Pudong

While we were in Shanghai, we took a ferry across the river Huangpu to the island of Pudong (the name means "east of the Pu;" mainland Shanghai is called Puxi, which means "west of the Pu"). We went over on the luxury air-conditioned ferry, which cost 2 yuan per person (28 cents).

Pudong has some of the tallest buildings in China. The Shanghai World Financial Center is over 100 stories tall and looks like a giant bottle opener. We went to the observation deck on the 97th floor and enjoyed some amazing views. (The observation deck is just below the opening at the top of the building -- very cool effect to be up there.) The next tallest building is the Jin Mao tower, which looks sort of like the top of the Chrysler Building made into a full skyscraper. And then there's the Oriental Pearl Tower, the largest TV transmitter in the world, and an incredible sight to see.

We came home on the commuter ferry, which mainly cater to bicycles and motorcycles. It was quite an experience, but only half a yuan (7 cents), so we couldn't really complain.



The photo above shows the boys posing with the mascot for the 2010 Expo, who is pictured all over Shanghai the way the Olympic mascots were plastered all over Beijing. He looks sort of like a blue Gumby, but cuter. We never actually found out his Chinese name. We'll just have to come back in 2010. ;-)