Elizabeth & Rakesh go to the Bund & Nanjing Road Aug 28, 2010

Rakesh enjoying an uncharacteristically uncrowded sidewalk on the Bund

Finally managed to drag Rakesh out of the house to inflict a self-guided walking tour on him. I kept it short and sweet, though. I do want him to come with me again in the future! 


We (who am I kidding?),  I decided we should go see the Bund, a riverfront street with dozens of historical buildings that once housed numerous banks and trading companies. The buildings were constructed in the early 1900s and feature Neo-Classical or Art Deco architecture. The Bund is one of the premier must-see sights of Shanghai. It now features a number of high-end restaurants and retailers. I didn't take a lot of photos as the weather was somewhat overcast and you can also find way better pictures online.


From the Bund, we then headed up Nanjing Road, a famous pedestrian-only street best known for its neon signs, crushes of people and endless stores. It's like Yonge/Dundas Square on steroids with aggressive street vendors selling sneaker wheels and flying toy birds thrown in for good measure. 


Before getting there, we had to brave the reluctant-to-stop Shanghai traffic. Man, this is my biggest fear here-one of us will be mowed down by a bike, car, motorcycle or, my personal favourite, the super-speedy but silent electric scooter. Sheesh! To that end, Shanghai has these "traffic assistants" on their busiest street corners. These crossing guards are men and women who make sure every pedestrian stands a fighting chance when they cross the road. The traffic assistants have the very authoritative white gloves and whistles. Amazingly, drivers listen and obey. I can breathe a little more easily. 

My hero!

Gradually, we fought our way up to Nanjing Road. Rakesh was propositioned only once. How do you say in Mandarin, "Sorry, honey, he's with me"? I fended off numerous offers to go shopping with men for watches and bags. For those of you familiar with Russell Peters, one offended potential shopping guide chastised Rakesh by telling him to "Be a man". They really do say that and not just in the Pacific Mall!

Where's Waldo? Or, as my politically incorrect children would say, "Where's the Whitey"?

Rakesh bought a pair of sneakers at the Li Ning store, China's answer to Nike. Cool merchandise. The salesclerk seemed unwilling to let him try on both shoes at once. Maybe it was a shoplifting prevention measure.  It looked like a store with a pretty strict employee conduct policy. See what they did to one of their cashiers? 

I'm afraid to ask what she did. We didn't see her hanging anywhere, so I'm sure she's O.K.

After doing our bit to boost the local economy and battling the masses of shoppers, who were demonstrating perfectly the behaviour typical of a Chinese crowd, we needed a break.

 

Quasi-far from the madding crowds

Let me end this post by reminding my dear readers, lest they think I'm constantly slagging the Chinese, I'm merely commenting on what I see. I'm sure they would find my behaviour in many situations equally odd and maybe even offensive. I'm sure they come to Canada and are befuddled by what we do and how we act. So there. The world is full of all different types.

P.S. Sorry for what could be inconsistent type sizes (hard to tell until the post is finally published). My ambitions exceed my formatting skills.