Rajeev's World: A Ride Down The Huangpu (黄浦江)

We savored the liveliness of Nanjing Road and then reveled in the charms of Bund, before we headed to the cruise terminal for a boat ride down the Huangpu River. On the way to the terminal, Shaun got into an animated conversation with us. He mentioned how difficult it was for men in Shanghai to get jobs, though women had it a bit easier. It surprised me how women are treated as the "unfair sex" in India, yet in China, it is the exact opposite. Perhaps, it was the result of Chairman Mao's strategy, which he succinctly covered in a phrase: "Women hold up half the sky!"

The Huangpu which was previously known as Whampoa (ohhh, perhaps that's how Li-Ka Shing's Hutchison Whampoa got its name!) and Whangpoo (which loosely translates into Yellow Bank River) is a 113 kilometre distributary of the mighty Yangtze Rive before it empties into the East China Sea.

The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the river and it divides the city into its two regions, Pudong to its east and Puxi to the west.

The terminal was teeming with locals who were out having a good time on a Saturday evening. Indeed, the Chinese are quite like us, large groups of boisterous families would be out enjoying the sights. Amidst the cacophony, we boarded the cruise. And we quickly climbed up the stairs to the top-most deck to have a clearer view of the Bund and Pudong.