As the years passed, we traveled around Asia again but never made it back to Shanghai.
That changed last fall, when I returned as a Dallas Morning News photographer covering the Dallas Mavericks’ trip to play in the NBA
China Games.I was excited to see how Shanghai had changed in the 17
years since my last visit, and I padded my trip with an extra day to
make sure I could poke my nose outside the Mavericks bubble.
With a single afternoon at my disposal, where should I go to see a bit more of the city?
What about a return to the Dongtai Road market, I asked our friends. Sorry, the bulk of the market was flattened in 2015 to make way for
development. The new had overtaken the old.Since it was Golden Week, a
national holiday in China, the city was jammed with people. I decided
not to over-complicate things. I simply went for a walk.
I ventured away from the Pudong waterfront with its luxury hotels and crossed the Huangpu River to the Bund promenade, a wide stretch of
walkable waterfront where the original British settlement made this the
commercial heart of Shanghai.
With one camera body and a couple of lenses, I emerged about five hours and five miles later with these photos.
I saw few signs of the old that I would recommend to anybody, but the new seemed to only amplify the energy of this incredibly vibrant
city.
Just give yourself more time than I did, because scratching the surface only made me want to see more.
