It was somewhere around 2am when the Captain picked up two Chinese pilots….one for the port entrance and one for the river. He said that very little English would be spoken, but sharing the chart information the last couple of days, they would be on the same page. That's nice to know as we don't always think of what goes on behind the scenes.
The Zuiderdam arrived well before 8:30am, but it took time for the ship to be cleared. Once again, Kimberly had to come on the speakers and asked the guests who were on tour to please not crowd the lobby where the exit was. She claimed the officials would be very unhappy with the throng of people blocking their way, and they may delay the procedure.
So in order to get off today, we needed to bring the stamped and barcoded passport copies with us to be scanned in the terminal. We will need to use these forms in every Chinese port. And if we lose or damage them, they cannot be replaced. If that is the case, we may not be permitted to leave the ship. It was also suggested that we take a photo of these paper passports on our cell phone, which we do not have.
We left the ship by 10am and had quite a long walk from the gangway through the new cruise terminal, which was massive. It was a good thing there were local port workers to direct us to the right hallways and doors to use. Everyone had to pass through a health temperature check, then we went on to the passport scan. Walking even further we finally got to the door that led to the shuttle buses.
It was a good thing that we had the transfer to town, because the ride took almost an hour. If there was a lot of traffic, the ride would have been longer. This cruise terminal is capable of docking at least three ships, but it is located in the "boonies". Years ago when we came here the first time on a smaller ship, we docked very close to the center of downtown. This ship is too large to go upriver, so we are much further away. By the way, there were two other ships here. One was called Piano Land of Astro Cruise Line, and the smaller one was Blue Dream Star registered in Monrovia. It could be a gambling ship.
We were dropped off at The Bund which can be described as the landmark of Shanghai and the symbol of the urban history. It is located on the Huangpu River with 15 historical colonial buildings on one side. Across the river is the modern city with high rises that make up Shanghai's famous skyline. The most famous of these towers are the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower, the Jin Mao Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center, and the highest of all….Shanghai Tower at 2073 feet. It is the second tallest building in the world, with the highest being Kalipha Tower in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. We have been lucky to have gone up to the top of both of these high rises.
The Bund is actually a very wide raised walkway that follows the river for over one mile. The heritage buildings on the roadside are made in the Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles. They are flanked with more modern high rises and luxury hotels. It sure was a perfect day to be hiking, even though it was chilly. There was a haze in the air, but nothing resembling the brown smog we saw when flying to the airport here several years ago. The Captain had mentioned there was a health advisory due to unsafe air, but it looked fine to us. We joined the hundreds of site-seers taking hundreds of photos. One thing we noticed was that the streets were clean as a whistle. Even walking the wall, we saw no cigarette butts or trash anywhere. What we did notice was the presence of policemen either on patrol or in vehicles along the walkway. Bet you would never see a "smash and grab" type of crime here. It would not be tolerated.
We reached the end of The Bund where a tall war memorial is located. This is where the Wusong River and Suzhou Creek join the big river. There were several old-style bridges that crossed over this river, and each of them has a name. We felt there was not enough time to continue this way, so we went down to Zhongshan Road which was on the backside of The Bund. There are cafes and several public restrooms on this side and are located right under the walkway. We passed a big pedestrian street by the name of Nanjing Road. It leads to a big shopping area with many restaurants and nightclubs. We decided to explore this area tomorrow as it would be too much to do today.
Further up the road, we came across a huge bronze bull, but do not know the meaning of it. There was a plaque, but it was written in Chinese of course. It resembled the bull at Wall Street in New York City. We did not find a suitable place for lunch and it was getting late. So we headed back to the bus pick-up spot. Stopping at the information center here, we picked up everything we could find that was printed in English.
The bus ran every half hour, so we did not have long to wait for it to leave. Once back at the cruise terminal, we had to go through the same procedure as when we left the ship. The only thing different was going through the xray. That saved us the trouble of doing it on the ship. We have to say the Chinese custom officials are very thorough with their check point.
The Lido had stayed open an extra hour with a full service lunch, but at 3pm, only a few stations were opened. We opted for Dive-In grub as did many other folks getting back from tours.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working on pictures and gathering info for the report. Tomorrow we shall leave the ship earlier and go see what we missed today. All aboard is at 4:30pm, so we will have to squeeze in as much as we can.
Dinner was good with crispy Shanghai spring rolls of shrimp and pork. The wonton soup was perfect as were the salads. One exception was the honey-mustard dressing that was home-made. It was not the same as the one we have been getting. All the waiter could do is offer us a different type. Best to taste it before ruining the plate of salad. Mains were fajitas with extra guacamole and salsa. We were warned that the sour cream was also home- made, so we avoided using it as it looked watery. Desserts were one light and airy lemon cake and a chocolate brownie cheesecake. Our waiter Alfred brought another dessert to us so we could taste it. We had asked what it was, so he automatically brought one. It was good if you are a fan of custard. One of us is not.
We had intended on seeing the show tonight, Shanghai Spectacular: Dance & Gymnastics Fusion, but we finished dinner at 9pm, and it sure felt like the fellows were revving up to go out to town tonight. And with all of the walking today, we were beat. Got to save up more energy to spend another day in the big city.
Bill & Mary Ann
