The Bund

To answer a query from my lovely sister, the Bund is the waterfront promenade on the Huangpu River. It’s kind of the 5th Avenue of Shanghai. At night, the colonial-era buildings (pictured here) are lit up along with the modern towers on the other side of the river in Pudong. It’s really spectacular. (Watch Mission Impossible III. It’s featured amidst the mind-numbing car chases and totally fake Keri Russell death scene.)

Bar Rouge is one of Shanghai’s trendiest spots. It’s on the top floor of one of the Bund buildings, so you have an amazing view of the city. In the summer they bring in sand and create a beach on the terrace. Cocktails cost about the equivalent of a monthly working class wage here, so it’s mainly expats and rich Honkies (i.e. people from Hong Kong. They call themselves that. Really.) or Taiwanese who hang out there. If Paris Hilton came to Shanghai, this is where she’d dance anemically on the bar with her trademark glazed idiot expression.

I’ve been a couple of times. They lit the bar on fire once and these Russian girls (I think they were hookers) got tossed out – causing quite a stir. Pushing, scratching and screaming in Russian.

I haven’t seen the Shanghai Acrobats yet, but after seeing the fearlessness and agility regular people display riding their bikes through the traffic here – it should be nothing short of profound.

When you come to visit, we’ll go! :)