Shanghai in a new light!

In the past my visits to Shanghai have been short and uninspiring. I thought of Shanghai as another BIG city. Now with a population of 14.5 million it is a city full of contradictions. You can look at the river front of the Huangpu River on the Bund side with its Buildings dating back to the beginning of modern China in the 1920’s compared to the Pudong side of the river with its modern sky scrapers and towers. I have been blessed with clear blue skies with some white clouds and at the same time cursed with mid to high 30’s for daytime highs. “Sweltering”!!

The riverfront on the Bund side is a hive of activity most hours of the day. On the first day of of my arrival I went to the river walk for sunset and check out the photo opportunities. Every night cruise boats mingle with freight barges and cargo ships. The cruise ships are ablaze in bright neon colours with flashing lights and party goers aboard for a cruise of the river.

On Monday Morning July 30 I was up before dawn for a some night shots and sunrise. Another blue sky clear beginning to a hot day. So many people sleeping or just sitting around after an all-nighter. I was treated to a glorious sunrise over the edge of the Yangpu bridge in the distance looking east farther up the river. At 5:00 a member of the local Constabulary walked along the raised riverwalk and blew a whistle waking and rousting the sleepers.

The Pearl of the Orient with the sun directly behind the tower.

The Subway here is the most expensive I have found in China at 5 Yuan or $0.80 for a ride. Buses are still only 2 Yuan. The Maglev is another story 80 Yuan for a round trip. Yesterday, Monday I took the subway toward Pudong Airport to try to capture the Maglev Train and on its way to and from the airport. This is the only train of this design on the world.

I have never been on a subway line that when you are on the same line you have to get off the train and cross the platform to continue the same direction. I did not realize this until I was approaching the last station I left along with 2 young Japanese men heading for the airport. About 1.5km south of the station the train line crossed the road and the trains passed 18 minutes passed the hour going east and 20 minutes going west. The trains ran every 15 minutes for the 7 minute 30km ride. I did some scouting and found a good spot to try to capture the 430kph train.

Later I spent 150 Yuan to go up to the 100^th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Centre tower that houses businesses and hotel in the higher floors. Since it is glass enclosed it is not great for image capture,. However I was able to harvest the light.

The sky in Shanghai has provided great sunrises and sunsets.