East Nanjing Road, Shanghai

I went to Shanghai by train recently. You have to buy your train tickets in advance to guarantee a seat. Unfortunately, the sunny forecast was replaced by a rainy reality. Never mind. Shanghai's Nanjing East Road, the pedestrian street, makes even the gloomiest day seem bright.

The rain was light. I remember being on Nanjing East Road in 1997 when it was not a pedestrian street. It was a famous shopping street, but it was full of cars. It was also pretty backwards at that time. There was nothing worth buying. Now there's a lot worth buying, but only rich people can afford most of it.

I took my small instamatic camera instead of my better but heavier camera. So these pictures are not all that great. But I didn't want a backache at the end of the day.

At the end of Nanjing East Road lies the Bund, the riverside walkway. The Huangpu is a river that dissects downtown Shanghai from ultra-modern Pudong across the way. I took a ferry from one side to the other. The other ways to get across are by tunnels and vehicle bridges (taxis, buses, personal vehicles and subways).

Shanghai is probably my favorite city in the whole world. I could spend weeks there and never run out of things to do.