Having set my alarm an hour too early we have time to kill before our guide comes, plus I feel relatively human for the first time for a few days having struggled with tummy bugs and then a cold.
Yesterday was supposed to be a free day to explore the city so we set off for The Bund (in a green taxi as specified by the guide with our destination written in Chinese) This is a long strip of elevated promenade along the river. From it you can see all the beautiful colonial buildings most of which are now protected – the Chinese find these Western style grand houses fascinating but I think it’s a bit like many typical European cities.
However across the river is Pudong (the very modern commercial hub of the city) and this is dominated by the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. At first sight it seems to Western eyes to be a slender tower with a huge ball at the base and one at the top with smaller balls between BUT to Chinese eyes this symbolises a line from an ancient poem that they have known since children ‘pearls,big and small,falling into a jade plate’ – beautiful!!
On the site of the Expo 2010 site they are constructing what is going to be the tallest building in the world and it is going to be shaped like a dragon, which to Chinese is the male symbol of supremacy, formerly only used by Emperors.
The Chinese are masters of the grand schemes from The Great Wall, to the Three Gorges Dam and the 2008 Olympics. Failure is not a word they understand.We then tried to find The Peoples Friendship Store (for souvenirs) but had misread the map – asking anyone was not an option!! On the way we were constantly offered their local street snack – fried octopus tentacles in a sticky sauce on a stick !! Just noticed the time- have to go- punctuality is a virtue in China.
Regards Patti
PARWICH.ORG 
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