Ah, the locals, how they make me laugh! Last
weekend, on one of my mom's last nights in the city, we decided to head down to
the Bund for dinner and to just take in the view. If you don’t know what the
Bund is, this comes straight from Wikipedia…
The Bund has dozens of
historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks
and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the
consulates of Russia
and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the
Masonic Club. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and
American settlements were combined in the International
Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning
of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia.
In my own words…because of this British
settlement, when you are walking down there, you can sometimes forget where you
are. I like to pretend I am in Europe! The buildings are gorgeous and full of
character. And if you look across the other side of the river you can see new
Shanghai. There you see skyscrapers with bright lights decorating the night
sky. It is an amazing area to be. One side you see historical Shanghai, and the
other, new Shanghai, both are equally beautiful and eye catching. It makes me
think there is no other place like it. And I call this city home…
So, back to the funny locals…sometimes they
love the foreigners and sometimes they don’t. This night was a time they loved us.
Many times they ask to take pictures with us. When we first got here, I would
get angry and not understand why they were so fascinated with us. Now, I just
think it’s funny. Last weekend we met a local man that wanted multiple photos with
us. First he asked Travis to be in a picture. He handed me his camera and I
took a few pictures of him and Travis with the Pudong skyline in the background.
After a couple with Travis, he wanted a couple with me, so Travis and I
switched. Again, multiple pictures were taken. Finally he wanted a photo with
both of us. This cracked me up. He made sure that each photo was horizontal and
vertical. He thanked us many times and had a smile plastered on his face. It was
great to make his night and we felt like celebrities!
So, if you ever travel to China and are not
Asian, be ready for staring and for photo requests. Don’t over think it, just
smile and feel like a celebrity. You will easily make someone’s day by getting
in a photo.
Here are some photos of the night. I was
practicing my photography skills at night. It was a little frustrating at
times, but I ended up with a few good ones.
A building on The Bund
Looking down the road at The Bund side
More building on The Bund
Pudong skyline
The Pearl Tower
That's all for now.
C
