It’s a major tourist attraction in Shanghai and for good reason – it’s a hotbed of activity and one of the most unique mashups of architecture in the world. The Bund is a waterfront area centered on a section of Zhongshan Road along the banks of the Huangpu River. Turn your head for a second and it seems like another building has materialized out of nowhere. It’s like New York City on steroids and seems to grow by leaps and bounds nearly every day. Shanghai is as modern as it gets and was an excellent benchmark for how different China is depending on where you travel. If you travel upriver like I did, try to plan for a day or two in Shanghai and the nearby cities in the Yangtze River delta. We opted for the upstream adventure – partly because we were visiting Hong Kong first (a story for another post).Ī Few Days in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta If you only have a few days – or don’t like the idea of rocking back and forth while the boat travels at night – travel downstream. Upriver is a little more leisurely and you see a little more. How are they different? The trip down the river is faster and usually you make fewer stops. Upstream visitors start at the river delta near Shanghai where the Yangtze meets the East China Sea. Many people traveling downstream start with a visit to Beijing before embarking on the river from Chengdu of Chongqing. Sure, you’ll still see a lot of the same sights either way you go, but they’re completely different trips in my opinion. If you’re OK with that, this trip is for you.Ĭruising with the Current of the Yangtze, or Against It?ĭeciding to travel upstream or downstream on the Yangtze is a big decision. The accommodations are nice, but “nice” in a country where a 500-year-old building is considered new is merely adequate by Western standards. You can almost touch both cabin walls at the same time by spreading your arms wide. And no, Kathy Lee will not provide the entertainment. There’s no rock wall to climb or wave pool to surf. You won’t be on an ocean-going ship stocked with caviar and lobster. If you ever take this trip, be forewarned that the word “cruise” probably doesn’t mean what you think it does in this context. So when my wife’s family invited us to visit them in Hong Kong with a stop in Shanghai before taking a cruise up the Yangtze from Wuhan to Chongqing, you can bet we jumped at the chance.īefore we begin the story, let me make one thing clear upfront. It’s brimming with spectacular scenery, thousands of years of culture and history, some of the best food in the world, and one of the largest, most innovative –and controversial – hydroelectric projects in human history. It’s the third longest in the world and arguably the most interesting to explore. If you’re not a geography buff or haven’t been to China yet, you may not have even heard of the Yangtze River. When it comes to the great rivers of the world, the Amazon and the Nile get all the good press. And it was totally appropriate, since everything about this trip up the Yangtze River was new, exciting, and a little bit wild. It was unlike anything I had ever seen anywhere else in the world. As the boat steamed forward, it came dangerously close to scraping the rocks…only to be saved at the last moment when the mountain gave way to yet another gorge. The river seemed to disappear behind the mountains and cliffs in front of us.
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