Shanghai became part of our itinerary due to The Bund making an appearance as one of the "Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die" in a book we have. We are still not sure if in our opinion it really rates that high but of course all travel is subject to your individual experience at the time. The Bund is the old Wharf area of the river with historic opulent buildings dating back 100 or so years.These in turn are dwarfed by the high rise behind.

We arrived in Shanghai late afternoon to rain and wind. We ventured out that night but got wet so crossed our fingers for better weather and it worked. Whilst cold and windy the next day the rain held off as we visited some of the city sights including the old city, museum and the famous shopping street Nanjin Road. After dinner we attended a Chinese Acrobat Show at it was of an amazingly high standard and very entertaining.
 
Our guide, Mao told us the Bund area was all dug up due to new tunnels being built for roads but we would go there on the way to the airport the following afternoon. Since we primarily came to see the Bund this seemed like leaving things to chance a bit, so after the acrobat show we went to the 26th floor of our hotel to get a view and orientate ourselves then walked there working out our daytime journey for the next morning. All the road, footpaths and trees had all been dug up on the way and everything was being worked on 24 hours a day to get it finished before the World Expo due to start First of May.  

The next day we wandered past the buildings and weaved our way in out and around the areas of construction and then spotted a sign that said "Bund Sightseeing Tunnel". At the same time we met an Irish girl who said she had been through the tunnel to the other side of the river and it was worthwhile to see the Bund from the other side but that the tunnel experience was a bit "strange". We agreed! It was a cable car that went under the river and provided a light and sound show as it went through. Once on the other side we went to the Pearl Tower which was the highest in the world until the Torronto tower was built and caught the lift up to the viewing platform for a glorious view of the bund below and the newer Pudong area of Shanghai.       

Finally we walked to the riverside wharf area of the Pudong Side and looking back over the Bund we could see to a certain degree why it had been chosen as something unforgettable. The river was abuzz with barges moving all sorts of items and in front could be seen the old historic buildings with the new high rise behind.

A strange thing happened that follows through with the theme that this trip has had many co-incidences. While on the river bank we again met up with a German couple who had been on our boat cruise. We had seen them the day before in Nanjin Road as well. What are the chances......

Time to move on to our last destination but we had one more exciting thing to do in Shanghai. The Chinese have built the fastest train the world to go to the International airport.Instead of taking our arranged transport we hopped on the train to experience reaching a speed of 430 kms per hour!! It was a real buzz!