3.15.2006
We only come out at night.
What only comes out at night, you ask? Vampires? Ghosts? The Smashing Pumpkins (if their song titles are to be believed)? No, LIGHTS. I bet you never would have guessed that, huh? Especially since lights more come ON at night than come OUT, which is lame, I know, but as I like to say when doing pretty much anything, "Whatever--it's good enough." (On a somewhat related note, I'll be looking for a job when we move back to the States--anyone want to hire me?)
However, when the lights do come on, there's no better place to be than standing than on the Bund and looking over at Pudong. I know that sentence doesn’t really make sense, but I liked that it rhymes. Sort of. (See the whole "good enough" thing in the preceding paragraph.) To clarify things ever so slightly, the Pudong side of the river (Pudong actually meaning east of the Huangpu river) is where all the big, shiny new skyscrapers that give Shanghai its very recognizable skyline have been built. And just in case people don't notice them during the day--unlikely, since two of the buildings are among the tallest structures in the world--at night they light them up like ... a Christmas Tree on the Las Vegas Strip. Like a joint at a Bob Marley concert. Like a pile of old newspapers at an arsonist's convention. Like Alderaan after getting blown up by the Death Star in Star Wars, but without all the death and mayhem. Like something that's really, REALLY lit up. Um ... whatever --it's good enough.
Anyway, because I have nothing better to put up here and because we're getting some visitors tonight so I won't be able to post much for the next few days and because I actually like the pictures almost as much as I apparently like run-on sentences, I thought I'd share some photos of the Pudong side of the river lit up like ... you know.
At long last, then, here is the Pudong side. I've mentioned all this before, but the tower on the left, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, is over 1,500 feet tall, the tower in the center, the Jin Mao Tower (home to the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, if any of you are planning to stay there anytime soon) is close to 1,400 feet tall, and the building on the left that says AURORA across the top does, somehow, turn into like a 15-story tall TV screen at night:
Because things aren't bright enough, this company decided to float a neon-lit barge up and down the river, just to liven things up:
Love this picture. The building on the right is the citigroup building, and, yes, that is a thirty-story kitten on one side of it:
(I still have no idea how they do that, but it puts the Aurora building to shame ...)
Once you get sick of looking at those lights, you can cross the street over to Nanjing Lu, which also features a wee bit of neon:
This is the sign for Ajisen Ramen, a Japanese noodle restaurant I eat at quite a lot. (There's a ton of them in Shanghai, including two very close to our apartment.) If you go, you should get the beef curry with ramen noodles. It's good. Holly thinks the beef curry udon is better, but she's wrong. Definitely go with the ramen--the thinner noodles make all the difference. Seriously:
Holly and my parents make their way down Nanjing:
Pretty crazy, isn't it? In fact, you could even say it's lit up like a ... never mind.
However, when the lights do come on, there's no better place to be than standing than on the Bund and looking over at Pudong. I know that sentence doesn’t really make sense, but I liked that it rhymes. Sort of. (See the whole "good enough" thing in the preceding paragraph.) To clarify things ever so slightly, the Pudong side of the river (Pudong actually meaning east of the Huangpu river) is where all the big, shiny new skyscrapers that give Shanghai its very recognizable skyline have been built. And just in case people don't notice them during the day--unlikely, since two of the buildings are among the tallest structures in the world--at night they light them up like ... a Christmas Tree on the Las Vegas Strip. Like a joint at a Bob Marley concert. Like a pile of old newspapers at an arsonist's convention. Like Alderaan after getting blown up by the Death Star in Star Wars, but without all the death and mayhem. Like something that's really, REALLY lit up. Um ... whatever --it's good enough.
Anyway, because I have nothing better to put up here and because we're getting some visitors tonight so I won't be able to post much for the next few days and because I actually like the pictures almost as much as I apparently like run-on sentences, I thought I'd share some photos of the Pudong side of the river lit up like ... you know.
At long last, then, here is the Pudong side. I've mentioned all this before, but the tower on the left, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, is over 1,500 feet tall, the tower in the center, the Jin Mao Tower (home to the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, if any of you are planning to stay there anytime soon) is close to 1,400 feet tall, and the building on the left that says AURORA across the top does, somehow, turn into like a 15-story tall TV screen at night:
Because things aren't bright enough, this company decided to float a neon-lit barge up and down the river, just to liven things up:
Love this picture. The building on the right is the citigroup building, and, yes, that is a thirty-story kitten on one side of it:
(I still have no idea how they do that, but it puts the Aurora building to shame ...)
Once you get sick of looking at those lights, you can cross the street over to Nanjing Lu, which also features a wee bit of neon:
This is the sign for Ajisen Ramen, a Japanese noodle restaurant I eat at quite a lot. (There's a ton of them in Shanghai, including two very close to our apartment.) If you go, you should get the beef curry with ramen noodles. It's good. Holly thinks the beef curry udon is better, but she's wrong. Definitely go with the ramen--the thinner noodles make all the difference. Seriously:
Holly and my parents make their way down Nanjing:
Pretty crazy, isn't it? In fact, you could even say it's lit up like a ... never mind.
