Thursday

Oh joy! My first day in China! Right now I'm in Shanghai, which I think most people have heard of before. Sadly, time in China is eight hours ahead of us, and the plane ride was really long, so I woke up at about seven a.m. our time. That's around three p.m. their time!

Well, it didn't matter much, because what I was doing today only took about 10 minutes. The time was kind of depressing, but the ride was definitely worth it!

It's called the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. It was built as a way to get from one side of the Pu river (Puxi) to the other (Pudong). Basically, you enter the tunnel out of another tunnel for pedestrians. Then, you board the subway train that takes you through the tunnel and drops you off by some elevators that take you near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

The ride however, is a (and read this as if it's said very quickly) crazy, amazing, bright, crazy, blinding, movie flashing, fun, crazy, puppet flailing, crazy, colorful, awesome, fast, crazy, awesome light show and did I mention it's crazy?

Basically, the tunnel has a bunch of colored neon lights around the rim and movie screens quickly disappear while puppets dance around. The whole time there's some mellow music in the background that comes from the car. I was so stunned that I didn't even realize what happened when I got out of the train.

I started to go up the elevator, and by the time I got to the top, where I could see the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, I had regained my senses and decided to go back for a closer look. Again, I came out a bit dazed before I realized that I still hadn't gone into the TV Tower yet and that I needed to go back. And what better way than through the Bund???

Finally, the ride was over and I went up in the Pearl Tower. This needlish thing rose over 1,500 feet high, and I got to go to the top! The tower looks part needle, part Eiffel Tower, part space age, and with two bowling balls at the bottom and the top. Well, here's a picture:

The best part was that there's a sky-walk at the top, where I was able to see everything in the city plus more. I'm really glad I got to go up, because the sun was about to set. I'm glad I got so much done.