Saturday morning started off with some lunch action back at The Thai House with E and off we went on our culturally explorative day!
First stop, the Jing’An Temple - famed Buddhist “Temple of Peace and Tranquility.” We both agreed this was rather anti-climactic especially since one whole side of the temple was being worked on with major roofing construction, but E made me partake in the incense ritual for picture-taking purposes, nonetheless….
Then we zoomed on the metro down to People’s Square, quick cut-through frolic through the park. E had come from having his measurement taken at the Fabric Market for his new suit.. hence his outfit of choice in the pics (for the tailors to copy).
As we approached the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center…Housed in a striking modern five-story building made of micro-lite glass, this is one of the world’s largest showcases of urban development and is much more interesting than its dry name suggests.
I’ve always had a thing for architecture ever since who knows when, but especially after reading Ayn Rand’s famed novel, The Fountainhead. The whole “model to scale” thing has always fascinated me, and then to think these mere displays would become real life buildings is beyond skillful in my book! So upon entrance to the exhibition center, we were greeted by the (currently undergoing construction) Design of The Bund’s Waterfront!
This museum tells the story of Shanghai’s evolution with a spectacular collection of archival photos, meaningless but beautiful exhibitions on wastewater management and other public works. Here is a Before/After look of The Bund:
But that was nothing compared with what we were to see thereafter! The highlight is on the third floor: an awesome vast scale model of urban Shanghai as it will look in 2020, a master plan full of endless skyscrapers punctuated occasionally by patches of green. The clear plastic models indicate structures yet to be built, and there are many of them. Beleaguered Shanghai residents wondering if their current cramped downtown houses will survive the bulldozer (chances are not good) need only look here for the answer. EVERY building is accounted for… this thing is MASSIVELY IMPRESSIVE!! (We played with some camera settings… )
Then they lit it up!! SUPER COOL!
Sculpture Planning of Shanghai 2010 Expo site:
Bidding Plans for Shanghai Expo 2010 from 8 different countries:
Andddd this just in! – The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) seeks to engage a high quality service provider to work with DFAT to refine and execute the design of the AUSTRALIAN pavillion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, expected to be the biggest world exposition in history.
Despite the newly opened Terminal 2, two more terminals are to come for Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport:
On another floor (I can’t remember which) has “Virtual Shanghai,” a computer-generated flyover of the city projected onto a 360-degree movie screen; The camera swoops along highways, over the Huangpu and around the Pudong skyscrapers of an idealized city that may or may not exist. Pretty nifty but also dizzying after a bit…
Then finally, since E had been here before a few years prior, led the way to an underground tunnel filled with restaurants and retail outlets crafting the styles of different decades of Shanghai…
By now, we had done a lot, so an afternoon quencher was in order. Our victim, The Radisson New World Hotel on West Nanjing Road because it just looked crazy with a Sky Dome Bar situated on the “UFO” part on top of the hotel building, overlooking from the west side of People’s Park. (See below, Radisson is the tower on the left.)
Probably not the most safest place to be especially since there were said talks of a typhoon hitting Shanghai in the evening, but we checked it out anyway.
Unfortunately, we were about 1 hour early for opening time of the bar, so we dipped downstairs to the VERY comfortable chairs of the Hotel Lounge Bar where we killed almost 3 hours.
We came out, being greeted by well a Chinese Mariachi Band!! The old folks dancing were so cute!
Then, typhoon-like weather was coming… One thing about Shanghai is that when it rains, you are screwed! All of a sudden the city run by taxis are all filled and getting from Point A to B is not fun at all! Despite all the talks of this threatening typhoon, the night passed with nothing more than a passing rainstorm. I will admit, I was kinda excited to experience one, but at the same time, maybe it’s better that I had not.. I’m sure I’ll have more opportunities for while I am here…
. . don’t burn the day. .
“One Sweet World” from album, Remember Two Things by Dave Matthews Band
