and water cascade beneath the suspended bridge.

The fountain came up from the ground every few minutes.  The temperature was over 35 degree C.  The kids all had so much fun and Happy time.

Here, as every happy kids would do, climbed up the water cascade.

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