It’s 6:15 am when I finally got to The Bund.
I’ve wanted to go out early to Shanghai’s iconic Bund to sketch the skyline of Lujiazui (the other side of the Huangpu River) ever since I saw @envy4lens share some early morning photos on his Instagram.
And finally, Tõnis @vanishing.shanghai and I made it there this morning. Typically, this place would be jampacked with tourists. And going there that early, it’s just fantastic to see this area without them, to savour in the sights of the boats plying the river, the early morning sun (after rainy mornings), kite flyers, a group of young dancers, and a sprinkling of tourists. We were mesmerized by the group of middle-aged men doing their dragon dance. We were lucky to get there and saw some action before the 7 am cut-off time.
A special surprise was seeing @envy4lens out there, too, doing some photoshoot and getting requests from one of the dancers to take of photo of him.
It is so true what they say about ‘the early bird catches the worm.’ On top of that, the weather was just fantastic! I wish I could have stayed longer, but unfortunately, I had to rush to work after finishing my sketch.
Having lived in Shanghai for over 20 years, this tourist place is not my ideal place to sketch or visit but I am on a mission to see more of the city as I don’t know how much longer I will be here and importantly to record this urban jungle’s ever-changing landscape through my sketch. So wished I could have sketched this city when I visited for the first time in 1994.
Thank you you for stopping by.
