11/8/25
After a ‘varied breakfast’, as per trip.com’s assertion, of noodles, dough sticks and fruit we accidentally spent even longer looking at booking hotels in Hong Kong. More annoying than Shanghai, rooms were tiny and expensive but low quality.
Firat stop of the day was the famous Bund. Colonial buildings lined the street below, universally topped by Chinese flags. Having looked up and down the embankment, we were soon bored of sweating like pigs.
Four structures stand out on the Shanghai skyline. Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Centre, Jingmao and of course the Oriental Pearl. Too expensive for us to reach the top we went for a muse to see how high we could get without paying.
Shanghai tower is the second tallest building in the world and houses a bookshop on the 52nd floor. Obviously unable to read any of the books they soon sussed our game and tried to funnel us into a cafe to buy a drink. We didn’t bother. We could see the smoggy views through the glass even though they’d pulled down the blinds. Down below we observed the unique construction of the wind energy absorbing ‘twisting tower’. An outer layer of glass sat in front of the futuristic carcass, creating a large amount of empty space.
Next up the SWFC. Looking like a bottle opener it housed a shopping centre on the ground floors too. Taking a lift 80 odd floors up yielded nothing but a queue to check into the overpriced Hyatt. We met the same barrier to entry in the New York-esque Jingmao tower. Another Hyatt hotel and we couldn’t find the touted 30 floor atrium either.
Shanghai museum had an eastern branch, Dongguan. Best accessed by going to the conceptually designed Shanghai Science and Technology Museum metro station. Grand and rippled facade, the building looked fantastic. No reservations were required for entry. Once we entered we couldn’t help but kick ourselves. It was infuriating that we’d wasted time and money visiting the People’s Square branch of the museum. Beautifully designed, with clearly signposted exhibits in purpose designed rooms. Poking our heads in the Bronze gallery changed our viewing order. We went straight to the Ceramic gallery on the 4th floor. Impressive, colourful statues were on display which devolved into more and more boring pots. Perfectly crafted, but not as eye grabbing.
Numismatics started with a brief history of currency. Hilariously it was explained that QR codes are more convenient than bank cards. Having used them for a while, we felt this was a little misleading. While QR codes are more equalising (anyone can create one off to receive payments), they were much slower than just tapping an NFC terminal. NFC can also process small transactions without live internet. Lots of the coins were too similar for us to gain interest. Horse hoof shaped gold was unique however.
The Painting gallery opened our eyes to a completely different style of painting. Long scrolls with sweeping watercolour brushstrokes. Poetic inscriptions formed part of the artwork. Described as landscape, some of them were over 10m long. Precise architectural drawings were complimented by flowing natural landscapes. We could have poured over them for hours.
Jade pieces were initially interesting but far too repetitive. Having to move quickly through the galleries as closing time approached we soon moved onto Calligraphy. It was even worse. We didn’t really know what we were looking at. We could imagine it was a valued and admired skill, but some of the pieces looked slap dash. Similar to some of the paintings.
Hong Shan in inner Mongolia was the subject of a temporary exhibit. Around 6000 years old, the finds were a delight to see, even though we were running around like headless chickens. Only 15 minutes to go before closing time and we finally entered the Bronze gallery again. Now quiet and easy to navigate we viewed the dings, guis and jains, all different names for pots. Some of them were mighty works of art.
Sufficiently hungry for yet another buffet dinner we went straight to the Super Brand Mall. Stepping out under the Oriental Pearl tower was far less dramatic the second time. We pushed through the crowds in and out of the restaurant, and were fortunate enough to get some chocolate Swiss roll. After washing our clothes again and briefly watching some of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps we were grateful to be slumbering at a more reasonable bed time.
Surly They Won't Make It 