Cruise along the Huangpu River

Our main objective yesterday was to do a cruise along the Huangpu River (which is the river running through Shanghai) to see the mouth of the Yangtze River. However, along the way we made a couple of great discoveries. First, for only 2 Yuan, you can hop on the ferry shuttle to cross the river to get to Pudong. I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier. Anyway, we did it and began wandering around Pudong, with the intention of eventually getting up to see the television tower. On our way to the television tower, we happened upon this big mall. I think it's called Brand Mall? Anyway, it's really huge and very much on par with something like Valley Fair....all very high-end shops. Anyway, I'm not a big mall person, but I'm noting it as an example of the tremendous prosperity to be found on this side of the Huangpu River. Everything is modern and new in Pudong, and it seems that there are quite a few people living over on this side of Shanghai. Anyway, we were quite impressed. So we get to the television tower, to go up to the top to get the view there. Very nice. Again, what I really come away thinking about that trip to the top of the tower is how prosperous the city is, and how much money is being made, how many jobs are being created, and what a future this area of China has. Incredible really. So, having seen the tower, we head back over the river to catch our cruise along the Huangpu. The cruise is 3 hours long and takes us to the mouth of the Yangtze. I never thought of it, but Gaffer calls the Huangpu to Yangtze passage the "largest shipping port in the world" and I believe he's right. It's as if this whole part of the river is really a port, with barges and container ships, etc. Again, another powerful example of Shanghai industry. I got some photos which I am quite pleased with on this cruise, a few of which I'll put up on Flickr. On the boat, there was a deaf young man who was making stamps. He had a real talent, and I got some video of him carving my name on the bottom of a stamp. He seemed like a very nice guy, and looked like he could have been the brother of the boat driver. All in all, it was a very nice day.