Riverviews

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We have come across two cities with rivers which they used to their full potential, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The two waterfronts, especially at night, provided the best entertainment to be had anywhere. Rather like watching fish in a tank it was very soothing to just sit and watch the waterborne traffic flow back and forth. When I say traffic I do not mean yachts or a few small ferries. You saw yachts, ferries, fishing boats, junks, floating restaurants, tankers, dredgers, and everything in between.

Hong Kong won on entertainment value as in addition to traffic moving along the river there were frequent ferries cutting across the other traffic. One night we heard the sound of powerful engines and out of nowhere appeared 6 Chinese Military speedboats, only showing a small red light and racing along at an incredible speed. We expected them to slow down where the got to the busy point of the harbour but no, they bobbed and weaved at high speed through the other boats and disappeared into the night.

Shanghai won on comfort as the Pudong side of the harbour has numerous restaurants and bars. We sat in a bar/restaurant run by the Erdiner beer company of Munich, eating good food and drinking good German beer.

If you ever get the chance to visit either place take my advice, take a promenade down by the waterfront at night.

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