Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2015 | Page 96

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Travel | Shanghai
© ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images

coming year. Bring your ear plugs on
New Year’s Eve, when Shanghai resounds
to the popping of firecrackers on every street
corner despite the city government’s best
attempts to control them. The cacophony
lasts well into the night. The biggest noise
of all? Fireworks, and nowhere better to
be when they go off than along the Bund,
the riverside promenade with its skyscraper
views. Fireworks are launched from barges
on the river and the roofs of some of the
city’s skyscrapers.
The Bund is a good place to be during
the Spring Festival. At your back is a row
of colonial-era buildings dating from the
1920s. Its art deco and neoclassical façades
now hide upmarket eateries and hotels.
A classic example is the former Union
Assurance building, transformed into
a seven-storey pleasure palace known as
Three on the Bund, housing art galleries,
luxury boutiques and notable restaurants.
Many Chinese restaurants actually
close over New Year, leaving the city’s
world-class Western eateries to supply
the best of the banquets. M on the Bund
is one of the area’s long-running favourites
and has a fabulous terrace with great
views over the fireworks action.
Thirty years ago, across the river from the
Bund, there were just a few rickety farm
buildings. Today some of the world’s tallest
glass and steel skyscrapers sprout, presided
over by the glamorous silhouette of the
Oriental Pearl Tower, designed as a series
of huge steel balls held in place by concrete
strings and still a futuristic-looking
piece of architecture.

The biggest noise of all? Fireworks,
and nowhere better to be when
they go off than along the Bund,
the riverside promenade with
its skyscraper views.

A man beats a drum to
celebrate Chinese New Year in
front of the Oriental Pearl Tower.