We decided today would be suitable for a boat ride on the river. It is quite a hike from the East subway stations as first one must walk all the way through the Bund towards the river and then all the way up the river to the pier. I wish I'd worn a pedometer during this vacation just to see the kilometers I've logged so far.
The Bund is has an amazing variety of architecture given its wonderfully colourful past. If one had the time, it'd be fun to catelogue the various building styles left by the British, French, and cosmopitian colonial past. I bet it's well documented online, so I must remember to research this. Many historical buildings bore a registered plaque and the listing must be available on the Internet. It's good that that side of the river was protected. The other side, Pudong, is where all the towers have been built during the last fifteen years..
We got to the wharf after the 11:45 departure, so walked around a bit and bought tickets for the 12:45. The only boat running was a tour that only lasted 45 minutes, but it turned out to be perfect. We ate lunch right in the wharf restuarant floor. The whole building looked as if it may have been built for last year's International Expo. Today parts were sadly empty.
After we returned we walked all the way back down the Bund to retrace our steps to East Nanjing. Rather than get right in that station, we took a little streetcar train down the pedrestrian road and got back on the subway at the People's Square stop.
We had to return to the Holiday Inn Express just to pick up our luggage and then back down to take lines #3 and #2 to the airport. We left at 4:45 for the trip to PVG. It was rush hour but then it always is in China. China Eastern check in at the airport was like a cattle stockyard. The line for all the evening flights formed a single line that snaked back and forth at least a half dozen times. It was getting on to almost exactly 7:00 and we weren't yet to the front. Luckily, Jay heard the announcement for closure of our flight in two minutes. We left the line and went to the single 'late window' for boarding passes. Phew.
Now we're on the flight heading our way towards KL. It should land at around 1:00 am.